Now we're at the daily part where everyone at the table heaps praise on the narcissistic president. White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller licked Trump's boots so hard, he's going to have a leather taste in his mouth for weeks. But this is precisely how you get this president to do your bidding. We've seen all of this before, as Trump takes it in, his supply giving him what he needs to survive: adulation. For Sane America, it's like a glimpse into another world.

"Let me just say, Mr. President, that this country was going to die without you," Miller said. "This country was going to actually die without you. That's what we were facing in 2024."

"We've been invaded for four years," he continued. "Our communities were sinking. Our public safety had gone to zero."

"Cartels were running entire communities," he told the malleable president. "Sex trafficking, child trafficking, labor trafficking was out of control. Overdoses were out of control."

"The cartels were claiming more and more territory," he added. "City services were buckling. This was a country on the verge of dying. And you alone saved it."

Everything Miller said, of course, was a lie. We were not being invaded. The economy is in the shitter. As for safety nets, you whole entire walnut, SNAP benefits will be halted in November because Dear Leader can't get his act together. Twenty-four million people enrolled in ACA marketplace plans will pay double if the Affordable Care Act's health insurance subsidies are not extended. Double. Grocery prices are outrageous. None of this happened when Biden was in office.

But this is precisely how they manipulate Donald J. Trump. Just ask Putin.

Could he gargle Trump's balls any harder? I'm sure he'll try.