What Wannabe Cosplayer-in-Chief Doesn’t Grab
[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]
Trump cosplayed this weekend before his Nazi love fest in Madison Square Garden, using a photo of himself in his McDonald’s costume in a social media post:
Funny how he depicts Biden in real presidential attire, as if Trump’s unconscious recognizes he is not presidential while Biden is.
(Trump also claimed unearned credit for repairing ice cream equipment resolved wholly without his participation in any way.)
He cosplayed once again today, pretending to drive a truck:
It’s still just dress up, though.
Trump is playing around, including using his image like a child would have used a paper doll decades ago. Pop Mr. Trump in a McDonald’s drive-thru, add his nemesis Mr. Biden with an ice cream because Mr. Biden likes ice cream, get it? What a good job, Donnie. What will you do with a photo of you “driving” a truck?
Meanwhile, reality grinds on, chewing up real lives and crushing real futures.
Trump’s responses to reality remain as flat and shallow as his playtime.
~ ~ ~
I had a moment recently, before Trump indulged in his McDonald’s cosplay fixation. I was triggered deeply as I packed up to leave my classroom; I made it to my car where I managed to fend off a PTSD panic attack.
Yes, I’m back in school. I’m pursuing another degree as part of a personal goal. I’m on campus in class several times a week. It’s a little awkward at times being older than the rest of the students, half of which are freshmen, not to mention being older than the instructors.
At my age the experience is also a solid kick in the head. Two months into class I’ve realized that I’ve forgotten so much about my own experience beginning college. My fellow students bring it all back.
I had forgotten how goddamned poor I was then. Some weeks I just barely scraped by living on dimes obtained by scavenging soft drink cans and turning them it for the deposit money. Thank goodness Michigan has had a bottle deposit law for decades or it would have been even worse.
A classmate reminded me unintentionally of the experience when they mentioned they would have to see if they could afford the necessary supplies for our next class segment after they got their next paycheck.
In contrast, as soon as I had received an email that I was approved for this class I’d ordered everything I needed all at once. I order double of a few items, didn’t even give the cost a second thought.
It wasn’t always this way. Back in 1978 when I was starving student I’d have had to ask for extra hours at work or find a way to defer a payment in order to purchase something required for a class.
Eventually I had to leave school because I couldn’t afford tuition and fees. In the big picture it all worked out – I landed jobs with companies that paid my tuition – but my late teens and early twenties were really grim. The Reagan years I’d rather not recall at all, thank you.
It was incredibly difficult to make ends meet on 20-36 hours a week at minimum wage jobs. I was fortunate I never had to work in fast food though I’d applied for my share of those jobs. I dreaded the possibility I’d not only get shitty hours I couldn’t count on from week to week, but I might come home smelling like catsup-mustard-onions-pickles with a coating of fryer grease.
A close friend who worked for a major fast food chain couldn’t get the odor out of their hair and skin; it embedded itself in any synthetic fabric. They smelled like a Wendy’s burger for as long as they worked there. Kamala Harris knows what this is like, the feeling of being branded by a necessary but short-term low-wage job.
Cosplayers don’t have to deal with that reality.
Because I worked in retail for a decade, my uniform was business professional with nylons and heels. No apron or hairnet required but 4 to 8 hours on your feet in 2-3 inch heels isn’t fun. It screws with your feet and posture for years afterward.
(Heel spurs, Donnie? Hah. What a pussy.)
Doing stock work in this kind of attire is also distinctly unpleasant, humping bulky and heavy inventory from boxes in the back room to the front of the store to hang on rods you may have just finished waxing, also part of the job while wearing a smile for customers.
I dreaded the stock work because I might ruin a pair of pantyhose. They’d cost me a couple hours’ pay to replace before my next shift. Don’t snap off a heel or break a shoe strap because that’s a week’s pay to repair and more to replace.
Gods help me if the vehicle I relied on – not mine as I couldn’t afford payments, plates, insurance – needed repairs, the cost of which I’d have to help absorb.
If you’re cosplaying you don’t have to worry about little financial set backs like these.
Thankfully I was healthy then. I also didn’t have to worry about my family or daycare at the time.
Unfortunately my classmate not only has to count pennies to afford the next class segment, but their remaining parent is suffering from a life-threatening illness. You know where much of the household’s income is going – right into Big Pharma’s pockets.
That detail isn’t included in the cosplay kit.
Cosplaying a minimum wage worker’s job is simply not the same as actually doing their job, not the same as living their life.
It’s so fucking hard in reality that I “forgot” about it decades later, blocking the unpleasantness of hardship. I also know that it’s considerably more difficult now than it was back then. Health care alone is a nightmare, even with Affordable Care Act coverage.
~ ~ ~
Math is also not part of the cosplayer’s kit.
In reality, the math is inescapable.
There’s no escaping the fact the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and it’s been that since 2009. Minimum tipped wage is $2.13 per hour provided base wage and tips total $7.25 per hour.
States’ minimum wage may be more, but 21 states’ minimum wages are also $7.25 per hour.
Doesn’t matter if individual state’s cost of living index is higher or lower than the average.
Which means the expenses have steadily outstripped wages for years.
Minimum wage jobs are rarely full-time because employers who need cheap labor also don’t want to pay unemployment. The most part-time workers can expect is 36 hours a week and probably not regularly to avoid the appearance of full-time work.
Most will average 20-36 hours a week.
Which means gross pay is somewhere between $145 and $261 a week, or $7540 to $13572 a year.
Now take those numbers and analyze them using NerdWallet’s average monthly expenses by category:
The average expenditures among all consumer units totaled $77,280 annually. That’s up 5.9% from 2022.
Average monthly expenses for housing:
Average expenses for housing totaled $25,436 annually. That works out to $2,120 per month.Average monthly expenses for transportation:
$13,174 annually. That works out to $1,098 per month.Average monthly expenses for food:
$9,985 annually. That works out to $832 per month.Average monthly expenses for personal insurance and pensions:
$9,556 annually. That works out to $796 per month.Average monthly expenses for entertainment:
$3,635 annually. That works out to $302 per month.
Average. Monthly. Expenses. There’s no way a single person working 20-36 hours a week for federal minimum wage comes close to covering half of these expenses, even if insurance, pensions, and entertainment are completely removed from the calculations.
BLS Employment Cost Index for July 31, 2024 indicates wages have increased, but whose wages and where?
… Wages and salaries increased 4.2 percent for the 12-month period ending in June 2024 and increased 4.6 percent for the 12-month period ending in June 2023. Benefit costs increased 3.8 percent over the year and increased 4.2 percent for the 12-month period ending in June 2023. …
Chances are good these increases still don’t make a dent anywhere in the U.S. when benefits also increased and corporations continue to gouge consumers on top of it to make record profits.
Cosplayer TFG may actually know a little bit about this but from the perspective of a landlord and an employer. He’s cheated renters in his lifetime violating the Fair Housing Act and hired undocumented workers repeatedly because he won’t pay a living or legally-mandated wage to documented workers.
No cosplay required – the guy who’s familiar with this bit of economics wears a blue suit and red tie when he’s not wearing a white golf shirt and khaki golf slacks.
He wants to do this kind of cheating on housing and wages all the time to every American.
No costume required to be an asshole.
~ ~ ~
Let me be more direct: Cosplayer TFG has avoided answering questions about increasing the minimum wage, failing to respect working Americans by offering a bullshit response:
Trump held a campaign photo op Sunday at a McDonald’s in swing-state Pennsylvania, where he was asked about raising the minimum wage.
“Well, I think this. These people work hard. They’re great,” the Republican nominee responded.
The vice president pounced on the remark, criticizing Trump on Monday by saying that she “absolutely” believed in raising the minimum wage to ensure that “hardworking Americans, whether they’re working at McDonald’s or anywhere else, should have at least the ability to be able to take care of their family.”
No wonder he hid behind his McDonald’s costume or climbed into another truck cab.
~ ~ ~
I wish I could assure my classmate that there’s an end to this hardship in sight soon, that there will be elected officials who will work as hard as they do to ensure they get the opportunities they need and a lifeline when necessary.
But that’s on all of you who have yet to vote and aren’t in my class this term.
We aren’t going back. Do something and make this better. Vote for someone who understands what it’s going to take and is willing to do it. Vote for the candidates down ticket who’ll help her deliver.
Vote for somebody who isn’t going to cosplay at working while being a fascist slacker in reality.
Can’t recommend enough going back to school. Take two classes, entry level, in an area of study new to you — one class on campus, one class remote.
Holy shit. The experience has changed a LOT even in the last five years.
For the record, I fucking hate Microsoft Outlook Office for Enterprise. And I detest whatever digital learning platform I have to use (to be named at a later date). They’re wretchedly not intuitive to use and I have used a myriad number of online platforms.
I can’t imagine starting a new part-time minimum wage job in addition to this mess.
Oh, and Marcy’s probably right about this as she generally is.
I guess that really does make Trump the paper dolly being played with like a prop.
I obviously take the point that reliance on stunts is intended to conceal the weakness of Trump as the heart of the campaign
But this stunt might nevertheless be a dangerous message.
Stunts evoke an emotional connection, conveying “a message” of which the rationale is usually ambiguous or incoherent, but the point is always “I am a man of the People, your retribution, let’s own the libs some more, how dare they call you garbage”
This particular stunt may make his base more energised to fight back after the floating garbage island has hit the election chances badly in some areas.And surely in purely electoral terms, the wound to the prospects of the Pro-Trump votes from Puerto Rican communities and wider Latino communities is greater than whatever may be gained by energy generated in a fight back after Biden’s flub.
But this stunt is also a way of doubling down on the true purpose of the original Hinchcliffe “joke” — that Trump the garbage disposal man will get rid of the real trash people, with the base more inclined than ever to be vocally spiteful about who ought to be treated as garbage and tossed away, and more inclined that ever, fuelled by a sense of righteous indignation to take whatever steps are necessary to ‘get the win for Trump’. And the stunt makes the spite memorable and fun. This dark joy is no joke.
It’s absolutely essential that these stunts are called out as such and loudly, that the attempted appeal to his racist base is mocked. Trump was an ineffectual leader during his term in office, treating the presidency like a stage on which he performed for wealthy sponsors, leaders of hostile nations, and his grift’s marks. He shouldn’t get another chance to pretend to lead to the nation’s detriment.
None of his bullshit playacting in costume helps working Americans get any closer to making ends meet.
Who’s *really* taking out the trash, Donald? It’s not you with your white shirts and soft little hands.
Your post weighs in with the thunder of a drop forge, in a moment giving clear dimension and form to the heretofore amorphous pile of msm goo.
I also went back to my alma mater for a class – it was captivating not only because for once I was equal to the challenge of the material being taught, but to note that my classmates were young enough to be my grandchildren, the same age as my wife and I when we got engaged. (That was then.) Like old times, I was the smartass at the back of the room only this time I pulled the grade to have earned the privilege.
What did you learn from your classmates?
Mine have been more valuable than the curriculum.
Unless Donald was driving that lorry along the M25, he’s in the wrong seat. If it’s his garbage truck, he should be the cargo in the back.
A lot of trash trucks have right-hand drive. Not all, but the ones that are side-loaders, picking up cans from the curbs, are. Rear-loaders like that one? I don’t know. (The city where I lived when I worked at the landfill didn’t have rear-loaders, just front and side. And the commercial haulers were front-loaders, too. Same in L.A.)
DSNY (New York’s Strongest) has rear-loaders that drive on both sides. You drive on the side you’re picking up. Saves you running around the front of the cab getting out and getting back in. In NYC it’s a two person job.
Doesn’t matter, it’s cosplay. When have you seen a trash collector in a white button-down long-sleeved dress shirt? He just slapped on the vest, jumped into the cab, and presto, his costume play is complete.
and according to several videos i saw via Mastodon,nearly busted his fat ass twice trying to gt in…
Poor Donnie. If only a 40-foot dry van or a garbage truck was as low to the ground as a golf cart.
I was a tad annoyed at the Guardian’s recent push to get people to talk about their “relationship” with the now 40(?) year old Excel. I never knew people had relationships with software. Seemed like a subsidized infomercial for a company that can afford to pay for its own advertising.
The thing is, as an accountant with 30 years of experience, I have a very deep relationship with Excel. It is probably my favorite, most versatile piece of software, and I could tell plenty of stories about it. (Just don’t make me use the Mac version.)
I mostly use LibreOffice now, but I have MS Office still. (O2007’s Excel isn’t happy with Win10.)
ETA: (The first time I met Excel was in 1989. On a Mac.)
As a software developer, I’ve seen a lot of customers & clients, both “technical” and otherwise, insist on using Excel for everything.
Getting the capability specifications for large household appliances in Excel spreadsheets was probably the most egregious, especially since they couldn’t consistently fill in the damn data. A simple text file would’ve worked fine, but… nonono, it was what they used internally and so I had to use it too. “When all you have is a hammer”, etc. etc.
A golden-oldie on the dangers of Excel in the wrong hands:
Economists, an Excel error, and the misguided push for austerity (from 2013)
https://theconversation.com/economists-an-excel-error-and-the-misguided-push-for-austerity-13584
Of course, being a Harvard economists means never having to say you’re sorry. Or having to retract the paper.
I posted earlier today on my Threads and Facebook feeds because I received my text from CA that the San Diego Registrar of voters had both received and processed my ballot (dropped it in the box on Monday).
I’ve given to various campaigns where I can, because we need to take Congress also. We can’t keep having people like Jim Jordan, Elise Stefanik, and others in the majority in the House, and the Senate is in jeopardy every day Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley don’t follow their actuarial tables.
I have a limited web footprint, but where I’ve seen it lately on friends’ feeds, if someone posts disrespectful comments (like Trump Derangement Syndrome) or worse, Russian propaganda (like Biden crime family), I block them and report them both. I hate liars.
Longer term, we need to get rid of the distinction between non-profit and profit corporations. If you are an organization for tax reporting purposes, you owe Gross Income Tax. It doesn’t matter where you are based or who you are. Call it a Market Access Tax, or a Market Transaction Tax. If you are making money in America, you owe taxes on that, GROSS. I don’t care if it is contribution to a church or a PAC or any other organization, money shuffled to a fake corporation (like any of the fakes Donny used), a political compaign – you owe taxes on your gross earnings. I don’t care (no one really does) about your fake cost structures where you fake like you don’t have any money. Fuck you, pay taxes on what you make here.
“Now take those numbers and analyze them using”
$800 a month for food for ONE PERSON? WTF are they eating?
Average, PJ. We don’t know the state (like Hawaii or Alaska), we don’t know what’s considered “food” — is that ALL grocery expenses including paper goods? Does it include takeout for people who don’t know how to cook or don’t have facilities to do so?
Rent at an average $1300 per month — a number I’ve seen recently elsewhere, need to find the source — makes the rest of this exercise unnecessary because there’s almost nothing left.
$1300 a month for rent is not much more than I’m paying, and that’s nearly all of my SS check. I’m lucky I have savings.
It’s less than my youngest is paying.
And then there’s the cost of moving — first month, a full month for deposit, fees to exit the last place, fees to start the new place, and I’m sure I’m missing another expense. Oh, truck rental and whatever the cost of labor may be; if one is lucky it’s only pizza and beer for helpful friends.
from friends and family in NC that rent, it’s accurate…
People in this country here complain (Canada), whine like ..never mind.
Jaysus they’ve no idea how much worse it could be. $7.25 an hour? No one, student or otherwise would work for that wage here. I doubt illegals would lol
I would go further. TFG learned the power of kayfab cosplaying as a wrestler on TV. Go to a professional wrestling match. The audience is trumps audience. The MAGA movement is just kayfab. Hulk Hogan played his character for the MSG rally. A character he has played for decades. Wrestlers cut themselves regularly to ad color to the match. It makes the crowd go crazy. If you have ever seen this happen, the similarities are striking to TFGs campaign.
Discussed before:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/10/21/donald-j-trump-cosplayer/
He’s running to kayfabe the presidency but he can only manage cosplay. Neither are acceptable in a presidential candidate and the White House.
Bread and circuses.
Red meat for the mob.
“Sooner or later pain becomes too great for fear and when the people’s fear has gone the regime will have to go.”
Hire a clown, get a circus.