The White House: Where the Unfit, Unwell and Unelected Run the Show
Trump and his gang of fools should scare you to death
Trump entertained a crowd of salivating sycophants at the Concrete Garden, formerly the Rose Garden, yesterday by delivering the most unhinged statements of his presidency — and that’s a high bar.
In front of donors, cronies, and cameras, the President of the United States drifted through a bizarre stew of self-congratulation, historical confusion, and casual war-mongering. It wasn’t just embarrassing. It was alarming.
“and I will say this, we have Darth Vader. you know Darth Vader, right? Darth Vader is a man who, uh, I think he’s sitting, right? is that Darth? stand up please, Darth Va — stand up. does everybody know — this is — they call him Darth Vader, I call him a fine man. but he’s cutting Democrat priorities and they’re never gonna get them back.
What the country witnessed wasn’t just another unsteady Trump speech — it was a moment that laid bare the extent to which the president is unfit for office. The words were his, but the leadership is not. And the dangerous vacuum at the top is being filled by ideological ravers like Stephen Miller and Russell Vought, who now wield enormous influence behind the scenes.
In case you were too flabbergasted by this boiling stew of discombobulated bullshit to understand it, as I was, here’s the script:
“the great George Washington, all the way to — [pauses as his mind goes blank] well, I think we have to rate him above me. so, less than great. less than George. as somebody went up the other day, they say, ‘you’re the third-best president of the Uni — ’ this was on television, ‘third best.’ and they said who are the first two? ‘George Washington and Abraham Lincoln,’ and I got extremely angry at this man, heh heh, you know? you can’t — it’s — it’s gonna be — it’s gonna be tough to beat [gestures] Mister Senator, it’s gonna be — John, it’s gonna be very tough to beat Washington and Lincoln, but we’re gonna give it a try, right? hey, they didn’t put out eight wars, nine coming. all right, we put out eight wars, and the ninth is coming, believe it or not.”
That wasn’t a slip. It wasn’t improv. It was a verbal car crash. He opens with a stammering attempt to compare himself to George Washington, immediately blanks out mid-thought, then announces that Washington is “above” him, so he’s “less than great.” He recalls a TV segment ranking him behind Washington and Lincoln — and says he got “extremely angry.” He then spirals into empty gestures, a shout-out to someone named “Mister Senator,” and caps it all off with this: “they didn’t put out eight wars, nine coming.”
That last line lands like a punchline, but there’s no joke. If the president of the United States is bragging about “putting out” eight wars with a ninth “coming,” it demands scrutiny — and clarity. Trump offers neither. He doesn’t name the wars. He doesn’t explain. He just lobs it like another applause line, hoping the fog covers the mess.
All the while, in that fog, the real operators are thriving.
Stephen Miller, America’s very own Nazi vampire, is back in the West Wing’s inner circle, and is again scripting the narrative — weaponizing fear, resentment, and white grievance into policy and rhetoric. He’s not just whispering in Trump’s ear anymore. He’s framing the worldview, driving the language, and mapping the next culture war from the inside.
Russell Vought, a Christian Nationalist, meanwhile, has become the beating heart of the authoritarian transformation project. As head of the Office of Management and Budget and architect of the “Project 2025” blueprint, he’s laying the legal and bureaucratic foundation for a presidency that functions less like a democratic executive and more like a personal fiefdom. His stated mission: purge career officials, consolidate control, and turn every federal agency into a weapon for the president’s agenda.
So when Trump veers off into war talk, it’s not a curiosity. It’s a warning. Someone is planning the next war. Someone is staffing the agencies that could trigger it. Someone is preparing for a future where the checks are gone, the balances broken, and the president answers only to the voices in his favorite bunker-club.
Trump doesn’t need to be fully present for this transformation to unfold. That’s the point. He only needs to show up, mumble a few phrases about George Washington, complain about cable rankings, and wink his approval at the machine being built around him.
What the country saw yesterday wasn’t leadership. It was a man unraveling in public while more coherent, more ruthless figures step into the void. If Stephen Miller and Russell Vought are the brain trust behind the curtain, then the presidency is no longer in the hands of a president. It’s in the hands of men who never needed to win an election to gain control…
…and that’s what should terrify every fucking American. It sure as fuck did me.
Professor Mike is a university lecturer. He teaches, among other subjects, justice studies and global security, which includes the study of international terrorism. In his spare time, he writes for Medium and Substack. His work has been published on CNN.