Americans tried to bring more guns than ever before onto planes in 2023

Donald Trump can say and do a lot of crazy things over the course of a full year and the former president's 2023 was filled with terrible moments that showed the nasty side of his over-the-top personality.

Trump was involved in a lot of painfully awkward incidents as he geared up for his likely presidential campaign against Joe Biden in 2024 and defended himself against his 'political enemies' on the left and right. Here are some of the worst!  

The first month of 2023 was a rather quiet one for the former president. Well, at least until he published a campaign video at the end of January promising to punish doctors who provided general-affirm care if he was re-elected to the presidency. 

“No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender,” Trump said according to a report by The Hill. “Under my leadership, this madness will end."

In February, the former president shared a photo of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with a group of girls from his time as a teacher in Georgia and text that suggested DeSantis was grooming them; it was a very Trumpian move but one that was also extremely unpresidential.

“That’s not Ron, is it? He would never do such a thing!” Trump wrote in his Truth Social, hinting that his most dangerous political opponent at the time wasn’t on the up and up. 

Trump ended up begging his supporters for cash in March shortly after prosecutors in New York announced he was being indicted in his Stormy Daniels hush-money case. Presumably, he needed the money to help pay his soon-to-be legal bills. 

"If you’re doing well because all the things I’ve done have brought you wealth and prosperity,” Indy100 quoted Trump as saying, “it would be really great if you can contribute."

April was a mess for the former president due to all the mounting legal pressure over a variety of pending issues and problems, and that might be why he went on a weird and unhinged rant about being the country’s coming justice at the Conservative Political Action Conference. 

“I am your warrior. I am your justice,” the former president explained at the conference according to a report from The Washington Post. “And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”

In May, a jury found Trump liable for assaulting and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll and he was slapped with $5 million dollars in damages for his actions according to NBC News, which resulted in a somewhat ugly and whiny post on his Truth Social account. 

"I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE — A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!" Trump wrote on Truth Social in response to the verdict. 

In June, Trump was indicted for the second time and faced thirty-seven felony counts in his classified documents case, news the former president did not take very well. And of course, he took to Truth Social to voice his frustration. 

“It’s election interference at the highest level,” Trump said in a Truth Social post just 30 minutes after the indictment according to USA Today. “There’s never been anything like what’s happened.” But should a former president really be talking about election interference so brazenly?

The former president’s legal worries didn’t stop in July and he took to Truth Social very quickly after receiving a letter from Special Counsel Jack Smith indicating that he was the target of a new investigation, again he did not take this news well. 

“Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation,” Trump wrote in a larger statement he posted to his Truth Social Account. 

August saw the former president indicted for attempting to overturn the 2020 election by Special Counsel Smith and again by prosecutors in Georgia for his role in attempting to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, the latter of which gave us a great mugshot and the first of a former president. 

Sadly, Trump’s many indictments became a big point of pride for the former president, and in a speech at a campaign event in Alabama, Trump called them as a “truly great badge of honor” according to a Newsweek report on the event. 

In February 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James began a civil investigation of the Trump Organization, the former president's business, that would bear fruit in September 2023 when a judge ruled that Trump really had been overvaluing his properties. 

“My Civil rights have been violated, and some Appellate Court, whether federal or state, must reverse this horrible, un-American decision,” a statement Trump posted on Truth Social read in response to the ruling against him. 

“It is a terrible reminder that the Radical Left Democrats will stop at nothing in trying to prevent me, and the American people, from winning the 2024 Presidential Election… we cannot let this happen in the United States of America!” the statement also explained. 

In one of the most interesting turns of events in all of 2023, Forbes decided to knock the former president off its famed Forbes 400 list of the richest people in the world in October for lying about his wealth, something Trump did not take well. 

In yet another hilarious Truth Social diatribe too long to quote here, Trump ranted about Forbes being a Chinese-owned outlet and called his removal from the Forbes 400 list an “attack” before complaining about Letitia James, election interference, and crooked Joe Biden. 

November saw the former president make himself look like a dunce over and over again during the damages portion of his civil case in New York, repeatedly making a fool of himself in and out of the courtroom, especially when he was called to testify. 

"It's a terrible, terrible thing. These are political operatives that I'm going to be dealing with right now," Trump said according to CBS News, criticizing the trial against his company as a partisan attack on the day he took the stand. "It's a very sad situation for our country."

December saw pundits across the political spectrum wondering out loud if Trump would abuse his power, and Fox News host Sean Hannity decided to just come out and ask Trump if he would abuse his power if related during a town hall in Iowa.

“Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” Hannity asked Trump in the interview taped in Davenport according to The Guardian.

According to the Associated Press, Trump responded by saying: “Except for day one... “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill." The former President's remark set off a firestorm of anger in the media and led to a month of coverage about Trump being a dictator!

Unfortunately, 2024 has proven to be just as interesting as the previous year in terms of terrible things that Trump has done and said. However, the former president's dehumanizing remarks about immigrants and his Truth Social hissy fits in 2024 will be covered elsewhere.