<p>On Thursday, the Washington Post published an op-ed titled “Donald Trump is not a clown. I should know.” In the piece, Tim Cunningham — a professional clown and board president of Clowns Without Borders — castigates Trump critics who refer to the president as a “clown” or his administration as a “clown show.”</p>
<p>He cites several examples, including the “<a href="https://action.womensmarch.com/calendars/kick-out-the-clowns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kick Out the Clowns</a>” organized last June by critics of Trump’s parade celebrating the army’s 250th, who saw it as “tacky” and “inspired by dictators.”</p>
<p>“Clown demands years, if not a lifetime, of study,” Cunningham wrote, inexplicably using his title as some kind of proper noun. Cunningham even considers clowning sacred, noting that “several ancient Indigenous cultures revere a sacred clown figure.”</p>
<p>“For example, the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Sioux) people celebrate the heyoka, an honorable community member who uses humor to shed light on societal problems.”</p>
<p>“Real clowns,” he claims, unite people in “laughter, levity, and creativity.”</p>
<p>Nothing on the president’s record “qualifies Trump for such a title,” Cunningham writes, noting that “all Clown shares the common values of healing, empathy and reflection.”</p>
<p>In February, Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wapo-opinion-editor-quits-after-jeff-bezos-announces-significant-shift-in-opinion-section" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> an overhaul of the paper’s opinion section. The Amazon CEO wrote that going forward, the Post was “going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.” This “significant shift,” as Bezos called it, led editorial page editor David Shipley to quit.</p>
<p>It’s unclear how Cunningham’s op-ed relates to the “pillars” Bezos claimed to build the Post’s editorial section around. The paper — which infamously changed its motto to “Democracy Dies In Darkness” in response to President Donald Trump’s first election — has recently offered employees <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/05/27/media/washington-post-announces-another-buyout-program-targeting-veteran-staffers-other-departments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">buyouts</a> as it downsizes and restructures its newsroom.</p>
<p>Cunningham — who works for a “humanitarian clowning” nonprofit called Clowns Without Borders — did not limit his criticisms to Trump critics.</p>
<p>“Every election season, the word ‘clown’ resurfaces to compare tumultuous Washington politics to a circus,” he wrote. “Political commentators and social media users are not the only ones who wrongfully sling this jibe. ‘Clown’ is used by almost everyone to belittle those seen as foolish or incompetent.”</p>
<p>Ultimately, though, his piece is yet another criticism of Trump. He ends by urging readers to “find a better metaphor to despise and depose fascism.”</p>
<p>As an alternative, Cunningham suggests the word “buffoon,” which Merriam-Webster <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buffoon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defines</a> as “clown.”</p>

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The Washington Post’s Latest Anti-Trump Commentator Is A Literal Clown