Trump 2.0: A House of Cards? By J.E. Dean

Can someone help me contact Taylor Sheridan? You know, the creator of Yellowstone, 1923, 1883 and other hit miniseries involving the Dutton Family. I want to pitch an idea to him. My series would be “Trump 2.0: A House of Cards,” not the most original title, but it fits.

My brainstorm arrived after I had already completed a draft column for this week titled, “Is the Trump honeymoon over?”  I speculated that the public, even here on the Eastern Shore, was starting to question some of what Trump and Musk are doing and realizes that America now finds itself in the middle of a “clusterf**k.”

That column, written only yesterday, has been superseded by events. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz accidentally included the editor of The Atlantic on a group text chat about war plans focused on Yemen’s Houthis. The editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, received full, detailed plans for the proposed military action and heard a discussion of actions, including this comment from Vice President Vance: “I just hate bailing out Europe again.”

Pete Hegseth, a ready-made character for a Taylor Sheridan mini-series if there ever was one, is now in a heap of trouble, not only for his role in the chat, held  on a non-government message service called Signal, but for lying about the incident after The Atlantic published Mr. Goldberg’s report on it. 

The incident, likely to be remembered as one of the worst security breaches in recent history, is not the first stumble for the new Trump administration. It is their 100th, with the mistakes coming days after Trump won the election. Remember Matt Gaetz?

By the way, when President Trump was asked about the breach, he said he hoped Mike Waltz had learned his lesson. Really? Nobody is going to be fired? 

But I digress. My point isn’t just that the Trump administration is making mistakes, it is how they are making them. That is where Mr. Sheridan might be interested. Think about the drama and the colorful characters.

The new President strips security details from his predecessor’s family and continues to ridicule the ex-president four months after defeating him.

The President’s marriage appears to be a sham, with the First Lady living in New York and the world’s richest man, a wild Nazi-saluting self-described “genius”, basically moving into the White House.

The President is selling cryptocurrency and other junk while in office. Meanwhile, Netflix pays Melania Trump $40 million to do a biopic of her.

The President appoints a “border czar” who proclaims, “I don’t care what the courts say,” after he ignores court orders and rounds up suspected Venezuelan gang members and deports them with no due process. (The incident reminds me of the “train station” in “Yellowstone,” and that is not a good thing.)

The President’s son rubs cocaine on his gums while watching Elon Musk’s Starship lift off. (Part of the rocket later exploded.)

The President’s ex-daughter-in-law starts dating the man who was once the world’s greatest golfer.

The President redecorates the Oval Office with lots and lots of gold. He also awards Boeing a $20 billion contract for a new jet fighter dubbed the “F-47.”

Then there are the minor characters. One is the son of a Democratic Party icon who sells his soul to Trump after he unsuccessfully runs for president. The son is a conspiracy theorist and former heroin addict. Another is a former governor who disclosed, in her autobiography, that she had once shot her dog in a quarry because it was not easily trained.

You get the idea. The open credits could show a handful of Trump’s buildings and golf courses, a Tesla Cybertruck, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller being himself, and a stack of Executive Orders.

It would not be difficult to find subplots for the first three or four seasons of the series. You have the President’s criminal past, including the failed insurrection, lots of sex scandals, lots of extortion, including against universities and law firms, and, of course a dozen or so Republican legislators, including an extreme-right wing anesthesiologist now representing Maryland, kissing Trump’s behind as the world’s economy (thanks to tariffs) drifts to recession and chaos and Trump himself drifts into insanity.

We should be grateful that people are finally organizing to say “Enough!” to Trump 2.0.  It is not too late to save democracy, but it won’t happen unless the Trump Show is cancelled. 

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government, and, too infrequently, other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s List on Medium and Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.