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(Dobbs) A Very Bad Week That Trump and His Party Cannot Afford
George Santos for press secretary?
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There’s a children’s book called “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”
Today that can inspire the title of a book about the president: “Donald and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week.”
It was capped off yesterday when we learned that his fresh new press secretary Katie Zacharia didn’t last as long as a fresh head of lettuce: out, after just five days in the job.
She didn’t last even half as long as one of Trump’s communications directors during his first term, Anthony Scaramucci. He survived eleven days before being given the boot.
The background is, Zacharia hadn’t been on the clock for a day when she embarrassed herself in two ways: first, she proved in her first (and as it turns out, her only) White House briefing that she wasn’t ready for prime time. And second, after Trump called her “an attorney” because she calls herself “an attorney,” a reporter asked where she had passed the bar and her answer was…. um…. enigmatic: “I went to China.” Huh? Foreigners aren’t even allowed to take the bar in China and what’s more, when she took the bar exam in California, she failed.
Imagine, a member of Trump’s team misrepresenting the facts.
So who’ll come next? Satirist Andy Borowitz wrote that her replacement will be former congressman and serial liar George Santos, quoting him saying, “I will bring to this job my experience not only as a lawyer, but as a doctor and astronaut.” Well, how different is that than Zacharia claiming, as she did many times, that she’s an attorney?
But she’s not the only woman to shame Trump and get shoved out. Tuesday he had to fire his ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle. That had to be tough, because she wasn’t just some political appointee. Engaged to Lucky Sperm Club member Don Jr. for four years, she was almost the president’s daughter-in-law. But the reports that came out last week that she had pressured a Trump donor for $100,000 to pay off her credit card in exchange for access to the White House proved too much— the look of it if not the act itself— even for this corrupt president.
Ironically, in her very brief fling as press secretary, the only piece of news Katie Zacharia delivered in the White House briefing room was, “We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign.”
Of course as he does any time a hint of scandal lands on his doorstep, Trump deflected on the relationship with Guilfoyle. When reporters asked about it, his response was, “No, she wasn’t a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago.”
“I guess?” It was only two years ago.
By the way, take note: Guilfoyle and Zacharia join the ranks of high-profile women who have been sent packing from the administration: former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, former Attorney General Pam Bondi. Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
They all deserved it, but don’t some of the men too?
All kinds of other news this week also cast a deservedly dark shadow on President Trump.
September’s Consumer Price Index came out— that’s what’s usually described as a snapshot of consumer prices— and it showed inflation up 3.7%. This comes as no surprise to the rest of us who fill our cabinets with groceries and our cars with fuel, but it seems to be a surprise to Trump. Even yesterday at rallies, he was still lying to his followers, telling them inflation is just 1.7%.
Then later yesterday, figures came out from the treasury department showing that the gulf between what the federal government spends and what it takes in keeps widening. The budget deficit when Trump returned to the Oval Office 21 months ago was $1.78 trillion. Now it is $1.99 trillion. All those promises of an economic Eden were the promises of a shameless two-faced con man.
More damning, reports came out that Russia has hit its mark in Ukraine with so many missiles and drones the past few days— and killed so many innocent people— because the White House ordered the SpaceX Starshield satellite connections it controls, on which Ukraine depends to defend itself, slowed down.
“It wasn’t me,” Trump told reporters, “and I don’t think it was Elon.” But the national security website Defense News says it was him. Reuters also reported that the order to cripple Ukraine’s ability to track and shoot down Russian weapons was communicated to the defense department from the White House.
This coincided with Trump’s demand that Ukraine stop hitting Russian diesel plants.
Not a good look three weeks before the midterm elections in a nation where most patriots want to help Ukraine, not hurt it.
There’s also Trump’s rebuke to the secretary of defense. A week ago Pete Hegseth announced that when a firing squad kills mass murderer Nidal Hasan on December 3rd at Ft Hood, Texas, it would be live-streamed. And Trump endorsed the idea: “Did I approve? Absolutely.” But Thursday he changed his mind. There will still be an execution but it will not be televised. Not exactly a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for Hegseth.
And there’s the federal judge’s order on Tuesday to give journalists from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico their passes back and let them back into the White House.
He said the ban that kept them out likely violated their First Amendment rights to free speech and their Fifth Amendment rights to due process. He called it unlawful retaliation and viewpoint discrimination. He also said the White House claim that these journalists had threatened national security with their reporting was bunk.
And, there was every appearance this week that confidence is cracking in MAGA world. Why would Vice President Vance fly to campaign for Republicans in Tyler, Texas, a very red city in a very red state? Reports are, the party has given up on winning hearts and minds and is focusing on increasing voter turnout. But if the vice president has to do that even in a place like Tyler, it’s not a sign of faith in the midterm outcome.
Finally, the polls. To sum them up, Trump keeps sinking. On the war, on prices, on trust, on corruption. Which means prospects for his enablers and his party to hold onto power in Congress keep sinking with him. He’s been pushing people to “pretend I’m on the ballot.” It looks like they’re going to do that, but not the way he thinks.
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It is still too early to measure for new curtains in Congress, but Donald Trump has had a “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week,” and with election day just three weeks off and millions of Americans already voting by mail, that’s something he and his party cannot afford.
It is, however, excellent news for the rest of us.
© 2026 Greg Dobbs