Retiring Guy's Digest: 2026

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Donald Trump and his incredibly shrinking megaphone

Sooner or later, everything that Trump touches turns to shit.

AI-generated images requested from Manus 1.6 Lite

Headline: New York Times, 8/10/2026

Matthew Goldstein reports:

President Trump is a commanding presence on Truth Social, the platform he co-founded in 2022. But despite the fervent media attention that his policy pronouncements and personal attacks on the site attract, traffic to the social media platform has fallen sharply this summer.

Last month, the overall number of monthly visitors to Truth Social was down about 36 percent from a year ago, according to estimates by the online tracking firm Similarweb. Monthly visitors to the site fell by a slightly greater amount in June, compared with last year. By contrast, much bigger social media platforms such as X and Threads have posted higher numbers of visits this summer. [emphasis added]

According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of 'megaphone' occurred in 1878.

Other coinages from the same year include:

animal cracker
classless
crime against humanity
flapdoodle
G-string
jingoism
robber baron
self-obsessed

Trump DJT stock circling down the drain: What might that look like? (6/25/2026)

Another Trump business venture flounders. (2/28/2026)

Carnival barker Donald Trumps inane, insane Truth Social post. (9/30/2025)

A career of failure: Donald Trump's business resume. (6/28/2024)

GET ME REWRITE: Trump goes batshit crazy at yesterday's executive order signing

AI-generated image requested form Manus 1.6 Lite

Headline: The Guardian, 8/10/2026

Melody Schreiber and Joseph Gedeon report:

Donald Trump has signed an executive order with plans for sweeping changes to the childhood vaccination schedule that would require that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to be broken into three separate shots, once it becomes available in the US.

The order recommends that all shots be given at separate medical visits, a frequent point Trump has made despite the safety, ease and lower costs of giving vaccines together.

[snip]

“Together, there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal,” Trump said of the MMR vaccine at the signing of the order on Monday.

Asked if he had evidence that the combined MMR vaccine was “lethal”, Trump said: “No. What I’ve heard is that there are some people who say it is that way.”

[snip]

“I’ve seen proof of it, where they have a vaccination where it looks like the size of a bottle of soda, poured into a little child’s body and bad things happen in too many cases,” Trump later said on breaking up each shot into an individual medical visit, before adding: “This is an explosion, it’s an epidemic,” in an apparent reference to autism.

Related posts:

2026

Dear Louisiana GOP US Senator Bill Cassidy M.D.: You had a chance to prevent this quackery on February 13, 2025, but you misplaced your spine. Best, Retiring Guy. (8/11)

Measles cases set new record: This is the kind of moving backward that happens when a crackpot incompetent is confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the county's top health official. (7/25)

Anti-vax legacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary @HHS is already in place. (6/14)

Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are hazardous to our health (chickens come home to roost edition). (5/9)

You can lay the blame for this tragedy at the feet of hazardous-to-our-health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (5/6)

More evidence that the FDA under RFKjr is hazardous to our health. (5/5)

WARNING: Donald Trump, Robert Kennedy Jr., and spineless Louisiana U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy M.D. are hazardous to our health. (4/14)

2025

Anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy Jr. is visiting Texas. Will he apologize for being hazardous to Texans' health?

Hazardous to your health RFKjr @HHS has a cure for the accelerating measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico. (3/10)

Antivaxxer RFKjr @HHSGov: Hazardous to your health and taste buds (cod liver oil edition). (3/6)

Antivaxxer RFKjr @HHSGov: Hazardous to your health (measles outbreak edition). (3/5)

RFKjr @HHSGov: Hazardous to your health (bird flu vaccine edition. (3/3)

Wisconsin 2026 elections: Republican Mark Bellagio challenges freshman Democrat Angelina Cruz in the 62nd Assembly District

Before redistricting, the GOP gerrymandering 62nd Assembly included the southern half of Racine County, packing and cracking the City of Racine in the process. This treachery served to give the conservative voters west of the I (I-94) the advantage.

The newly redrawn district includes most of the City of Racine and some of its northern suburbs.

Maps and election results: Ballotpedia

Democrat Angelina Cruz ran unopposed in 2024, which gives you a clear idea of how effectively the GOP had gerrymandered this district. You'll find GOP challenger Mike Bellagio posing with Tom Tiffany here.

Related reading:

Wisconsin Applied Population Lab, 6/18/2018

Malia Jones explains:

Two core concepts of gerrymandering were central to the arguments presented to the high court: cracking and packing. A third process, known as stacking, also crops up in gerrymandered political maps, but was not the focus of Gill v. Whitford.

Cracking and packing both refer to specific ways of drawing legislative boundaries with the outcomes of elections in mind. These two processes operate in tension with one another, but both can be implemented by a party in power seeking to maximize its electoral chances through gerrymandering.

Packing refers to the practice of drawing particular districts in such a way as to ensure that another party's candidate wins that seat by a tremendous margin. Although the opposing party is all but guaranteed the seat, packing makes surrounding districts less competitive, and thus tips the balance of power in the legislative body overall toward the ruling party.

Cracking involves drawing districts in such a way as to divide a concentration of specific types of voters across several districts such that they are a minority in each one, with practically no hope of achieving representation in any of the districts. This practice also helps make districts less competitive. [emphasis added]

Other Wisconsin 2026 election posts:

1st Assembly District. (6/11/2026)

2nd Assembly District. (6/14/2026)

3rd Assembly District. (6/15/2026)

4th Assembly District. (6/17/2026)

5th Assembly District. (6/18/2026)

6th Assembly District. (6/20/2026)

7th Assembly District. (6/21/2026)

8th Assembly District. (6/21/2026)

9th Assembly District. (6/22/2026)

10th Assembly District. (6/23/2026)

11th Assembly District. (6/23/2026)

12th Assembly District. (4/17/2026)

13th Assembly District. (6/25/2026)

14th Assembly District. (6/25/2026)

15th Assembly District. (6/25/2026)

16th Assembly District. (4/17/2026)

17th Assembly District. (6/30/2026)

18th Assembly District. (6/30/2026)

19th Assembly District. (7/1/2026)

20th Assembly District. (7/1/2026)

21st Assembly District. (5/8/2026)

22nd Assembly District. (7/5/2026)

23rd Assembly District. (7/5/2026)

24th Assembly District. (4/19/2026)

25th Assembly District. (7/6/2026)

26th Assembly District. (4/17/2026)

27th Assembly District. (7/7/2026)

28th Assembly District. (7/8/2026)

29th Assembly District. (7/10/2026)

30th Assembly District. (7/11/2026)

31st Assembly District. (7/12/2026)

32nd Assembly District. (7/13/2026)

33rd Assembly District. (7/15/2026)

34th Assembly District. (4/24/2026)

35th Assembly District. (4/15/2026)

36th Assembly District. (7.16.2026)

37th Assembly District. (4/20/2026)

38th Assembly District. (7/17/2026)

39th Assembly District. (7/18/2026)

40th Assembly District. (7/19/2026)

41st Assembly District. (7/20/2026)

42nd Assembly District. (7/21/2026)

43rd Assembly District. (7/212026)

44th Assembly District. (5/5/2026)

45th Assembly District. (7/23/2026)

46th Assembly District. (7/24/2026)

47th Assembly District. (7/25/2026)

48th Assembly District. (7/27/2026)

49th Assembly District. (7/28/2026)

50th Assembly District. (7/29/2026)

51st Assembly District. (7/30/2026)

52nd Assembly District. (7/31/2026)

53rd Assembly District. (8/2/2026)

54th Assembly District. (8/4/2026)

55th Assembly District. (8/7/2026)

58th Assembly District. (4/12/2026)

59th Assembly District. (4/10/2026)

60th Assembly District. (8/9/2026)

69th Assembly District. (4/29/2026)

71st Assembly District. (4/28/2026)

81st Assembly District. (5/2/2026)

82nd Assembly District. (4/15/2026)

92nd Assembly District. (5/7/2026)

93rd Assembly District. (4/11/2026)

97th Assembly District. (4/23/2026)

99th Assembly District. (4/18/2026)

17th Senate District. (4/14/2026)

23rd Senate District. (4/15/2026)

31st Senate District. (4/15/2026)

MISCREANT PREACHERS: Victimizing people in the Name of the Lord (#368 in a series)

Mugshot and headline: Click on Detroit, 8/30/2026

Samantha Sales reports:

According to the United States Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Michigan, Taylor, who refers to himself as “Apostle,” and Brannon, his executive director, are the leaders of Kingdom of God Global Church (KOGGC), formerly Joshua Media Ministries International.
Kathleen Klein, 53, also known as “Prophetess,” was also arrested and later charged for her alleged role as a leader of the KOGGC.
The three are accused of victimizing people working at call centers that solicited donations for their organization in Michigan, Florida, Texas and Missouri.

"One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much." (Luke 16:10)

Other miscreant preacher posts (which cover a multitude of sins):

August 2026

Bienvenido Lopez. (8/10)

Monty Chitty. (8/9)

Melvin James Cuff. (8/8)

Timothy Chaneyfield. (8/5)

Aubrey Jamaal Butler. (8/3)

Jacob Melvin Hart. (8/2)

Owen Thompson-Canzius. (8/1)

July 2026 (19)

Jorge Gonzales Martinez. (7/31)