Sacrificial Ham

On Kimberly Guilfoyle, recently departed US ambassador to Greece

... with her fame-hungry dreams and money-ravenous schemes, she didn’t violate the Trump ethos. She paid tribute to it. She didn’t contradict the Trump brand. She was its gaudy, greedy hood ornament.

In conventional political circles in ordinary times, an aide gets the ax because he or she has fallen out of step with the other members of the team and misunderstood the operation’s ideals. Guilfoyle understood and embodied them perfectly.

That’s what makes her banishment so interesting. It speaks to one of Trump’s favorite parlor tricks: pretending to be the opposite of who he is by feigning offense at behavior that’s a mirror of his own. He accuses Democrats of the very political thievery that he has attempted. He calls his predecessors economic ignoramuses as he redefines incompetence in that arena. And he signals disapproval of how Guilfoyle took advantage of her station as if such unscrupulous opportunism isn’t the very essence of him, his family and his friends.

The way I figure it, Trump made an example of Guilfoyle so that he doesn’t have to crack down on others in his rancidly corrupt administration. She’s the sacrificial ham. And he allowed himself an extra measure of cruel fun by acting as if he barely knew her.

“She wasn’t a member of my family,” he told reporters who asked about her resignation when it was announced last week. “She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago.”

A long time ago? Guilfoyle, 57, and Donald Trump Jr., 48, broke up in 2024. The president guesses? She and Junior were engaged and owned a house together in Florida. And she shrieked her allegiance to his wretched clan in speeches at both the 2020 and the 2024 Republican conventions. People in the front rows still haven’t gotten their hearing back.

by Frank Bruni, NY Times |  Read more:

Image: Ben Wiseman
[ed. Ah, schadenfreude. So satisfying sometimes, especially when so hilarious. Not part of our regular programming, but we're not above rolling around in the mud every once in awhile when such a great opportunity arrives. 😄 See also: this Wall Street Journal report (Flor de Maga?):]

***

"She began dating Trump Jr. halfway through his father’s first term and quickly emerged as one of Trump’s most aggressive defenders. In her 2020 convention speech, she warned that Democrats were trying to enslave Americans with liberal ideology.

The couple got engaged before Trump left office, and that spring they bought a $9.7 million Florida mansion. Guilfoyle pursued a series of business ventures—a line of hair care and fragrances called Flor de Maga; champagne ventures with names such as 1776 Liberté and Liberty Dream; a pet pharmaceuticals service called PETriot Vet, according to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records. Those trademarks have since been abandoned."