{"id":142717,"date":"2026-01-26T17:27:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/01\/26\/a-sad-pathetic-little-man\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T17:27:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:27:51","slug":"a-sad-pathetic-little-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/01\/26\/a-sad-pathetic-little-man\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sad, Pathetic Little Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

President Donald J. Trump begins the public portions of his Cabinet meetings by going around the table having all of the Cabinet members praise Trump to the heavens.<\/p>\n

How embarrassing.<\/p>\n

Embarrassing for Trump, who is so insecure that he insists that others publicly praise him.\u00a0But also embarrassing for the members of the Cabinet, who have chosen to publicly debase themselves for the chance to hold power (and, for those named Vance and Rubio, the possibility of holding yet more power in the future).<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve attended an awful lot of meetings with powerful people in my life \u2014 CEOs, managing partners, and the like.\u00a0Not one has insisted on starting with praise of the boss before moving on to the rest of the agenda.\u00a0In fact, if you\u2019d tried to start a presentation by flattering the boss, most bosses would have shut you up.\u00a0Those who didn\u2019t shut you up would have simply fired you.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean folks don\u2019t suck up to the boss.\u00a0Of course they do.\u00a0Folks flatter the boss in private.\u00a0They laugh at his or her jokes.\u00a0They stay at the company holiday party until five minutes after the boss leaves.\u00a0But no boss insists on reverential praise in public.<\/p>\n

Except Trump.<\/p>\n

What a sad, pathetic little man.<\/p>\n

Foreign leaders have learned this lesson.\u00a0Praise Trump publicly, and perhaps he\u2019ll treat you better.\u00a0Heads of state across Europe now play this disgraceful, but effective game.<\/p>\n

Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize, recently gave her prize to Trump.\u00a0She accompanied that gift, naturally, with flattery.\u00a0If you\u2019d like Trump\u2019s help to install you as the leader of Venezuela, flatter the man.<\/p>\n

A person with a shred of dignity would have refused to accept Machado\u2019s prize.<\/p>\n

Not our guy.<\/p>\n

I checked the comments on\u00a0Breitbart<\/em>\u00a0to see what the Trump\u00a0morons<\/s>\u00a0loyalists were saying about Machado\u2019s presentation.\u00a0The loyalists figure Machado was sincere:\u00a0\u201cShe said great things about Trump.\u00a0It was touching.\u00a0He must be a great man, and she sees it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did those commenters miss the way Cabinet meetings start?\u00a0What\u2019s your explanation for that? Just coincidence?<\/p>\n

Trump is not great.\u00a0He\u2019s a sad, pathetic little man.<\/p>\n

John McCain was captured in Vietnam and then declined an early release from prison because he feared the North Vietnamese would use his release to score public relations points.\u00a0Private Bone Spurs didn\u2019t like McCain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bone Spurs said he likes the guys who don\u2019t get captured.<\/p>\n

Like himself, maybe.\u00a0Avoid the draft; avoid the risk of capture.<\/p>\n

Trump knows what a real hero is, and he knows that he doesn\u2019t look like one.\u00a0That\u2019s what really bothers Trump about McCain.<\/p>\n

Guys who died on the beaches of Normandy were \u201csuckers and losers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right.\u00a0I can see Trump going over the side of a Higgins boat on June 6, 1944, into freezing water, in the face of enemy fire, at Normandy Beach.<\/p>\n

Wait \u2014 my aching bone spurs!<\/p>\n

Only once in history \u2014 in the aftermath of 9\/11 \u2014 has any member of NATO invoked Article 5, which says that an attack on one NATO member will be deemed an attack on all.\u00a0 Our NATO allies heeded the United States\u2019 call to duty.\u00a0Those allies paid a price for their loyalty.\u00a0 Of the roughly 3,500 service members from NATO countries who were killed in Afghanistan, about 1,000 were from countries other than the United States. But last week Trump said of those 1,000 dead that the U.S. never \u201cneeded them<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0According to Trump, \u201cthey\u2019ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that. And they did. They stayed a little back, little off the front lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tell that to the grieving sons and daughters, you\u00a0sad, pathetic little man.<\/p>\n

On the night before D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0in the event that the Normandy invasion failed.\u00a0He praised the troops and took all the blame for the failure.<\/p>\n

When President Donald Trump was asked if he took responsibility for the problems with COVID testing, he heroically\u00a0responded<\/a>, \u201cNo.\u00a0 I don\u2019t take responsibility at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course not.<\/p>\n

You sad, pathetic little man.<\/p>\n

What president \u2014 indeed, what person \u2014 would give visitors free admission to national parks on their birthday, post insulting plaques about former presidents on the walls of the White House, or put their name before that of the assassinated John F. Kennedy on the facade of the Kennedy Center?<\/p>\n

Yes, yes:\u00a0The answers to those, and all the other, questions are the same:<\/p>\n

A sad, pathetic little man.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Mark\u00a0Herrmann\u00a0spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Curmudgeon\u2019s Guide to Practicing Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(affiliate links). You can reach him by email at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>inhouse@abovethelaw.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The post A Sad, Pathetic Little Man<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

President Donald J. Trump begins the public portions of his Cabinet meetings by going around the table having all of the Cabinet members praise Trump to the heavens.<\/p>\n

How embarrassing.<\/p>\n

Embarrassing for Trump, who is so insecure that he insists that others publicly praise him.\u00a0But also embarrassing for the members of the Cabinet, who have chosen to publicly debase themselves for the chance to hold power (and, for those named Vance and Rubio, the possibility of holding yet more power in the future).<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve attended an awful lot of meetings with powerful people in my life \u2014 CEOs, managing partners, and the like.\u00a0Not one has insisted on starting with praise of the boss before moving on to the rest of the agenda.\u00a0In fact, if you\u2019d tried to start a presentation by flattering the boss, most bosses would have shut you up.\u00a0Those who didn\u2019t shut you up would have simply fired you.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean folks don\u2019t suck up to the boss.\u00a0Of course they do.\u00a0Folks flatter the boss in private.\u00a0They laugh at his or her jokes.\u00a0They stay at the company holiday party until five minutes after the boss leaves.\u00a0But no boss insists on reverential praise in public.<\/p>\n

Except Trump.<\/p>\n

What a sad, pathetic little man.<\/p>\n

Foreign leaders have learned this lesson.\u00a0Praise Trump publicly, and perhaps he\u2019ll treat you better.\u00a0Heads of state across Europe now play this disgraceful, but effective game.<\/p>\n

Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize, recently gave her prize to Trump.\u00a0She accompanied that gift, naturally, with flattery.\u00a0If you\u2019d like Trump\u2019s help to install you as the leader of Venezuela, flatter the man.<\/p>\n

A person with a shred of dignity would have refused to accept Machado\u2019s prize.<\/p>\n

Not our guy.<\/p>\n

I checked the comments on\u00a0Breitbart<\/em>\u00a0to see what the Trump\u00a0morons<\/s>\u00a0loyalists were saying about Machado\u2019s presentation.\u00a0The loyalists figure Machado was sincere:\u00a0\u201cShe said great things about Trump.\u00a0It was touching.\u00a0He must be a great man, and she sees it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did those commenters miss the way Cabinet meetings start?\u00a0What\u2019s your explanation for that? Just coincidence?<\/p>\n

Trump is not great.\u00a0He\u2019s a sad, pathetic little man.<\/p>\n

John McCain was captured in Vietnam and then declined an early release from prison because he feared the North Vietnamese would use his release to score public relations points.\u00a0Private Bone Spurs didn\u2019t like McCain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bone Spurs said he likes the guys who don\u2019t get captured.<\/p>\n

Like himself, maybe.\u00a0Avoid the draft; avoid the risk of capture.<\/p>\n

Trump knows what a real hero is, and he knows that he doesn\u2019t look like one.\u00a0That\u2019s what really bothers Trump about McCain.<\/p>\n

Guys who died on the beaches of Normandy were \u201csuckers and losers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right.\u00a0I can see Trump going over the side of a Higgins boat on June 6, 1944, into freezing water, in the face of enemy fire, at Normandy Beach.<\/p>\n

Wait \u2014 my aching bone spurs!<\/p>\n

Only once in history \u2014 in the aftermath of 9\/11 \u2014 has any member of NATO invoked Article 5, which says that an attack on one NATO member will be deemed an attack on all.\u00a0 Our NATO allies heeded the United States\u2019 call to duty.\u00a0Those allies paid a price for their loyalty.\u00a0 Of the roughly 3,500 service members from NATO countries who were killed in Afghanistan, about 1,000 were from countries other than the United States. But last week Trump said of those 1,000 dead that the U.S. never \u201cneeded them<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0According to Trump, \u201cthey\u2019ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that. And they did. They stayed a little back, little off the front lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tell that to the grieving sons and daughters, you\u00a0sad, pathetic little man.<\/p>\n

On the night before D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0in the event that the Normandy invasion failed.\u00a0He praised the troops and took all the blame for the failure.<\/p>\n

When President Donald Trump was asked if he took responsibility for the problems with COVID testing, he heroically\u00a0responded<\/a>, \u201cNo.\u00a0 I don\u2019t take responsibility at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course not.<\/p>\n

You sad, pathetic little man.<\/p>\n

What president \u2014 indeed, what person \u2014 would give visitors free admission to national parks on their birthday, post insulting plaques about former presidents on the walls of the White House, or put their name before that of the assassinated John F. Kennedy on the facade of the Kennedy Center?<\/p>\n

Yes, yes:\u00a0The answers to those, and all the other, questions are the same:<\/p>\n

A sad, pathetic little man.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Mark\u00a0Herrmann\u00a0spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The Curmudgeon\u2019s Guide to Practicing Law<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(affiliate links). You can reach him by email at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>inhouse@abovethelaw.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The post A Sad, Pathetic Little Man<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Photo by Win McNamee\/Getty Images) President Donald J. Trump begins the public portions of his Cabinet meetings by going around the table having all of the Cabinet members praise Trump to the heavens. How embarrassing. Embarrassing for Trump, who is so insecure that he insists that others publicly praise him.\u00a0But also embarrassing for the members […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":142718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/donald-trump-GettyImages-1152627372-rQcynC.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}