NVN OP-ED— Bad Faith: The Weaponized Incompetence of Trump 2.0

By Erik Sandoval, NVN Executive Producer | October 12, 2025

LOS ANGELES— By now you’ve probably seen the viral post from Donald Trump this weekend saying former President Joe Biden planted secret agents in the crowd on January 6 - and the internet was quick to dunk on Trump, reminding him that he was in fact president and ostensibly in charge of the FBI on January 6th. Commentators have laughed as they point out this is yet another example of “Dementia Donny” losing his mind.

But from the reporting at Nick Valencia News what has become very clear about Trump 2.0 is that it does not operate in good faith.

From the immigration system to the government shutdown and even his social media posts, to say President Donald Trump makes these inaccurate statements because he is forgetful, demented, or senile bestows on him an assumption of good faith. He’s making an honest mistake. But what I see from the Trump administration is far more sinister.

I’m not one to believe President Trump makes these posts while sitting on the toilet, phone in hand, thumbs flying as is commonly joked by late night comedians. I’m more inclined to see his posts as carefully crafted statements designed to sound off the cuff and natural. These posts are vetted, not sudden.

When genuine mistakes have been posted, as with Trump’s apparent text to Pam Bondi demanding that she move faster in prosecuting his political enemies, they are quickly deleted.

So when these posts that are obvious lies stay up, what do we make of them?

It reminds me a lot of Sean Spicer's first day on the job. You remember that name? It was the day after Trump's first inauguration and Sean’s first duty on the job was to look America square in the face… and lie about the weather.

Did anyone accuse Donald Trump of senility then? No, of course not. He actually seemed like he was kind of with it back then. So then why did Sean do it?

Because these lies aren't mistakes - they’re loyalty tests. How far will you go for me?

When Trump ends his recent Biden post with “DO SOMETHING” he's not the proverbial old man yelling at a cloud as so many are quick to say. He is yelling at the people who were in attendance on January 6. The kind of people Trump needs rising up right now in order to create the sort of chaos he seeks in the streets. The chaos that will allow him to engage in martial law. 

What first began as a loyalty test for those directly employed under Trump has now, in the span of nearly 10 years, turned into a loyalty test for the entire country.

As President Trump shifts the goal posts of reality he does so knowingly, but always with the fig leaf of incompetence.

An example of this behavior can also be seen in the CDC firings that happened this weekend. An email note went out to employees telling them unceremoniously to pack their bags, then the next day the government notified many of these employees that there had been an error and the firings were a mistake - but to believe that would be to believe Trump 2.0 acts in good faith.

I do not.

The chaos of firing then suddenly rehiring people at the CDC is the point, much like the immigration system that has been covered extensively here at Nick Valencia News, where immigrants with rightful claims and pending trials are forced through a system that is so unbearable many would rather sign self-deportation papers and give up on their legally-mandated rights.

At the CDC a toxic work environment has seen people unceremoniously fired, ignored, muzzled, and shot-at —making employment unbearable. Rather than engaging in illegal or unseemly firings, Trump 2.0 can simply create an environment where enough frustrated people resign and the department hollows itself out.

Because when chaos is the goal, incompetence is a weapon.

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This was an opinion piece by Erik Sandoval, Executive Producer of Nick Valencia News.