Long Tail. (Of Corruption?)

Comparison:

President Trump walked into history dragging a long tail of litigation, accusation and lawsuits behind him.

Conservative writer Peggy Noonan notes that Donald J. Trump's years as chief executive has taken the presidency into unknown territory. And she's not hopeful that U.S. culture can work through the corrupt implications to public life and service. For word nerds observe in the context below that Noonan does a mash-up of two stealth metaphors (threshold, and skyrocket, respectively). And, who knew that “Tuesday“ could be a metaphor?! Be careful of what your leaders are dragging behind them? Do tell.

Context:

An odd thing about all this is the absence of furor. There is no broad public outcry. Why? Because corruption is a constant and ‘the other side is dirty too.‘ Because the scandal threshold has skyrocketed. President Trump walked into history dragging a long tail of litigation, accusation and lawsuits behind him. He never sold himself as a man of moral rectitude, and most supporters didn't think that's what they were buying. Jimmy Carter's shaking down the system to see what coins fall out would have been news, Donald Trump's doing the same is Tuesday.

Citation:

Noonan, Peggy. "The Act of the Self-Deal." Wall Street Journal, 20 August 2026. Web.

(Graphic image design by Lee Aigue base image courtesy of ChatGPT Oct. 2026.)