Trump tried to silence the wrong man and he’s not going to like what happens next

Just after midnight last night, I was woken up by a loud sound outside. I was on my feet before I had even finished the thought, my brain immediately going to our family safety plan. A year or two ago, that same sound would have meant absolutely nothing to me. A noise in the middle of the night was just a noise. But that is not the country we are living in now. And when I woke up and reached for my phone, I saw that the President of the United States had woken up thinking about violence too. The difference is that I am horrified by it, and he is entertained by it.Based on the events of 5-24-2026The Breakdown:Trump posted a fake image of a plane carrying the American flag firing missiles into boats, bodies flying through the air, with "Adios" in giant red lettersHe posted a pretend movie poster called "The Shady Bunch," featuring fake mug shots of his political enemies in orange prison jumpsuits, including James Comey and Barack ObamaThe irony of a man convicted of 34 felony counts posting images of people who have not been convicted of anythingAn image captioned "China Loves Trump," followed by photos of him clasping hands with Xi JinpingA photo of himself with Xi under giant text reading "President Trump gets YOUNGER." He turns 80 next monthWhat every one of these posts reveals about what Trump is most afraid of: his own decline, his own irrelevance, his own crimes catching up to himThe real story underneath the memes: there is no Iran dealTrump admitted the negotiations are still proceeding, that nobody has seen it, and that it isn't even fully negotiated yetWhy his version will likely be worse than the deal he tore upThe White House has reportedly been urging Republicans to publicly tweet support for an Iran deal that nobody has seenWhy authoritarian leaders manufacture spectacle when they have nothing real to offer, from Mussolini's parades to Soviet announcements of record harvestsThe psychological weight of living in a country where violence is the background hum of lifeHow cruelty flows downhill when the man at the top treats violence as entertainmentCongressman Thomas Massie said on Meet the Press he will read more names from the Epstein filesMassie accused Acting AG Todd Blanche of violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act by sitting on millions of filesMassie: "Even Melania doesn't believe" that Epstein acted aloneHow Trump ended Massie's House career by backing a challenger, and in doing so took the last restraint off a man with nothing left to loseWhy the Transparency Act is the law and runs for years, so if this Justice Department won't release the files, the next one is legally obligated toThat is what his insecurity does. It makes him careless. It makes him lash out at the very people he most needs to keep quiet. He thought he was eliminating a problem. What he actually did was unleash it. He is on his way out, whether he understands that yet or not, and a cornered man making enemies he cannot afford is a gift to the rest of us.*This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.