The Elephant in the Newsroom

The Elephant in the Newsroom

Scour the news for an entirely uninteresting story. Consider how it connects to your life. Write about that.

“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce — and then as a 24-hour news cycle.”
(with apologies to Karl Marx)

✍️ Author’s Note:
This post was written in response to a prompt asking for an “entirely uninteresting story” from the news. In today’s media landscape, the real challenge isn’t finding such stories — it’s escaping them. I chose the most persistently dull yet all-consuming news narrative of our time: the Trumpian circus. It’s not the novelty that bothers me, but the endless reruns. Sometimes satire is all that’s left when reality becomes parody.

Letters to the Prompt

Dear Prompt,

Even in your audacity, you’ve dared me to address what no morning coffee can fully dilute: the elephant in the newsroom.

Yes, that story. The one that refuses to fade, no matter how many times we yawn, sigh, or change the channel. Ever since the Bankruptcy Artist-in-Chief descended that golden escalator to announce his candidacy, the political circus has been stuck on rerun — and yet somehow keeps renewing itself for another season.

We all know the character: a man who wears failure like a cologne, sprays bravado like hairspray, and bankrupts everything from casinos to civility. With autocratic flair and the ethics of a discount televangelist, he has turned America into the world’s most expensive protection racket — a kind of global subscription service for chaos.

Still, the media, ever-thirsty for clicks and outrage, spoon-feeds us every court date, every tweet, every courtroom sketch as if it were the Second Coming — though frankly, it feels more like the third season of a bad reality show we never asked to be in.

And so, with no consideration for my fragile morning harmony or the dignity of the public square, this entirely uninteresting story remains depressingly unavoidable. Like a houseguest who won’t leave, it has burrowed into the national consciousness and refuses to pay rent.

Some elephants, it seems, can’t be ignored — especially when they insist on trumpeting at breakfast.

Netherlands, William J J Houtzager, Aka WJJH. August 2025

📌 Blog Excerpt

Tired of the same tired headlines? So am I. In this satirical letter to the prompt, I confront the most uninteresting yet omnipresent story of our time — the Trump Show — and ask: when does news become noise? A light-hearted grumble about the click-hungry circus that won’t leave the stage.