Well, that was another interesting news cycle or two…

Donald Trump attended the US Open men’s final the other day, with a few of his favorite sycophants and enablers. He was invited there by Rolex execs, who may or may not have been intended to fill his alleged mind with warm, fuzzy thoughts about Swiss manufacturers before the next round of vibe tariffs.

Tennis – or, for the pedants, an indoor predecessor of tennis – is sometimes called “the sport of kings,” so some of Trump’s detractors probably weren’t surprised that he went. Neither was I, but for a different reason: the chance to preside over a sporting event like he’s Arthur at a joust was probably less tempting for him than the chance to be sucked up to by more successful businessmen.

And this is where the story picks up speed, because before the match, some proactive suck-ups in the US Tennis Association

requested that broadcasters censor any possible protests or other reactions to President Donald Trump’s presence…

…maybe anticipating a repeat of the “welcome” he got there in 2015.

That was Part One, of course.

Part Two happened at the event, at which the security goons caused a half-hour delay in the match, which made the crowd surlier than usual, and also smaller.

When Trump showed his face, Fox News reported that the crowd cheered him, because of course they did. Some other outlets, meanwhile, didn’t.

Here, listen for yourself:

To me, it sounded mostly dispirited, like it was coming from a thin crowd of tired people who’d stood in an unexpectedly slow line, run a gauntlet of security, and just wanted to see a tennis match already.

It’s worth noting the USTA’s and Rolex’s suck-up act for future reference, but the real story looks like another kind of bullshitting, like Trump is deliberately playing the heel in order to distract people from his more serious and dangerous failures.

Think about it:

• That USTA email didn’t leak itself. It’s possible that the indie reporter it was first leaked to just has sources that good, but it’s also possible that it was leaked deliberately to provoke a news cycle’s worth of complaints about censorship.

• The venue should have had at least a couple of days to organize security, and the Assclown is hardly the first high-profile guest they’ve had, so they’ve done it before. Also, the crowd was exceptionally thin – some outlets described the stadium as 10% full. Why was it such an aggravating hassle, unless someone (either a sycophant at the USTA or whichever White House flunky was in charge of how much prep time the USTA had) decided it should be?

• Tennis isn’t exactly one of America’s most popular sports (however much the USTA would like us to believe it is, based on a study run by golfers and probably of golfers), so most of Trump’s fans get nothing from him being there. Trump did get a chance to get sucked up to by Rolex, but he can get sucked up to by any number of people any time he wants, so why waste time on a trip to New York for a sporting event he reportedly fell asleep at, unless his being there was a necessary part of the spectacle?

Bullshitting is Trump’s one known skill. We have to keep this in mind.