Credit: Marlowe Dobbe

MONDAY, JANUARY 1

Happy New Year, darlings! It might be tempting fate to say this, but… so far, 2018 actually seems pretty good? At least compared to the horrific grotesquerie that was 2017? How about that! TO WIT… โ€œTransgender individuals can openly sign up for military service for the first time starting Jan. 1 after the Trump administration announced Friday it will no longer challenge the enlistments,โ€ reports USA Today! โ€œThis is a major victory in the litigation and great news for transgender troops, transgender military academy and ROTC students, and transgender people who have been waiting to enlist,โ€ Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights told USA Today. While you wonโ€™t ever see us in fatigues, dears (the closest we ever came was a profoundly ill-advised Dr. Martens phase in high school), we offer our congrats to all who can now serve… and who are doing so in direct opposition to the wishes of the Trump administration! Two victories for the price of one!

TUESDAY, JANUARY 2

Soooo… remember when we said it might be tempting fate to say 2018 was going pretty well? Well, yeah. It was tempting fate. Today, American despot Donald Trump (who lost the popular vote by 2,864,974 votes) began a mature, reasonable, and productive dialogue with North Korean despot Kim Jong-un! โ€œNorth Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the โ€˜Nuclear Button is on his desk at all timesโ€™,โ€ Trump tweeted. โ€œWill someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!โ€ Ah, a good, old-fashioned dick-measuring contestโ€”this time with nuclear apocalypse on the line! Shortly after Trump boasted about his Cheeto dick, the New York Times brought up an inconvenient fact: โ€œDespite Mr. Trumpโ€™s tweet that he has a โ€˜much bigger & more powerfulโ€™ button than Mr. Kim, the fact is, there is no button.โ€ Oh god. Weโ€™re less than 48 hours into 2018 and weโ€™re already terrified, disgusted (Cheeto dick!), and exhausted. At least after the threat of nuclear war, the rest of this week will have to be more chill.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3

JK! LOL! UGH! Today New York magazine published an excerpt from journalist Michael Wolffโ€™s gossipy book, Fire and Fury, which allegedly takes an inside look at Trumpโ€™s White House… and ooh, itโ€™s a doozy, with highlights including the fact Trump never expected to win (โ€œThe leitmotif for Trump about his own campaign was how crappy it was and how everybody involved in it was a loserโ€); that Trumpโ€™s former BFF, Steve Bannon the Hutt, deemed the campaignโ€™s meetings with Russia โ€œtreasonousโ€ and โ€œunpatrioticโ€; that Trump eats Big Macs because he thinks theyโ€™re safe (โ€œHe had a longtime fear of being poisoned, one reason why he liked to eat at McDonaldโ€™sโ€”nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely pre-madeโ€); and that Ivanka is planning her own presidency (โ€œThe first woman president, Ivanka entertained, would not be Hillary Clinton; it would be Ivanka Trumpโ€) and makes fun of her fatherโ€™s hair (โ€œThe color, she would point out to comical effect, was from a product called Just for Menโ€”the longer it was left on, the darker it got. Impatience resulted in Trumpโ€™s orange-blond hair colorโ€). Phewโ€”and thatโ€™s not even half of it! We left out the part about how Trump is believed to be โ€œno more than
semi-literate
,โ€ how he couldnโ€™t pay attention when the Constitution was explained to him (โ€œI got as far as the Fourth Amendment before his finger is pulling down on his lip and his eyes are rolling back in his headโ€), how Trumpโ€™s buddy Rupert Murdoch, kingpin of Fox News, considers him โ€œa fucking idiot,โ€ and howโ€”when Trump unexpectedly won the presidencyโ€”he โ€œlooked as if he had seen a ghost,โ€ while โ€œMelania was in tearsโ€”and not of joy.โ€ Weโ€™re certain everyone involved in this will respond in a mature, reasonable, and productive manner.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 4

โ€œI authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book,โ€ President Trump impotently screeched on Twitter, referencing Michael Wolffโ€™s Fire and Fury. โ€œI never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that donโ€™t exist. Look at this guyโ€™s past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!โ€ Okay, two things about that: If Trump didnโ€™t give Wolff access to the White House, why was he allowed inside almost every day for literally months? And if the book is phony, why isnโ€™t Trump saying that โ€œSloppy Steveโ€ Bannonโ€™s quotes are phony as well? Oh, and third question: WHY ARE WE TRYING TO APPLY LOGIC TO SERIAL LIAR DONALD TRUMP? Ugh! Never mind! MEANWHILE… More Fire and Fury blowback! After the Trump administration tried to โ€œcease and desistโ€ Wolffโ€™s book out of existence, publisher Henry Holt and Co. was like, โ€œMmm… okay, we hear what youโ€™re saying, but instead weโ€™re going to release the book five days earlier.โ€ And so they did, and so it sold out within hours. A+ marketing, Trump team! MEANWHILE… In a clearly backward attempt to prove heโ€™s mentally capable of performing his duties, Trump tweeted that contrary to what Wolff wrote, heโ€™s actually โ€œlike, really smartโ€ and a โ€œvery stable genius.โ€ Well, that should satisfy anyone whoโ€™s witnessed Trumpโ€™s repeated batshit crazy actions. A+ marketing, Trump team! MEANWHILE… Later in the week, Business Insider reported that after being shut down during an interview with CNNโ€™s Jake Tapper for not answering direct questions about the book, Trumpโ€™s senior suck-ass Stephen Miller had to be escorted out of the building by security after refusing to leave the studio. (They may not be โ€œstable geniuses,โ€ but Trumpโ€™s team are reverse-marketing Einsteins! PLEASE MAKE US FAMOUS TOO!!)

FRIDAY, JANUARY 5

Oregon, we love youโ€”but sometimes? Please be quiet, youโ€™re embarrassing us. The Washington Post reported a new law taking effect this week allowing Oregonians in 15 rural counties to pump their own gas, and… cue embarrassing responses. โ€œI donโ€™t even know HOW to pump gas and I am 62, native Oregonian… I say NO THANKS!โ€ wrote a clearly confused person on KTVLโ€™s Facebook post. And: โ€œI REFUSE to pump my own gas,โ€ another person embarrassingly wrote. โ€œThis [is] a service only qualified people should perform. I will literally park at the pump and wait until someone pumps my gas.โ€ And with that, Oregon became a national laughingstock on social media. Speaking of new laws, if we need a license to drive a car, how about passing a mental competency test before being allowed on Facebook?

SATURDAY, JANUARY 6

Though an extremely minor story in comparison to everything thatโ€™s happening in the world today, it must be told. First: Singer Meghan Trainor is engaged to the now grown Spy Kids actor Daryl Sabara. (!) Second: They were photographed this week coming out of a sex shop with what one Twitter user called โ€œa bag full of dildos.โ€ (!!) Third: Congratulations for being in love and buying a bunch of dildos. We approve of this union. Fourth: Sabara is wearing a Space Jam T-shirt. (!!!) And fifth: Heโ€™s also wearing toe shoes. (!!!!!!!!) Meghan, weโ€™re sorry dear, but we can no longer sanction your impending nuptials. And weโ€™ll take those dildos, too.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 7

While still a tad bit early, practically the entire internet agrees on one thing: Oprah Winfrey should run for president in 2020. Tonight, on a women-dominated edition of the Golden Globes, which featured attendees dressed in all black and accompanying activists to bring attention to sexual harassment and abuse, Oprah Winfrey gave a rousing, emotion-packed speech that brought the audience (and internet) to its feet. โ€œWhat I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have,โ€ she said. โ€œSo I want all the girls watching here and now to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women… and some pretty phenomenal men, are fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say โ€˜Me tooโ€™ again.โ€ And while political pundits are making a case for a possible 2020 run, Oprah remains coy on the subject. But is it too much to dream of a ticket that includes Oprahโ€”and while weโ€™re dreamingโ€”Michelle Obama AND Beyoncรฉ? (Beyoncรฉ could be vice-vice president. We know, we know… but letโ€™s not bog our dreams down with details.)