SCOTT LUDWIG: Observations from Trump’s Cabinet Meeting – 8/26/25

While the pickings were slim with respect to anything tangible or remotely accurate, Trump’s seventh cabinet meeting still produced a number of things worth mentioning. I wanted to notate them in black and white for future – if not historical — reference.

Here goes nothing; I say that literally, because if you’re blaming me, you should be looking at the large orange man with the comb-over instead:

1. The first 25 minutes or so was spent on Trump patting himself on the back for
everything he’s done in the ‘first few months. Actually, he was inferring that he had to
spend some time getting the White House in order – hanging flattering portraits of
himself, converting this and that to gold, etc. – before he could get down to business
and start destroying the country.

2. Be wary of anyone who refers to themselves in the third person. “People love Trump.
People thank Trump. People respect Trump.” Sure, pal; keep convincing yourself.

3. Any sentence that’s followed with “no one has ever seen anything like it” is most likely
true … because no one in fact has ever seen anything like it.

4. A newly-signed executive order prohibits the burning of flags. Doing so will result in a
one-year jail sentence. Presumably, fondling the flag on stage is still perfectly legal.

5. Effective immediately, any cabinet member who expresses their adulation, admiration,
gratitude or fondness for the president will be known as a pander bear.

6. If a reporter is called on to speak during the cabinet meeting, there is a 100% probability they will thank the president for something he’s done that has impacted them
personally. It should go without saying, but there is also a 100% probability that such
incidents are staged.

7. Disproving or invalidating any statistics spouted by the president is a full-time job. It can be either a fact-checker’s dream or their worst nightmare. It just depends.

8. Trump will no longer refer to his domestic policy as the big, beautiful bill. Well, at least
he got one thing right.

9. Trump made a not-so-subtle suggestion of a J.D. Vance/Marco Rubio GOP ticket in 2028. These are the two men who, respectively, compared Trump to Hitler and referred to
Trump as a con man. For the Republican party, this makes absolute sense.

10. I listened to the cabinet meeting for 30 minutes, and other than a fawning journalist
expressing her appreciation for the president helping rid Washington, D.C., of crime, I
didn’t hear anyone else speak other than Trump. (Refer to No. 5 above.)

11. Trump promoted the first lady’s “Presidential AI Challenge,” which will be a competition for students using artificial intelligence to solve problems in their community. I have to ask: if AI is solving the problem, how is it a competition for students?

12. The nutjob of a Health Secretary (hey, someone other than Trump got to speak) said his department will soon be announcing interventions that he believes are causing autism. Wait, are these the department’s interventions or just his? Because if it’s the latter, it should be a doozy.

13. Deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino will be overseeing the Presidential Personnel Office. So now we know what Trump is calling the guy writing his posts for Truth Social and using all those capital letters!

14. Picking up where he left off the day before, Trump mentioned some people are
referring to him as a dictator. “But I stop crime” those people say, and then they add “if
that’s the case, I’d rather have a dictator.” (This generated laughter from several of the
pander bears.)

It’s hard to believe that with all the garbage coming out of his mouth, not once did he mention Jeffrey Epstein. Nor did he – unbelievably, and totally out of character – talk about hoaxes or witch hunts.

Then again, with his limited bandwidth, maybe he just forgot.