SCOTT LUDWIG: Without fear of humiliation

The dictionary’s definition of “humiliation” is “a feeling of shame, embarrassment, or disgrace from having your pride wounded, self-respect lowered, or being made to look foolish or weak in front of others or yourself, often involving a loss of status or dignity.”

I imagine almost everyone pretty much knows that already, but it’s worth noting for the benefit of a certain individual who just so happens to be the person allegedly responsible for running our country.

When you have a moment, Google “most humiliating Trump moments.” The last time I checked there were 29 of them. And I don’t mean there are 29 entries. Rather, there are 29 pages.

Just when you think the man has pushed the boundaries of humiliation, he continues to raise the bar. Or maybe it’s lower the bar. But you know what I mean. Or putting it another way, Trump has racked up more “hold my beer” moments than Johnny Knoxville and Kanye West put together.

Even a clear absence of knowledge about things most of us learned in school doesn’t stop him from putting his foot in his mouth every time he publicly talks about things he clearly knows nothing about. Everything from science (the noise from wind turbines don’t cause cancer) to American history (there were no airports during the Revolutionary War) to arithmetic (it is a mathematical impossibility to lower the cost of anything 500% because there are only 100 of them to begin with).

It’s rather obvious he’s unfamiliar with what Mark Twain once said: “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.” Yet nothing ever seems to stand in the way of him rambling on and on and on, without the slightest fear — or inclination — that he may humiliate himself.

Falling asleep in public settings doesn’t appear to bother him, either. Regardless of what his administration says, he’s not deep in thought/resting his eyes/experiencing the repercussions of working late into the night. No, he’s on the verge of falling asleep. I should know what I’m talking about because that’s exactly how I looked during my 8 a.m. calculus class in my freshman year in college.

In one of the most defining moments of public humiliation, Trump literally rolled out the red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met in Alaska last August – for what turned out to be for no purpose whatsoever. Following a demeaning series of touching and smiling for photographs, the two of them got into Trump’s limousine and drove off for a private – and absolutely worthless – one-on-one.

It’s only right that one day the dictionary’s definition of humiliation will include a photograph of Trump, flashing a huge smile as he gladly accepts the Nobel Peace Prize given to him by the rightful winner – without even the slightest hint of shame or embarrassment (although certain camps refer to it as an act of extortion on Trump’s part).

Although I didn’t think it was possible, it was even more embarrassing than Trump previously accepting the made-up-in-the-spur-of-the-moment FIFA Peace Prize – grabbing it like a child and draping it around his own neck like he’d just won the second-grade spelling bee. According to him, it was “one of the great honors of my life.”

As one might imagine, shortly after Trump accepted a hand-me-down Nobel Peace Prize, the meme-o-sphere went wild. And rightfully so, I might add. Here are just a few examples:

— “Funny how the black guy (Obama) earned his Nobel Peace Prize while the white guy
(Trump) who got rid of DEI to ‘focus on individual merit’ had to take the prize from a Latina who earned it.”
— “You aren’t a Nobel Peace Prize winner if someone gives you theirs, and accepting it just makes you look pathetic and desperate.”
— “I like presidents who don’t have to be gifted Nobel Peace Prizes out of pity because
they’re emotionally 3 years old.”
— “Trump looks like a kid who got a gold star for not wetting the bed.”
— “Donald Trump spent the last 10 years claiming DEI stood for ‘DIdn’t Earn It,’ and now
proudly boasts about having a Nobel Peace Prize he didn’t earn.”

Incidentally, this all happened while he was attacking a foreign country, Venezuela, and an American city, Minneapolis, as well as threatening to take over Greenland … by force, if necessary. How anyone trying to instigate a Civil War in the United States – and perhaps World War III — even remotely deserves a peace prize escapes me.

Whether it’s because Trump has a thick skin or a thick head, when it comes to even being the slightest bit humiliated by anything he says or does, the man simply has no breaking point. Regardless of any humiliation our country suffers because of it.