This is what the GQP/MAGAT Cult have become. They stroke Agolf Shitler's massive yet fragile ego. They suck up to him left, right, and down the middle. They figure that producing fake and meaningless trophies will keep him happy and they will get to keep their power and privilege. The problem they are left with is this: there is no possible way to end the adulation. Shitler needs it all the time. He is an admiration addict. There is never an amount of adoration that is enough. That bucket of worship is never ever going to be full. The GQP/MAGAT Cult have turned themselves into his drug dealers.
P.S.: Every kid on earth knows participation trophies aren't worth a bucket of warm spit. They make the givers feel better and the recipients feel worse.
TRUTH all the way, AND "HE" deserves the truth NOT a pat on the back or any kind of reward. Feeding his ego will get you nowhere. All you have to do is be on the receiving end of the bully and you eventually find out it would have been better to just let it go.
Any "prize" given to the evil & demented Trump automatically denigrates the stature of the giver of the prize. I doubt many would disagree with that statement.
Beautifully stated, as always. Clearly you were more mature at 10 than this "man" is at 80. The damage inflicted by his sick, fragile ego and those who have indulged and encouraged it cannot be overstated. Is there a more apt description than contemptible? I considered "pathetic," but that implies inspiring pity, which I will never grant him.
"The narrated video described the prize as recognizing 'an individual who has taken extraordinary action for peace, and in doing so, helped unite people across the globe.'"
But, but, hasn't he? The whole world hates us now. As Trump would say--it's a unity like no one has ever seen before!
"Mike Johnson basically went to Kinkos, typed something up in bold, laminated it, and handed it to the leader of the free world like it was a certificate of completion for not eating the glue."
Yes, and while he was at it, he should have gotten little, imitative green versions made for all the Republicans in Congress, House and Senate alike. For like Mike, they have had a lot of time on their hands as they have all been participants in Trump's psychodrama, breathlessly competing for Most Supine "Patriot".
But this is the culmination of neoRepublicanism that Mike Johnson so skillfully embodies. Honed and perfected after years of trying to do absolutely nothing while collecting a paycheck and luxe benefits, including sucking the country dry. We never dreamed we'd reach this point, so awards are in order, no? We, and by that I mean the benighted half of our voting populace, have given the moronic monster not one, but two, chances to turn the envy of the world into a failed nation. As the team that has ensured this victory--a strong win, never seen before!--attention must be paid.
I hope their true reward will be bestowed in November with the perks of that recognition to follow--investigation, reform and punishment. In this case, the participation award should be quite significant.
I read your article bright and early this morning. As I read I began to laugh. Because of it being Easter morn I didn't have the time to respond at the early hour. Needed more time to giggle and think about it. The green ribbon award was not apart of my experience. But it was a reminder of what in my elementary, first grade no less, there was a playday. Out on our play ground (and I do mean ground) each class had to perform something. For weeks my first grade class had been practicing the Hokey Pokey. I hated it--had trouble knowing which hand or foot went in and where because right and left didn't seem obvious back then. Awful. Not sure about prizes, but we performed. Still dislike the Hokey Pokey to this day. So Your discussion on the progression forward to everyone getting a ribbon was hilarious. I think the "educators" were trying to do a good thing so kids could feel good about not feeling they were a loser, but as you figured out as a kid--it didn't work well. In my day the best spelling goose led the flock across the length of the blackboard. Each goose had a classmates name. I believe my goose was generally last in line. (Still not going to win a spelling contest--but that is and was not a life goal.) But I did enjoy cutting goose shapes. And I was the best rope jumper in the first great. No ribbon needed. I knew I was best because if you missed you had to turn the rope. Never had to take a turn at turning the rope for another jumper. (PS--spelling games and the hokey pokey are games I avoid to this day. Emoji's are a great discovery. No spelling needed.🙃 )
In all seriousness. Those special prizes to Trump are embarrassingly shameful. How a 3 year-old might be treated. Mike Johnson sounded like he was talking to a child not even in Kindergarten. So laughable. And FIFA Peace Prize. They protect his ego with fake awards. The America First Award for the new golden era. Pathetic. Trump is the only one falling for this. I liked your word for those doing this: sycophantic enablers.
Well the truth should set us free, but the guys enabling are Trump are silly but dangerous.
On this Easter Sunday, I smiled from the time awoke and still smiling. Your article gets a gold star ward.🌟Hope you had a good day. Thanks for all you do. Peace: 🕊️❤️🙏❤️
❤️💙❤️💙 Maxine, this made me laugh. First of all, I am glad the piece gave you something to giggle over on Easter morning, and your Hokey Pokey story absolutely paints the picture. There is something very funny and very human about being traumatized by a first-grade performance because right and left refused to cooperate. And your point underneath the story is a good one: a lot of these supposedly kind little efforts to protect kids from ever feeling bad do not actually work the way adults imagine they will.
I also loved the spelling goose story. That is such a specific classroom memory, and honestly it gets at something important. Not everybody is going to be the best at spelling, and that is fine. You knew spelling was not your lane, but rope jumping was. No ribbon needed. You knew where you stood because reality had a way of sorting that out on its own. That is part of growing up too—learning what you are good at, what you are not, and realizing neither one has to destroy you.
Your broader point about Trump is dead on. These fake honors are embarrassingly shameless, and Mike Johnson really did sound like a cheerleader trying to date the star quarterback. And I am not calling Trump a star quarterback, but in the minds of MAGA he is their everything, so they keep wrapping him in this weird pageantry and overpraise like he is some combination of football hero, messiah, and homecoming king. It is ridiculous to watch, especially when the praise is so overdone that it sounds like they are talking to a toddler who just managed to clap without falling over.
And yes, the FIFA Peace Prize, the America First Award, all of it sounds fake because it basically is fake. These are ego bandages disguised as honors. They are not protecting the public. They are protecting one man’s feelings. That is what makes it so pathetic. Trump may be the only one buying the act completely, but the people enabling it are still dangerous because they keep feeding the performance and giving it institutional cover.
I am glad the phrase “sycophantic enablers” landed for you, because that really is what they are. Silly, yes. But also dangerous, exactly as you said. That combination is part of what makes this moment so absurd and so bleak at the same time.
Thank you for this lovely comment, and for the gold star award. I will gladly accept that one. I hope you had a beautiful Easter Sunday too. ❤️💙🙏❤️
Jeff, that is certainly one way to mark the occasion. Crude as the image is, I get the point: a lot of people feel like this country has been subjected to one long national humiliation ritual ever since he came back.
The phony awards going to Trump are ridiculous, but I actually see some value in participation mementos (not trophies).
Around age 16 or 17, I entered a 5K walking race. The weekend of the race, I was getting over a bad cold and had to stop frequently to cough and blow my nose. My overall place was dead last. I ended up winning first in my age group, because nobody else showed up. That medal went in a box and is still kicking around somewhere.
Later, I got into running casually and entered some amateur races. I never came close to getting any sort of medal, but I wore the participant/finisher shirts to the gym for years after. It meant a lot more to have recognition for doing something difficult and being bad at it than winning first place by default.
David, I think you’re making an important distinction that often gets lost in these conversations. There is value in participation acknowledgment when it’s tied to effort, experience, or doing something meaningful—even if you’re not the best at it. Your example about the races captures that perfectly. Finishing something difficult, even if you’re nowhere near first place, can mean a lot more than “winning” by default when no one else shows up. Those finisher shirts and small mementos carry a different kind of pride because they’re tied to doing the work.
Where I tend to separate things is exactly where you’re pointing: intent. When the goal is to recognize effort or completion, that can be meaningful. But when it’s framed like a competition and then everyone gets the same “award,” it starts to feel hollow.
For me, field day as a kid is the perfect example. Those ribbons for just being there never made me feel good, because they didn’t represent anything I actually earned. It felt like the acknowledgment was disconnected from performance, and that made it meaningless.
On the other hand, I’ve received acknowledgment or participation honors for things like the MS Walk or donating to St. Jude’s and cancer research, and that felt completely different. I didn’t do those things to compete—I did them to contribute. I still have my AIDS Walk Los Angeles certificate, and I’m proud of that, because it represents being part of something that mattered. That wasn’t about winning anything. It was about showing up for a cause.
So I agree with you: participation mementos can absolutely have value. But the value comes from why you’re participating. If it’s about effort, contribution, or pushing yourself, it can mean something. If it’s just a stand-in for competition without standards, it tends to fall flat.
Thanks, Kristoffer. I think the key point in all this is the enabling and encouragement of a person who was never schooled properly. At some point in his life, little Donny was belittled, put down, by parents, teachers, coaches, whoever. He was not taught that everyone loses and it’s ok. It’s life. So a little monster was created, and fed, and blown up like a Macy’s Day parade balloon. And not enough people along the way popped that balloon. And now we have powerful leaders egging this monstrous balloon on for their own self-serving reasons to all our detriment.
Sure hope there’s a happy ending to all this. It doesn’t look good.
A bunch of empty suits giving a boy with an empty soul a bunch of empty trophies is what this is about.
It will be really interesting how the World Cup plays out with ICE harassing people traveling to the U.S. (assuming any come here for the games). Infantino will justifiably looks like an absolute fool when that happens.
Hmm. Dunno. If green ribbon awards had been extant when the wee orange one was in elementary school (which they weren’t), his favorite color now would be Green not Gold, and the DOJ building banner as well as dear leader’s complexion would be fluttering green and the Oval Office laced with thousands of green ribbons. After all, green ribbons are just the dark side of a Woke dream, don’t ya think? And for the future? The hall of presidential photos will be blessed with a single, lonely green ribbon denoting the ex-47th.
Alan & Jan, I see exactly what you’re doing there, and the satire lands. The image of everything turning green—banners, ribbons, the whole aesthetic—gets at how quickly symbolism can be repurposed once it becomes useful to the brand. None of it is about consistency. It’s about whatever reinforces the image in the moment.
Your point about green ribbons being framed as the “dark side” of something else is especially sharp, because it highlights how easily meanings get flipped depending on who’s holding the microphone. The same people who rail against participation trophies or “woke” symbolism will turn around and embrace their own version of it the second it serves their narrative.
And that idea of a single, lonely green ribbon marking the ex-47th in the future—that’s doing a lot of work. It captures both the absurdity of the moment and the possibility that, over time, these performative gestures won’t age the way they think they will. Symbols stick around, but not always in the way they were intended.
What you’re really getting at is that this isn’t about values—it’s about aesthetics, branding, and control over meaning. Once you see it that way, the color almost doesn’t matter. It could be green, gold, or anything else. The point is the performance.
Given Regime Leader Trump’s moral proclivities, and Mike Johnson’s obsessive sycophancy for Herr Trump, I would not be surprised if Herr Trump opened a house of prostitution in Nevada and M Johnson played the piano in the front parlor. Then Johnson could award Herr Trump a gold ribbon for Best Madam (but I bet he would secretly award him a green ribbon for his moral compass or lack thereof!).
James, I get the point you’re making beneath the imagery. What you’re really describing is a system built on flattery and loyalty where the usual standards—merit, character, accountability—get pushed aside in favor of rewarding whoever plays their role best in the performance.
That dynamic you’re pointing to with Mike Johnson and others isn’t really about ideology as much as it is about proximity to power. When political actors start treating leadership like something to be served rather than questioned, you end up with exactly what you described—people willing to validate anything, no matter how absurd, as long as it keeps them in good standing.
And that’s where the whole “green ribbon” idea comes back into play. These kinds of symbolic rewards stop meaning anything because they’re no longer tied to accomplishment. They become props in a larger show, handed out to reinforce loyalty or create the illusion of greatness.
Your comment is colorful, but the underlying critique is serious: when the people around power stop acting like independent actors and start acting like an audience, the entire system gets weaker—and a lot more ridiculous at the same time.
This is what the GQP/MAGAT Cult have become. They stroke Agolf Shitler's massive yet fragile ego. They suck up to him left, right, and down the middle. They figure that producing fake and meaningless trophies will keep him happy and they will get to keep their power and privilege. The problem they are left with is this: there is no possible way to end the adulation. Shitler needs it all the time. He is an admiration addict. There is never an amount of adoration that is enough. That bucket of worship is never ever going to be full. The GQP/MAGAT Cult have turned themselves into his drug dealers.
P.S.: Every kid on earth knows participation trophies aren't worth a bucket of warm spit. They make the givers feel better and the recipients feel worse.
TRUTH all the way, AND "HE" deserves the truth NOT a pat on the back or any kind of reward. Feeding his ego will get you nowhere. All you have to do is be on the receiving end of the bully and you eventually find out it would have been better to just let it go.
Any "prize" given to the evil & demented Trump automatically denigrates the stature of the giver of the prize. I doubt many would disagree with that statement.
I should feel sorry or something type of emotion but I can’t . Because this own pathological at play. I even think María Corina Machado is a pendeja .
Mari and The Nobel .. It Doesn’t Work That Way. When desire, pressure, and gesture collide with process and norms. https://bsky.app/profile/opsan.com/post/3mc72axc4v22b
Speaking of toddlers: No Prize. No Peace. Peace is optional, unless it is recognized. https://bsky.app/profile/opsan.com/post/3mcsel2lyzc2n
Beautifully stated, as always. Clearly you were more mature at 10 than this "man" is at 80. The damage inflicted by his sick, fragile ego and those who have indulged and encouraged it cannot be overstated. Is there a more apt description than contemptible? I considered "pathetic," but that implies inspiring pity, which I will never grant him.
"The narrated video described the prize as recognizing 'an individual who has taken extraordinary action for peace, and in doing so, helped unite people across the globe.'"
But, but, hasn't he? The whole world hates us now. As Trump would say--it's a unity like no one has ever seen before!
"Mike Johnson basically went to Kinkos, typed something up in bold, laminated it, and handed it to the leader of the free world like it was a certificate of completion for not eating the glue."
Yes, and while he was at it, he should have gotten little, imitative green versions made for all the Republicans in Congress, House and Senate alike. For like Mike, they have had a lot of time on their hands as they have all been participants in Trump's psychodrama, breathlessly competing for Most Supine "Patriot".
But this is the culmination of neoRepublicanism that Mike Johnson so skillfully embodies. Honed and perfected after years of trying to do absolutely nothing while collecting a paycheck and luxe benefits, including sucking the country dry. We never dreamed we'd reach this point, so awards are in order, no? We, and by that I mean the benighted half of our voting populace, have given the moronic monster not one, but two, chances to turn the envy of the world into a failed nation. As the team that has ensured this victory--a strong win, never seen before!--attention must be paid.
I hope their true reward will be bestowed in November with the perks of that recognition to follow--investigation, reform and punishment. In this case, the participation award should be quite significant.
I read your article bright and early this morning. As I read I began to laugh. Because of it being Easter morn I didn't have the time to respond at the early hour. Needed more time to giggle and think about it. The green ribbon award was not apart of my experience. But it was a reminder of what in my elementary, first grade no less, there was a playday. Out on our play ground (and I do mean ground) each class had to perform something. For weeks my first grade class had been practicing the Hokey Pokey. I hated it--had trouble knowing which hand or foot went in and where because right and left didn't seem obvious back then. Awful. Not sure about prizes, but we performed. Still dislike the Hokey Pokey to this day. So Your discussion on the progression forward to everyone getting a ribbon was hilarious. I think the "educators" were trying to do a good thing so kids could feel good about not feeling they were a loser, but as you figured out as a kid--it didn't work well. In my day the best spelling goose led the flock across the length of the blackboard. Each goose had a classmates name. I believe my goose was generally last in line. (Still not going to win a spelling contest--but that is and was not a life goal.) But I did enjoy cutting goose shapes. And I was the best rope jumper in the first great. No ribbon needed. I knew I was best because if you missed you had to turn the rope. Never had to take a turn at turning the rope for another jumper. (PS--spelling games and the hokey pokey are games I avoid to this day. Emoji's are a great discovery. No spelling needed.🙃 )
In all seriousness. Those special prizes to Trump are embarrassingly shameful. How a 3 year-old might be treated. Mike Johnson sounded like he was talking to a child not even in Kindergarten. So laughable. And FIFA Peace Prize. They protect his ego with fake awards. The America First Award for the new golden era. Pathetic. Trump is the only one falling for this. I liked your word for those doing this: sycophantic enablers.
Well the truth should set us free, but the guys enabling are Trump are silly but dangerous.
On this Easter Sunday, I smiled from the time awoke and still smiling. Your article gets a gold star ward.🌟Hope you had a good day. Thanks for all you do. Peace: 🕊️❤️🙏❤️
❤️💙❤️💙 Maxine, this made me laugh. First of all, I am glad the piece gave you something to giggle over on Easter morning, and your Hokey Pokey story absolutely paints the picture. There is something very funny and very human about being traumatized by a first-grade performance because right and left refused to cooperate. And your point underneath the story is a good one: a lot of these supposedly kind little efforts to protect kids from ever feeling bad do not actually work the way adults imagine they will.
I also loved the spelling goose story. That is such a specific classroom memory, and honestly it gets at something important. Not everybody is going to be the best at spelling, and that is fine. You knew spelling was not your lane, but rope jumping was. No ribbon needed. You knew where you stood because reality had a way of sorting that out on its own. That is part of growing up too—learning what you are good at, what you are not, and realizing neither one has to destroy you.
Your broader point about Trump is dead on. These fake honors are embarrassingly shameless, and Mike Johnson really did sound like a cheerleader trying to date the star quarterback. And I am not calling Trump a star quarterback, but in the minds of MAGA he is their everything, so they keep wrapping him in this weird pageantry and overpraise like he is some combination of football hero, messiah, and homecoming king. It is ridiculous to watch, especially when the praise is so overdone that it sounds like they are talking to a toddler who just managed to clap without falling over.
And yes, the FIFA Peace Prize, the America First Award, all of it sounds fake because it basically is fake. These are ego bandages disguised as honors. They are not protecting the public. They are protecting one man’s feelings. That is what makes it so pathetic. Trump may be the only one buying the act completely, but the people enabling it are still dangerous because they keep feeding the performance and giving it institutional cover.
I am glad the phrase “sycophantic enablers” landed for you, because that really is what they are. Silly, yes. But also dangerous, exactly as you said. That combination is part of what makes this moment so absurd and so bleak at the same time.
Thank you for this lovely comment, and for the gold star award. I will gladly accept that one. I hope you had a beautiful Easter Sunday too. ❤️💙🙏❤️
I think Demented Donnie Two-Dolls deserves the Golden Dildo award to commemorate what he has been doing to the entire country since January 20, 2025.
Jeff, that is certainly one way to mark the occasion. Crude as the image is, I get the point: a lot of people feel like this country has been subjected to one long national humiliation ritual ever since he came back.
The phony awards going to Trump are ridiculous, but I actually see some value in participation mementos (not trophies).
Around age 16 or 17, I entered a 5K walking race. The weekend of the race, I was getting over a bad cold and had to stop frequently to cough and blow my nose. My overall place was dead last. I ended up winning first in my age group, because nobody else showed up. That medal went in a box and is still kicking around somewhere.
Later, I got into running casually and entered some amateur races. I never came close to getting any sort of medal, but I wore the participant/finisher shirts to the gym for years after. It meant a lot more to have recognition for doing something difficult and being bad at it than winning first place by default.
David, I think you’re making an important distinction that often gets lost in these conversations. There is value in participation acknowledgment when it’s tied to effort, experience, or doing something meaningful—even if you’re not the best at it. Your example about the races captures that perfectly. Finishing something difficult, even if you’re nowhere near first place, can mean a lot more than “winning” by default when no one else shows up. Those finisher shirts and small mementos carry a different kind of pride because they’re tied to doing the work.
Where I tend to separate things is exactly where you’re pointing: intent. When the goal is to recognize effort or completion, that can be meaningful. But when it’s framed like a competition and then everyone gets the same “award,” it starts to feel hollow.
For me, field day as a kid is the perfect example. Those ribbons for just being there never made me feel good, because they didn’t represent anything I actually earned. It felt like the acknowledgment was disconnected from performance, and that made it meaningless.
On the other hand, I’ve received acknowledgment or participation honors for things like the MS Walk or donating to St. Jude’s and cancer research, and that felt completely different. I didn’t do those things to compete—I did them to contribute. I still have my AIDS Walk Los Angeles certificate, and I’m proud of that, because it represents being part of something that mattered. That wasn’t about winning anything. It was about showing up for a cause.
So I agree with you: participation mementos can absolutely have value. But the value comes from why you’re participating. If it’s about effort, contribution, or pushing yourself, it can mean something. If it’s just a stand-in for competition without standards, it tends to fall flat.
Thanks, Kristoffer. I think the key point in all this is the enabling and encouragement of a person who was never schooled properly. At some point in his life, little Donny was belittled, put down, by parents, teachers, coaches, whoever. He was not taught that everyone loses and it’s ok. It’s life. So a little monster was created, and fed, and blown up like a Macy’s Day parade balloon. And not enough people along the way popped that balloon. And now we have powerful leaders egging this monstrous balloon on for their own self-serving reasons to all our detriment.
Sure hope there’s a happy ending to all this. It doesn’t look good.
A bunch of empty suits giving a boy with an empty soul a bunch of empty trophies is what this is about.
It will be really interesting how the World Cup plays out with ICE harassing people traveling to the U.S. (assuming any come here for the games). Infantino will justifiably looks like an absolute fool when that happens.
Hmm. Dunno. If green ribbon awards had been extant when the wee orange one was in elementary school (which they weren’t), his favorite color now would be Green not Gold, and the DOJ building banner as well as dear leader’s complexion would be fluttering green and the Oval Office laced with thousands of green ribbons. After all, green ribbons are just the dark side of a Woke dream, don’t ya think? And for the future? The hall of presidential photos will be blessed with a single, lonely green ribbon denoting the ex-47th.
Alan & Jan, I see exactly what you’re doing there, and the satire lands. The image of everything turning green—banners, ribbons, the whole aesthetic—gets at how quickly symbolism can be repurposed once it becomes useful to the brand. None of it is about consistency. It’s about whatever reinforces the image in the moment.
Your point about green ribbons being framed as the “dark side” of something else is especially sharp, because it highlights how easily meanings get flipped depending on who’s holding the microphone. The same people who rail against participation trophies or “woke” symbolism will turn around and embrace their own version of it the second it serves their narrative.
And that idea of a single, lonely green ribbon marking the ex-47th in the future—that’s doing a lot of work. It captures both the absurdity of the moment and the possibility that, over time, these performative gestures won’t age the way they think they will. Symbols stick around, but not always in the way they were intended.
What you’re really getting at is that this isn’t about values—it’s about aesthetics, branding, and control over meaning. Once you see it that way, the color almost doesn’t matter. It could be green, gold, or anything else. The point is the performance.
Kristoffer, I give you total credit for triggering the snark. Would love to join you for an absurd beer sometime.
Given Regime Leader Trump’s moral proclivities, and Mike Johnson’s obsessive sycophancy for Herr Trump, I would not be surprised if Herr Trump opened a house of prostitution in Nevada and M Johnson played the piano in the front parlor. Then Johnson could award Herr Trump a gold ribbon for Best Madam (but I bet he would secretly award him a green ribbon for his moral compass or lack thereof!).
James, I get the point you’re making beneath the imagery. What you’re really describing is a system built on flattery and loyalty where the usual standards—merit, character, accountability—get pushed aside in favor of rewarding whoever plays their role best in the performance.
That dynamic you’re pointing to with Mike Johnson and others isn’t really about ideology as much as it is about proximity to power. When political actors start treating leadership like something to be served rather than questioned, you end up with exactly what you described—people willing to validate anything, no matter how absurd, as long as it keeps them in good standing.
And that’s where the whole “green ribbon” idea comes back into play. These kinds of symbolic rewards stop meaning anything because they’re no longer tied to accomplishment. They become props in a larger show, handed out to reinforce loyalty or create the illusion of greatness.
Your comment is colorful, but the underlying critique is serious: when the people around power stop acting like independent actors and start acting like an audience, the entire system gets weaker—and a lot more ridiculous at the same time.