Donald Trump took to Truth Social in the early morning hours of Tuesday to opine on the state of his race to win back the White House this November. And while that’s not unusual, Trump decision to coin a new nickname for himself certainly is. The new name? Honest Don, if you can believe it.
Trump started his tweet (or his Truth, in the parlance of his social media platform) by mentioning Dean Phillips, the Democratic challenger to President Joe Biden who had a less than impressive primary race before finally dropping out last week.
“Dean Phillips, who just ‘quit’ in his hapless campaign against Crooked Joe Biden, was not very good at his craft, politics. In fact, I would say that he was far worse than the Republican challengers to me, with a few exceptions. I’ll give you those names if you like, but I’d rather get down to the serious business of defeating the worst President in the history of the United States, by far, Crooked Joe Biden!!!” Trump wrote shortly before 1:30 a.m. ET.
Why did Trump add scare quotes around “quit”? Your guess is as good as ours, but it’s something he does frequently. Honestly, his brain seems to be leaking out of his ears at this point.
But then Trump got down to brass tacks, demanding a debate with Biden and slipping in a new nickname for himself that he’s seemingly never used before.
“For the good of our now failing Nation, and in order to inform the American people of what is going on in our Country, we must immediately have a full scale debate between Crooked Joe and Honest Don. I’m ready to go, ANY TIME, ANY PLACE!” Trump wrote.
If Trump wants a debate to happen soon, it would be long before such a thing typically happens between the major party candidates. For example, the first debate between Trump and Biden in the 2020 cycle occurred on September 29, 2020. And if you check a calendar near you, it’s only March—more than six months early
It’s not clear why Trump would want a debate to occur so soon, but perhaps he understands there’s a real chance he’ll be tied up in court by September. As you’re probably well aware, Trump faces indictments in four different jurisdictions on a litany of charges, including the fact that he tried to stage a coup to remain in power on January 6, 2021. Another case involves Trump’s refusal to return classified documents to the U.S. National Archives, many of which he was storing in a bathroom at his club in Florida.
In fact, CNN had an interview with Brian Butler, a former Mar-a-Lago worker, on Monday who explained even more horrifying details about Trump’s activities that were never public before. Aside from being asked to move documents at the club in order to hide them from investigators, Butler alleges Trump was providing Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt with highly classified information about submarines.
Butler alleges that Pratt was paying in excess of a million dollars for access to Trump.
“So, Anthony Pratt, this Australian billionaire that you’re talking about, he would pay a lot of money to come and have these New Year’s Eve parties at Mar-a-Lago?” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Butler.
“It might cost a thousand, fifteen hundred dollars per person,” Butler explained about the normal entry price for the parties. “He was giving a million dollars. And I think at the height he had 30 or 40 people there.”
Butler went on to say of Pratt, “here’s a guy who’s just buying access. It’s very easy to see.”
Yeah, it doesn’t seem like Honest Don’s new nickname is going to stick. But we’ll just have to wait and see. Weirder things have happened—like the fact that Trump is currently polling ahed of Biden. Honest Don really could make his way back into the White House with a free and fair election. What a world.