Long before the internet put unchecked power in the hands of billionaire technofascists, there was a kid's doll which emitted insults when you pulled a cord. It was funny. Briefly.

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Australia's Washington-based journalists now have Donald Trump for the same trick. They shout out lame questions like "how do you feel about Australia, Mr President?" and bingo!

It is not as funny, but just as predictable.

On cue, we get pseudo-revelatory reports of the President's ongoing umbrage. It is "news" created from the equivalent of asking defeated football fans how they rated the umpiring.

If these news-breaks are a joke, they suit the unseriousness of everything about the Trump era, sans the shocking institutional and environmental damage caused. Those are all too real.

Thankfully, night show comedians like Jon Stewart are on hand: "We. Are. Tired," he intoned wearily the other night, slumping forward on his desk, "the presidency is supposed to age the president, not the people!"

Perfect political satire.

Despite his looming octogenarian status, Trump's burger-bloated constitution shows few signs of tiring, even if his cognitive state is failing faster.

As my dearly departed mother used to say, "the good die young".

Trumpism will end, eventually, and media which normalised it will have some reflecting to do.

Last August, we spent a few weeks in Budapest and were surprised by the number of Hungarians who eagerly raised Australia with us.

"You have a proper government, one of the best in the world, we have criminals," volunteered the first of many uber drivers. It became a theme. Most of these drivers and others working in hospitality had university qualifications. Many held down two jobs. All were bilingual.

Few thought Viktor Orban's nearly 16-year-old government could be defeated despite having levied an impoverishing 27 per cent VAT (goods and........

© Canberra Times