1 August—Breaking news: Russia will be trading—probably will have traded by the time you read this—Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, dual-national opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, dual-national reporter Alsu Kurmasheva, and who knows what other falsely imprisoned victims of Vladimir Putrid’s autocratic democracy for as yet unrevealed Russians currently held by the United States for entirely (presumably, anyway) legitimate reasons.

In 2022, you’ll recall, the Biden administration did a one-for-one swap. Basketball player Brittney Griner had been arrested when she arrived in Russia for unknowingly (possibly) contravening Russian law by carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. She was exchanged for arms dealer Viktor Bout, a.k.a. the Merchant of Death, who had been serving time here for knowingly (with absolute certainty) possessing illegal drugs.

Gershkovich and Kurmasheva were arrested only last year. But Whelan had been rotting away in a gulag since 2018 and Kara-Murza was incarcerated shortly before Griner’s arrest. So you wonder why they weren’t as important as a basketball player. Nah, you don’t wonder at all.

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In other news, International Clown Week begins today. And that naturally brings to mind the clown prince of scumbaggery. Guess who. Sure, the hopefully one-term former president is commonly regarded even by his faithful following of fanatic fools as a scumbag and he obviously considers himself not just a prince but an unpunishable autocratic king by divine right. But a clown?

Well, strange as it may seem, clowns do scare lots of people. And, given questionable makeup and costumes and acts usually based on violence, they’re not always funny, even when they intend to be.

Take Trump yesterday at the National Association of Black Journalists convention, for instance. You’ve certainly got to give him credit for having the chutzpah to put in an appearance where the whole world knows he isn’t welcome. And he certainly made the most of it, cementing his ineluctable popularity with his pitiable base. But practically speaking that’s a wasted, totally unnecessary effort when any pols do it, so Trump could really have been trying to suck up to people of color.

Trump, of course, while not a racist, is the consummate showman. So he must have been trying to be funny—play to the house, as it were—when he insulted Rachel Scott, the reporter who questioned-and-answered him, as well as her employer, ABC: “I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner. A first question. You don’t even say hello, how are you. Are you with ABC, because I think they’re a fake news network, a terrible network. I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirit.” (Why would it be disgraceful that anyone came anywhere in good spirit?)

Insult and condescension combined with self-glorification (and self-gratification) is Trump’s forte, of course: “I love the Black population of this country, I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country.” (Really?)

And the fat old scumbag’s comments about Kamala Harris’s color were so stupid that you’ve got to believe he was (seriously) trying to be funny, no matter where he excreted them: “She was always of Indian heritage. And she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black. And now she wants to be known as black. So I don’t know, is she Indian, or is she black?” (Can Trump himself be black under all his orange makeup?)

On the other hand, taking into consideration his advanced years and mental state, perhaps Trump wasn’t trying to be funny at all . . .