As Trump fades from the daily news cycle, perhaps the biggest question is this: When the next inevitable scandal arrives, will anyone even notice?
As Trump fades from the daily news cycle, perhaps the biggest question is this: When the next inevitable scandal arrives, will anyone even notice?
In a shocking turn of events, former President Donald Trump has seemingly run out of controversies and scandals, leaving the media in a state of collective exhaustion. After years of constant headline-grabbing chaos, from Twitter meltdowns to government investigations, journalists across the country are reportedly experiencing a strange, unfamiliar phenomenon: silence.
“We’re completely burnt out,” admitted an anonymous news anchor who requested anonymity out of sheer fatigue. “At this point, if Trump does something wild like wrestles a bear on live TV, we’ll probably just shrug.”
News outlets that once thrived on Trump-driven content are now struggling to fill airtime. CNN’s primetime host Anderson Overworked sighed during a recent broadcast, “There’s only so many ways we can say, ‘He did WHAT now?!’ It’s just become too much.”
Fox News, once a bastion of Trumpian praise, has also found itself in an awkward position. Tucker Carlson, normally a master at finding ways to weave Trump into every monologue, recently confessed, “At this point, if he sets the White House on fire, we’ll just act like it’s Tuesday.”
The seemingly endless parade of Trump-related scandals has, oddly enough, created a new problem: desensitization. The sheer volume of incidents, each more bizarre than the last, has left the media and public numb. A political commentator for MSNBC admitted on air, “Honestly, I forgot about the whole thing with him wanting to buy Greenland until someone brought it up last week. And even then, it was like, ‘Wait, did that actually happen or was it just another fever dream?’”
The Greenland incident, once the pinnacle of “you can’t make this stuff up” Trumpism, has faded into a sea of forgotten headlines. The “perfect phone call” with Ukraine? Ancient history. The bleach-injecting COVID briefings? A distant memory. At one point, the word “unprecedented” was used so often that it was banned by the Associated Press style guide, which also added the phrases “bombshell” and “breaking news” to a list of “overused terminology” under Trump’s tenure.
Even the loudest Trump critics are now facing the unthinkable: Trump fatigue. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow recently threw her hands up and declared, “I just can’t keep track of which lawsuit he’s dodging or which cabinet member he’s fired anymore. Honestly, I’m starting to miss the simple scandals, like when he threw paper towels at hurricane victims. Those were the good old days.”
The New York Times, which used to devote entire teams to fact-checking his statements, has downsized their Trump fact-checking department. “We ran out of red ink,” one editor confessed. “At this point, it’s easier to just assume it’s not true and move on.”
Perhaps the most striking example of how far things have fallen is the fact that Trump’s two impeachments—normally a career-ending event for any politician—are barely footnotes in the national conversation. “Oh yeah, he was impeached twice, wasn’t he?” remarked a confused panelist on The View. “I totally forgot. And wait, wasn’t there something about Russia? Or was that just a Netflix series?”
For his part, Trump seems unfazed by the dwindling interest in his escapades. “The media loves me. They can’t live without me,” he boasted in a recent rally. “I give them ratings. Tremendous ratings. But now they’re just tired, folks. They’re tired of winning.” He paused for dramatic effect. “But I’m not tired of winning.”
However, even his own base seems to have reached a saturation point. One longtime supporter from Florida, wearing a tattered MAGA hat, admitted, “I used to get riled up about everything he did, but now… well, I dunno, it’s just kinda background noise. Last week, I heard he wanted to move Mount Rushmore to Mar-a-Lago and I barely even blinked.”
As Trump’s controversies enter the realm of the surreal and forgotten, analysts predict that the media may have no choice but to pivot to other content. “We’re thinking about bringing back the old days of investigative reporting,” a Washington Post editor mused, cautiously. “Remember when we used to write about policy or, I don’t know, actual governance?”
Meanwhile, the public appears to be adjusting to a post-Trump-scandal world. Social media platforms that once erupted over each new bombshell now find themselves curiously quiet. “Honestly, I miss the drama,” said one user on Twitter, “It’s like watching a soap opera and then suddenly the writers just give up and stop caring.”
As Trump fades from the daily news cycle, perhaps the biggest question is this: When the next inevitable scandal arrives, will anyone even notice? Or, as one weary reporter put it, “At this point, if he declares himself King of America, we’ll probably just tweet about it and move on.”
Time will tell.
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