You may or may not be familiar with the internet term “quirk chungus.” For those who are not, it is a nickname originating from a webcomic that describes a particular type of annoying millennial, one stuck in performative quirkiness and cultural irrelevance. They repeat ad nauseam yesteryear’s memes, now cringeworthy, and simply cannot move on. In many ways, they have become the kind of middle-aged adult reliving their 1970s childhoods that millennials themselves mocked as young adults.
Though a boomer, President Donald Trump is becoming a quirk chungus in the entropic phase of his late-stage political career. Unable to move on, Trump keeps reverting to gimmicky type. It was wearing thin before the midterms.
Four days after the election that handed Democrats control of Congress, and a day after replacing his chief of staff, Trump announced on Truth Social that he had offered out the vacant press secretary job. If you were hoping for a more serious selection than Katie Zacharia, as Trump seeks to rescue his legacy in the final two years of his presidential term, disappointment awaited. The offer went to UFC boss Dana White.
Fighters such as Khabib Nurmagomedov would be his assistants. White played along, posting an apparently AI-generated image of himself at the briefing room lectern. But it was clear White’s heart wasn’t in this fight.
The next day, Trump claimed he was “only kidding” about it. The vote itself was bookended by Trump’s rote gags. In his last scheduled public remarks before Election Day, Trump mused about renaming the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after himself, insisted he was joking, then added: “Please don’t report it.” Yet more classic quirk chungus.
A bit that once killed, run into the ground through repetition by a fading star. Renaming the Gulf of Mexico on his first day back in office was a provocation. By this year, it had become a tedious reflex.
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