I have it on good authority — the kind of sources who are usually right and, more importantly, the kind who still have a pulse — that President Trump is not dead.
Yes, I know — stunning.
In fact, not only is he very much alive, but if you believe his critics — the ones who wake up in a cold sweat every time they hear a red baseball cap rustle in the wind — he is actively plotting to bring democracy to a screeching halt.
That’s right. The man who can’t stop talking is supposedly secretly engineering a scheme to cancel the 2026 midterms and shut down the 2028 presidential election altogether.
But first, let’s take a short detour into the twilight zone.
When Stephen Colbert, host of “The Late Show,” informed his audience that Trump was not, in fact, dead — a rumor that had been swirling around the back alleys of social media — the studio erupted … in boos. Boos! Not because they were upset about fake news — no, they were just disappointed that the news wasn’t real. Apparently, we’ve reached the point where people boo facts if they don’t align with their fantasies.
Now imagine, just for fun, if Fox News late night host Greg Gutfeld were to come out and say, “Hey folks — despite what you read online, Joe Biden is still with us.” What do you think would happen? I bet the house that there would be boos from that audience, too.
This tells us something that deep down we already know: The fanatics on both the far right and the far left have lost their collective minds. They’re not just crazy — they’re mean, they’re petty and they have turned politics into a form of performance art — a Broadway show with worse writing and angrier actors.
But let’s get to the meat of this.
If you’re a progressive Democrat who loathes Trump, then you can always find a comfy chair and a live mic over at CNN. It’s the place where every outlandish fear masquerading as serious analysis gets airtime.
Take a recent episode of “Inside Politics” hosted by Dana Bash. She rolled tape of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) solemnly warning that Trump might try to “stop the elections in 2026 or frankly, take control of those elections.” Pritzker continued, “He’ll just claim that there’s some problem with an election, and then he’s got troops on the ground that can take control.”
Troops on the ground? ICE agents are troops on the ground that might take control of an election? Or maybe the National Guard? Really?
Then came California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), never one to be outdone in the hysteria department. “People actually think this guy is serious about having another election?” he fumed. “You think he’s joking about 2028? … I’m not calm and I’m not going to submit myself to niceties. Not when this guy is trying to wreck our God damn country.”
You almost expected him to rip off his microphone, storm out and declare California an independent republic.
Then Bash turned to Dan Pfeiffer, of “Pod Save America” fame and a veteran of the Obama administration, who chimed in with this pearl of wisdom: “Yeah. Look, I think we should be very concerned that Donald Trump can mess with these elections.”
Well, thank you for that, Dan.
Now here’s where it gets interesting. Nicholas Fondacaro over at the conservative Media Research Center made a rather simple observation that shouldn’t be partisan at all. He noted that at no point did Bash state that the Democrats were making these claims about Trump canceling elections “without evidence” — you know, that handy little disclaimer that CNN used to slap on just about everything Trump said.
Whether he was right, wrong or somewhere in between, the phrase “without evidence” followed Trump around like a lost puppy.
But now, when liberals are the ones making wacky claims? That standard seems to have vanished.
And it gets better. Bash tossed this softball: “So how do you prepare for, in your words, ‘the worst?’” How do you prepare? Here’s a thought — maybe stop fearmongering about imaginary coups d’etat and concentrate your airtime on real issues.
This isn’t journalism anymore. It’s group therapy for progressives who still haven’t processed 2016.
So no, Trump isn’t dead. But, apparently, common sense is.
Bernard Goldberg is an Emmy and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award-winning writer and journalist. He is the author of five books and publishes exclusive weekly columns, audio commentaries and Q&As on his Substack page. Follow him @BernardGoldberg.
