I guess it was either Zurich or Tehran.

In Zurich it's only the clocks that are completely cuckoo.

https://www.cuckoocollections.co.uk/blogs/blog/the-history-of-the-cuckoo-clock

"It is believed that during the 18th-century farmers in south-western Germany started making cuckoo clocks using logs from the Black Forest. This is widely believed to be the time and the place of the birth of the cuckoo clock. The story goes that during the winters, farmers would put their time to making these musical cuckoo clocks which could be sold to earn a living whilst their farms lay dormant." (My emphasis)

Sorry, the fallacy that the Swiss invented the cuckoo clock is widespread, including a line in the movie 'The Third Man', spoked by Orson Wells as 'Harry Lime'.

But when you talk about South-Western German Cuckoo Clocks everyone is all "What you talking about Willis?"

So much winning!

One thing he got right, though, is that we're all tired of it

Can you just imagine the tariff on ten trillion Zimbawean Dollars...

A significant convoy of trucks with Roubles riding on Papiermark paved roads?

"One year, a little girl was tasked with stomping on stage to shout "Please stop, I'm bored!" whenever a winner went on for more than a minute."

That happened more than once. It was very much a tradition when I first started following them. The little girl in question will have grown up by now.

Such a shame that there are one or two people in the world who haven't grown up ...

IIRC every year a (different) eight-year-old girl is recruited to do this.

Terrible people. They have treated America so badly. So, so badly. Everyone says so. Terrible people. Some say terrible people. The worst. The Annals of Improbable Research is Fake News. They can try to hide in Zurich with Europe's weirdos and commies but we'll get them. That's right Pete, isn't it? Terrible people.

It seems like everyone is counting the days until America's dementia-riddled president loses the midterm elections. At minimum, Trump won't hold the House of Representatives. There's a possibility he'll lose the Senate, too, though that's more probable in 2028. Legislatively, he'll be a lame duck in less than a year, though his expansion of executive power still allows him to do considerable harm ruling by decree.

In less than three years, this Trump nightmare will be over.

The lasting damage to America's international reputation will endure. Foreign opinions of America and of Americans are plummeting. Foreign leaders cannot rely on America as an ally or partner. Foreign citizens are horrified by the poison which has infected the American culture and the American soul.

Even when the proximate cause -- Trump and his supporters -- are out of power, the voters, the cable news networks, and the social networks which put him there will remain. Trump isn't something which "just happened to us." He's something we did to ourselves. His values will endure. The risk of another Trump happening will remain.

This reputational damage to America will take decades, at minimum, to heal. Welcome to End Stage Rome.

Trump won't hold the House

That rather depends on [1]who can be barred from voting.

[1] https://www.npr.org/2026/02/19/nx-s1-5719252/trump-voting-save-america-act-explainer

If that doesn't work ICE will be deporting democrat congressmen until the remaining ones fall into line. Trump fully intends to be president for life. The only up side to that is it may be less than three more years.

In less than three years, this Trump nightmare will be over.

We just need to hope the dementia patient doesn't press the nuclear button by accident or when he has a tantrum when he's voted out (if people can vote him out by then). Remember the East Wing got demolished after a supreme court ruling and the Iran operation is really called Operation Epstein Distraction...

Lets just hope we don't get another dementia patient for three-in-a-row.

With dementia patients voting for the main dementia patient, whilst they toddle away in their old homes, things won't change until we can finish whisking them away to the afterlife.

We just need to hope the dementia patient doesn't press the nuclear button by accident

The Pentagon may well have replaced that with a Fisher-Price activity set just before the fuckwit got into the Oval Office

Yeah, I regret that I won’t be around when the history books gell down to a collective verdict but I expect he will be one of the very worst most ineffectual leaders ever:

( obviously there have been worse though, but… )

- He is in a uniquely powerful position, akin, yes, to a Roman emperor. So it matters, and he will track more than worse ruler in Lichenstein. and this happening at a time when the USA is facing massive multi-generational challenges ( China, budget)

- Unlike say Hitler or Genghis Khan, his deeds are not driven by the logic of pure calculated evil, merely by narcissism and petulance. Nor is he completely insane or retarded like some kings. Merely narcissistic and petulant. Like a 12 year old running the most powerful nation on Earth.

- It’s not ( I hope ) going defined by massive military reverses, which happen in wars to half their participants. No, it’s a slow motion of obvious bad decisions because making them makes his “tribe” fawn over him.

- Once gone, it’s not like pulling a tooth. The impact of his decisions will go on for decades in squandered alliances, festering ignored crises, the nurturing of anti-reason, bigotry and deliberately turning the US’s back to science. Not to mention deficit and debt. Empowering religious extremism. Waste of blood and treasure. Lying has always been a (small) part of the

political landscape, but - in democracies- it often disqualified those caught out. Now it has been normalized. Ditto grift. Sexual crimes and affairs.

- He took away customs of good behavior thst papered over the - inevitable - flaws in most democracies’ constitutional frameworks.

Roman senators found a way to [1]end one emperor's career as dictator , though

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Julius_Caesar

The problem is that killing Trump - as was attempted - would only cement his legacy through martyrdom. Nor is political violence good to democracy.

The only realistic way out for America is for him to so obviously and publicly screw the pooch somehow that most of his devoted followers disown him and the country loses its taste for his kind of politics.

A “you can’t handle the truth” Jack Nicholson moment. Or a Joe McCarthy overreach and meltdown? Invading Canada or Greenland?

5 years of this circus later, I really, really, wonder what it would take.

> The problem is that killing Trump - as was attempted - would only cement his legacy through martyrdom. Nor is political violence good to democracy.

Exactly. It's critical his failure must be recognised as his alone.

Collective failure surely? Do we want JD Vance or Stephen Miller stepping into his [1]toe-padded shoes ?

[1] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-toe-pads-b2470386.html

Neither have Trump's charisma, so they’d implode right away.

:-)

It's critical his failure must be recognised as his alone.

It should. But it won't. The Orange Fuckwit and his enablers will make sure of that. We're already far, far beyond the delusions of alternative facts and fake news. The MAGA loons will claim the so-called failure of Agent Krasnov was because he didn't nuke North Korea/Russia/Greenland/Canada/Vanuatu/Belgium. [Pick commie shithole country of the week.]

... really, really, wonder what it would take.

Easy ...

That a mayority of US voters actually stop to think, reason and vote accordingly.

ie. not against their own interests.

For that to happen, you need an educated population.

One with capacity for critical thinking instead of ignorant half-zombies led by bible thumping zealots.

Not to mention getting rid of the US Electoral College scam, permanently.

There is *no* way that is going to happen within the next three or four generations, if ever.

.

There is little reason to celebrate as the other party is no better.

There are major conflicts in their platform that cost them in the last election that need to be addressed.

George Washington warned against the divisive nature of political parties in his Farewell Address, believing they could undermine the power of the people and disrupt government functions.

He viewed parties as factions that might lead to violence and division within the country.

`In less than three years, this Trump nightmare will be over.` - That is what they said last time.

The government of the people, by the people and for the people.

It will take a lot more than a change of puppet to fix that hot mess.

At minimum, Trump won't hold the House of Representatives.

Impeachment incoming?

What for? He's had not one but two of those and look where it got him (and us)

Impeachment incoming?

Be very careful with what you wish for.

The gods are very finicky about that sort of thing.

Have you actually given any consideration to what a J.D. Vance presidency might be like?

Right ...

I thought as much.

.

Impeach him too. Trump isn’t the only criminal in the current administration.

This is the guy that's convinced far too many people that a democratically held election was "stolen" and encouraged them to rise up (but without organisation and an end state it was a bit of a farce, but he forgave them all).

What do you think would happen if he were to be impeached? Having a cockwomble like Vance in charge might well be the least of the current problems...

Have you actually given any consideration to what a J.D. Vance presidency might be like?

Like now, but without a war in Iran?

Congress can impeach repeatedly but nothing happens unless the senate follows through with a conviction. That requires 67 votes.

Obviously. He's been impeached twice before. It's definitely happening again after Trump opponents control a majority in the House of Representatives.

But an impeached president is only removed if 2/3 of Senators vote in favor.

The end result will be that a demented narcissist remains in power, albeit even more angry and vindictive than before. A third impeachment will be seen by him and his loyal cultist followers as a conspiracy against their invented, grievance-driven reality. Trying to hold him accountable won't put guardrails on him; he'll just have another meltdown and go further off the rails.

I'm so glad the author gave us a geography lesson. It was critical to our understanding the story. Just imagine the confusion and uncertainty if readers got the impression it was about the Zurich in Abyssinia.

Or worse: Zurich, Montana.

It might shock you how many Americans have no clue where Zurich is.

Wanna take a wild guess why we got stuck with Trump in the first place?

Will moving to Switzerland make it easier to give President Fuckwit the Ignobel Peace Prize?

Abrahams said. "Switzerland has nurtured many unexpected good things – Albert Einstein's physics, the world economy, and the cuckoo clock leap to mind

LSD?

And who can forget the [1]Eurovision Made in Switzerland song

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhFNPLgK6Mw