Last night she saw footage of the synchronized swimmers again, this time in a Stephen Colbert montage. She turned the TV off.
“That pool? That flag? That isn’t for America,” she says. “That’s him watching us drown.”
She left the TV dark and whispered, “Not again.”
Somewhere in Florida, another party is already being planned. There always is.
Bibliography
1. ABC News. “Trump Hosted ‘Gatsby’ Party Hours Before Shutdown’s SNAP Deadline.” November 2, 2025. Documentation and photos of the Mar-a-Lago Halloween gala and Trump’s comments.
2. Reuters. “Senators Describe GOP Fractures as Shutdown Deepens.” November 10, 2025. Anonymous staff comments about OMB reduction-in-force orders.
3. Military.com. “Shutdown Pushes Military Families to Food Pantries.” November 5, 2025. Interviews with military spouses and pantry coordinators.
4. Frank, Justin. Trump on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Avery, 2018. In-depth psychoanalytic profile of Trump’s behavior.
5. Trump, Mary. Too Much and Never Enough. Simon & Schuster, 2020. Psychological and family background shaping Trump’s cruelty.
6. Lee, Bandy. “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.” Psychology Today, 2020. Clinical assessments of sadism in political behavior.
7. Schwartz, Tony. The Art of the Deal. Ballantine Books, 1987. Direct quote from Trump on his philosophy of parties and status.
8. Sachs, Jeffrey. “Trump and the Psychology of Power.” Blog essay, 2018. Framework for analyzing authoritarian spectacle.
9. TIME Magazine. “What to Know About the Deal to End the Shutdown.” November 10, 2025. Sanders quote and progressive criticism of the deal.