https://steveschmidt.substack.com/p/one-shoe-at-a-time
~~ recommended by newestbeginning ~~
I guess this is just a way to debase and humiliate people... but that they all pretend it is "normal" and go along with it... shows how crazy these people are.
I can’t stop looking at this photograph of Little Marco wearing his Trump shoes three sizes too big:
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The US Secretary of State is a shine boy. He’s a professional kneeler and glazer, who is a laughingstock on the world stage. A kept man.
All of Trump’s men wear the shoes, regardless of the fit.
Trump decides, and that is all there is to it. He imagines the size, and his men get the shoes. Beautiful shoes. The best shoes.
It’s a beautiful arrangement. Though Trump’s minions aren’t so lucky as to have diamonds on the soles of their shoes, the footwear does come with a “Scarlett T” that will be forever branded onto the forehead of Trump’s sycophants.
They are as close to pets as Trump has ever had — except unlike most owners, Trump has no affections for his charges. He is their alpha and omega; their purpose, life and calling. He has given them power for the price of their dignity and obedience. All that is required is to keep quiet, and make sure to practice gratitude for shoes three sizes too big — or unnecessary wars.
The men who wear Trump shoes have started a war, and it is almost three weeks old.
When it began Trump said the following:
Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world…
…For these reasons, the United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests…
…Finally, to the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand…when we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.
Today, there are more than 5,000 US Marines headed to the region, and the US has succeeded in replacing one Ayatollah Khamenei for another Ayatollah Khamenei.
Donald Trump was warned that the Iranians would close the Strait of Hormuz, and create as much economic chaos as possible in order to survive the attack.
He didn’t listen.
Now what?
Trump, one of the few people in history to go bankrupt running a casino, now has a choice.
He can either back down, or double down.
Trump will double down.
He will escalate.
While escalating, the reasons for the war will change rapidly from moment to moment, day to day, week to week.
Remember, America the invincible, guided by Trump, chosen by God, can’t lose a war. It’s a game after all, according to the White House, which posted this on X:
Each week, more Americans will be killed.
Each week, more bombs will be dropped.
Each week, Trump and his shoe men will tell the country that we are winning something they told the country we won the week before. The contradictions will come faster and faster until it doesn’t matter anymore.
The only thing that will be consistent is the war will grind forward.
What Trump has tried has not worked.
His gamble has failed, and he doesn’t have a plan.
Wars are not won by blaming the media, but Donald doesn’t see it that way.
He doesn’t particularly care about losing a war. What he cares most about is being seen as weak, which means what lies ahead is a growing chasm of credibility between what is real and what is make-believe because, in the end, reality doesn’t matter to Donald Trump.
Winning does.
Winning what?
He wants to be praised as a great war lord on the Mar-a-Lago patio.
That is what victory looks like for Trump.
For the country, it looks like catastrophe.
This war is not going well.
America is losing Donald’s war of choice. He promised peace, and started a war in the Middle East.
There are now 20 countries involved in the fighting.
Trump is ringed by venomous clowns who have total disregard for the concepts of duty, honor and country. Together, they are the architects of a disaster that cannot quite be seen yet, but is coming fast.
The bill is coming due for 11 years of Donald Trump.
It will be brutal.
Someday, the rancid history of this era will be written.
It will be a pitiful tale, and it should start with the shoes.
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How did it happen?
I suppose the answer is one shoe at a time.
xxxxxxx
Here is Marc Elias talking about the same bizarre phenomena
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When Joseph Stalin took the stage, applause wasn’t just standard. It meant your freedom.
As the crowd thundered with cheers, no one dared to break first. Not after two minutes. Not after four. Not after six. As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote in “The Gulag Archipelago,” “It was becoming insufferably silly even to those who adored Stalin.”
Finally, after 11 minutes, one man — the director of a paper factory — broke the spell. And with that one act of independence, he sealed his fate. The director was arrested that evening.
On his interrogation document, an important lesson was inked into the pages: “Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding!”
Now, Donald Trump’s men are learning the same lesson — the humiliating way. Although this time, the question is different: “Who will be the first to take off their shoes?” |
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Across Washington, D.C., a new fashion trend has taken hold of those in Trump’s circle: embarrassingly oversized clown shoes.
More specifically, a pair of $145 Florsheim oxfords. Trump is apparently obsessed with the shoes, and it’s getting weird. According to the Wall Street Journal, the president has taken to handing them out to Cabinet members, advisors and White House VIPs. He even makes it a game: guessing people’s shoe size, placing an order and then signing the box.
Forget policy and matters of government. At Cabinet meetings, Trump jumps in to ask, “Did you get the shoes?” As one female staffer noted, “All the boys have them.”
But this isn’t the type of gift horse you can safely look in the mouth. Another female White House staffer joked, “It’s hysterical because everybody’s afraid not to wear them.” Like Stalin, Trump is paying attention to see who stops clapping first. Trump’s shoe test borders on humiliation ritual. They appear much too big on most of the recipients, and with their pants hemmed to match the president’s absurdly short length, it’s comical. One might assume that Trump purchases the incorrect sizes on purpose. |
As Trump quipped to an (unnamed) politician who wears a size 7, “You know you can tell a lot about a man by his shoe size.”
So far, confirmed shoe victims include J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Howard Lutnick, Sean Hannity and Lindsey Graham. There are surely more who are suffering in silence.
Trump’s clown shoe antics are somehow beyond “insufferably silly.” It is so blatantly on the nose that if this were a novel, I would be required to suspend my disbelief.
And this isn’t just about an ill-fitting shoe. The president’s strange side-quest perfectly captures the psychology of MAGA. In this circus we call a government, the clowns are the men surrounding Trump, and he is their idiotic ringmaster.
As he styles them to his liking, they are too afraid to disobey. If they take off the shoes, will he cast them out of his inner circle? Will he tarnish them on Truth Social? Will he send them to the gulag?
That last one isn’t a joke, nor is it an exaggeration. In an era of baseless political prosecutions, you are one wrong shoe away from facing an indictment.
As one cabinet secretary complained, he had to shelve his Louis Vuittons in favor of the president’s preferred style. What else has he had to shelve over the years to please the president? His morals? His values? His brain? |
While we have all been visually assaulted by the clown shoes, we have also felt the consequences of Trump’s hold on the Republican Party.
Sen. Susan Collins has done pirouettes around her policy positions in order to please Trump. The Department of Justice has found itself on the other side of its own lawsuit in its quest to demand voter rolls and rig the midterms. And just recently, Sen. John Cornyn — who is facing an intense runoff election — has flipped on the filibuster to appease Trump on the SAVE America Act.
The list of spineless capitulations is practically endless. If MAGA men can’t stand up to Trump on the shoes they choose to wear, what can they stand up to the president on? The answer is easy: nothing. While Trump’s circle can’t find the strength to disagree with the president, it’s worth noting that Weyco, the parent company of Trump’s beloved Florsheim, is currently suing the administration over tariffs.
Businesses may oppose Trump’s policies, the public may be worried for democracy, and protestors may be taking to the streets — but the audience won’t stop clapping. They have learned Solzhenitsyn’s lesson.
The Republican Party will follow Trump off a cliff — and given their footwear, they will likely trip over the edge. |
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