The Week Trump Lost His Ambassador, His Golf Course Timeline, and the Last Voters Giving Him the Benefit of the Doubt
Three losses, one week: a hand-picked ambassador got walked out the door in under two hours, a federal judge ran out of patience with 400 dead trees, and the voters who'll decide the midterms said — politely, then less politely — that they want it all torn down. Get a drink; the schadenfreude's got legs this week.
1. Trump's Own Team Got 'Extremely Pissed Off' at Kimberly Guilfoyle. Two Hours Later, She Was Gone.
President Trump's new press secretary publicly asked U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign on Tuesday after weeks of Wall Street Journal reporting that she boasted at a diplomatic reception the U.S. could "undermine the Greek government" if it wanted to, and separately asked a Trump donor to pay a $100,000 credit-card bill in exchange for access to administration officials — and she was gone within two hours of being asked. Trump, who had spent days publicly defending her, delivered the eulogy himself: "She was doing a good job, but we didn't like what we were reading." A senior U.S. official told the AP that Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been "extremely pissed off" about her conduct before the ouster. Guilfoyle, who denies every allegation, posted her resignation on X just hours after wishing Lara Trump a happy birthday.
Decades of 'public service,' undone by a paper trail. When even Marco Rubio — a man who can defend absolutely anything — stops defending you, Athens was never getting a second term out of you.
2. A Federal Judge Chopped Down Trump's Golf Course Timeline After His Admin Chopped Down 400 Real Trees
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes extended a restraining order through October 26 blocking the Trump administration from cutting any more trees at D.C.'s East Potomac Golf Links, after officials — who'd been ordered since May to get court approval before removing more than 10 trees — instead notified her court of a 529-tree removal plan five minutes before a holiday weekend and tore out more than 400 of them by nightfall. Reyes, who called an emergency hearing, didn't hide her fury: "What has happened has cost the government all of its credibility with me in this case." She's now ordered two senior Interior Department officials to testify under oath on October 19 about whether she was lied to about the plan and its timing. Trump adviser Stephen Miller responded on X by arguing the Constitutional Convention never put judges "in charge of golf course maintenance" — hours after the administration had just lost in court on exactly that question.
A president who can't get a tree-trimming permit past a federal judge isn't making D.C. 'beautiful again.' He's turning it into a crime scene with a sand trap.
3. New AP-NORC Poll: Even Republicans Are Done Waiting for Trump's Comeback
A new AP-NORC poll released October 15 found that a strong majority of registered voters believe Trump is falling short at home and abroad, with about half wanting "substantial change" in Washington and roughly three in ten wanting "complete and total upheaval" — less than four weeks before the midterms. Even Republican voters aren't satisfied: 45% of them want substantial change and another 13% want upheaval, while Democrats report far more enthusiasm about voting than the GOP does. "The world is going backwards. We can barely afford anything," one voter told the AP-NORC survey. "Everybody's down ... we're all catching hell."
When your own voters are filing for 'complete and total upheaval,' that's not a mandate. That's an eviction notice with a return address.
Now go back to doomscrolling. You've earned five minutes of not-doom.