Althouse: Trump is everywhere, minding everybody's business.

August 27, 2025

Trump is everywhere, minding everybody's business.

Link and link.

47 comments:

Enigma said...: I saw the Trump verson yesterday. I'd never given the "bean" shape a second thought, but it now seems they were trying to put a complimentary border around the "C" and perhaps the sharp kink follows from the "K". The bean/oval doesn't work at all with America First, but it's still better than the new/dropped version. The dropped updated resembled painting the words "Cracker Barrel" on an old sign from a prior closed restaurant.; 8/27/25, 7:43 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Financial News: “Cracker Barrel stock jumps, company abandons logo redesign after Trump says should 'admit a mistake'“

I think everybody got played.; 8/27/25, 7:43 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: Trump is like that ex that drunkenly chain texts you at 2am ranting about your faults and why you did or didn't do this or that, but you won't block her because she's just too damn funny.; 8/27/25, 7:43 AM
Danno said...: Well I see the Cracker Barrel gift card I recently received with the old logo will not be a collectible now.; 8/27/25, 7:48 AM
Breezy said...: He really is indefatigable. Every aspect of our lives is on his target for change list. Foreign, domestic, political, cultural, public, private, etc. No stone left unturned.; 8/27/25, 7:48 AM
Breezy said...: Even the Federal websites are being Trumpified. We’ll never be able to forget his impact on our lives lol.; 8/27/25, 7:50 AM
Breezy said...: Boring, be gone!; 8/27/25, 7:52 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The food is awful btw. Before Wednesday meetings local AA group would pick between Chinese, Italian, Mexican or Cracker Barrel. We haven’t picked Cracker Barrel in a long long while.; 8/27/25, 7:53 AM
Anne in Rockwall, TX said...: Watching the dems play whack-a-mole is so very entertaining.; 8/27/25, 7:54 AM
rhhardin said...: If it's a bean, there's a testicle joke in there. Coleridge remarked on it somewhere, as a classical Greek joke

lessee

The phrase "take your hands from your testicles Coleridge" is a misattribution and there is no record of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge saying or writing this
. The line is likely a piece of modern, fabricated humor rather than a historical quote or a reference to any biographical event.
Why the quote is associated with Coleridge
The pairing of the strange, vulgar phrase with the name of a classical poet creates a jarring and humorous effect. The line is likely a variation of a type of joke where an obscene command is delivered to an unlikely historical figure for comedic effect. The poet's association with intense, fantastical imagery and opium addiction may also contribute to the appeal of this unusual misattribution.

AI doesn't know anything. Now I have to find it.; 8/27/25, 7:55 AM
AMDG said...: Unless they can successfully address the issues that prompted the rebrand they will go the way of Howard Johnson’s (loved the fried clam rolls).; 8/27/25, 7:56 AM
Meade said...: Last time I ate at a Cracker Barrel was 5 years ago. The glass on the front door was filthy, my scrambled eggs had hair in them. It’s true—Trump IS Right About Everything!; 8/27/25, 8:02 AM
Chris said...: I wish the woke-scolds and AWFL's had a sense of humor. This is the most fun we've had with any president ever I think.; 8/27/25, 8:02 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: “He really is indefatigable.“

Maybe Trump is secretly dying and not having much time he’s in a frenzy good deeds audition for an ocean front golf club community spot in heaven.; 8/27/25, 8:03 AM
Mary E. Glynn said...: Danno said...
Well I see the Cracker Barrel gift card I recently received with the old logo will not be a collectible now.
-------
But you still are, dear danno~
Mazel Tov!; 8/27/25, 8:03 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Trump will "tweet" about things he doesn't like. Obama and Biden de-banked people.
But Trump is the authoritarian.; 8/27/25, 8:04 AM
rhhardin said...: Apparently Aristotle on the Pythagoreans "gentlemen keep your hands off your beans" the joke-meaning being discovered by Coleridge somewhere.; 8/27/25, 8:04 AM
Mary E. Glynn said...: Meade said...
Last time I ate at a Cracker Barrel was 5 years ago. The glass on the front door was filthy, my scrambled eggs had hair in them. It’s true—Trump IS Right About Everything!
---
Hard to find good help in Madison. Even the kept men are too good for p-t jobs! lol; 8/27/25, 8:04 AM
rhhardin said...: I have about ten shelf feet of Bollingen Coleridge and no a priori clue which footnote in which volume I discovered it.; 8/27/25, 8:06 AM
gilbar said...: i think it's time to think about "New Coke"; 8/27/25, 8:09 AM
Temujin said...: Great results, bad results, questionable results, no matter. We will never see the likes of Donald Trump again. I cannot imagine having to follow this up on the world stage as the next President. It could be the most competent person in the world, but he/she will be utterly boring in the process.; 8/27/25, 8:09 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: I think Trump's flood the zone strategy with everything from trade deals, tariffs, peace negotiations, cutting government workforce, and even minor cultural matters like restaurant signage is to create an air of inevitability around his actions. It isn't about getting everyone to agree with what is happening just about getting them to feel like it is going to happen, that it is just the way it is. Most people didn't not agree with most Woke issues and the cancel culture that was associated with it. But when someone would get canceled most people would go along with it because to those people it felt like that is just the way it is. Trump is trying to get this same kind of momentum regarding him and the MAGA agenda in the zeitgeist. It is marketing.; 8/27/25, 8:14 AM
Iman said...: I see you ordered the “Huevos Pelos”, Meade…; 8/27/25, 8:16 AM
Bob Boyd said...: They should ad a little speech balloon to the logo, Uncle Herschel saying, "It's your turn in the barrel."; 8/27/25, 8:18 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: The oil barrel is apt. Some of their menu items give Cheesecake Factory's pasta carbonara a caloric run for its money.; 8/27/25, 8:26 AM
RAH said...: " Politics is downstream from culture" This is just a minor matter on culture wars. But minor does matter. We have to change the culture to effect long term change in politics. Trump knows that.; 8/27/25, 8:35 AM
Josephbleau said...: It’s a new age, Trump is just the influencer President. That is what everyone supported, that is what people want. I don’t prefer it, I had dignity, which was the style at the time.; 8/27/25, 8:36 AM
Delmar O'Donnell said...: I agree with timujin. Love him or hate him, Trump is the most significant president since FDR; 8/27/25, 8:48 AM
Peachy said...: Well now that that is over, Cracker Barrel should work on consistent good food.; 8/27/25, 8:50 AM
Leland said...: It could be worse. Trump could focus on policing tweets rather than creating them.; 8/27/25, 8:57 AM
Howard said...: The first and last time I visited a Cracker Barrel was 35 years ago when I lived in Georgia. Shoney's is two orders of magnitude better. The waffle House is a favorite guilty pleasure. I like them scattered covered and smothered.; 8/27/25, 9:03 AM
Wince said...: I like how the oil barrel is labeled “Oil Barrel” not just a barrel labeled “Oil.”

Even funnier if it was labeled “Crude Oil.”; 8/27/25, 9:08 AM
wildswan said...: I've eaten at Cracker Barrel while travelling with my South Dakota friends. I had biscuits and gravy, pancakes and bacon that I remember and they were good. Picked up some old-time candies. Probably the current owners allowed service and quality to slide because they thought the flyovers wouldn't notice. And then they neatened everything up so they wouldn't have to have trained people who'd want more money but instead they could have cheap illegals working hard but without any idea of the aim of the decorations. Maybe somebody should start a chain of Club 21 makeovers where watered drinks are served to the sound a short jazz playlist so Ebony and Ivory keeps recurrently playing like an Xmas song in the season to be jolly. The wait staff, all legal Hispanics, could dress and act like Elsa Maxwell or Prince Andrew. Only hambugers and the watered drinks, so prices are kept down. It could be called 21 Cultural Appropriations; 8/27/25, 9:20 AM
planetgeo said...: Someday we're going to tell our grandkids what it was like to live in the Golden Age of the President who was a combination of Pericles, Leonidas, and Don Rickles.; 8/27/25, 9:24 AM
Kakistocracy said...: Trump ended 27 wars today and saved Cracker Barrel and college football all before lunch.

Prosecutors Fail to Secure Indictment Against Man Who Threw Sandwich at Federal Agent ~ NYT

DOJ can’t cut the mustard.

At least the new DOJ’s malevolence and corruption is mitigated by its incompetence. They can’t even get an indictment on the Subway guy.; 8/27/25, 9:28 AM
Randomizer said...: Something is off about this whole Cracker Barrel fiasco.

As we discussed yesterday, the old Cracker Barrel logo wasn't good. The new one was just bland.

Robbie Starbuck, the social media influencer who exposes DEI in companies, and gets them to back down, has posted about how Cracker Barrel is very supportive of Progressive causes.

He says CB's website celebrates their Progressive support, but I couldn't find anything Woke on their site.

If Cracker Barrel actually supports Leftist policies, rolling back the logo isn't going to change that. If they aren't Leftist, then they've been unfairly tarnished.

Trump didn't need to get into this issue.; 8/27/25, 9:29 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I used to drive to Florida and back at least once a year in the 1990s — me doing all the driving and my sons as the passengers. All our stops for food along the way were at Cracker Barrel. We'll stop for gas when there's a Cracker Barrel, so we were always looking for that logo.

Since the 90s, I don't know if I've ever gone to Cracker Barrel. Did it go bad or was it always sort of bad, but still the best when you were traveling the interstate?; 8/27/25, 9:36 AM
Enigma said...: @wildswan: "Probably the current owners allowed service and quality to slide because they thought the flyovers wouldn't notice. And then they neatened everything up so they wouldn't have to have trained people who'd want more money but instead they could have cheap illegals working hard but without any idea of the aim of the decorations. "

I'm guessing that quality declines were local, as regional COVID rules (i.e., blue areas) made it nearly impossible for any business to hire or function during the lockdowns. Recall that the old folks couldn't even go to church, and church days may have been a major source of business.

Cracker Barrel may go the way way of Howard Johnson, Bob's Big Boy, and others. This may follow how the franchise agreements were set up. Poor central management doomed the old TraveLodge motels and greatly harmed Best Western. In contrast, Holiday Inn has survived and been upgraded.; 8/27/25, 9:39 AM
hombre said...: It’s got to be hard on an old guy, but it’s necessary to counter the incessant lies and propaganda of the leftmediaswine. Fortunately, his VP and cabinet are younger and outspoken. I wish Bondi were more articulate or, at least, better prepared.; 8/27/25, 10:17 AM
Earnest Prole said...: HOW DARE THEY BESMIRCH OUR BELOVED CRACKER CULTURE. NOT ON MY WATCH!!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.; 8/27/25, 10:22 AM
hombre said...: Kak: “Prosecutors Fail to Secure Indictment Against Man Who Threw Sandwich at Federal Agent ~ NYT.”

BFD! No prosecutor would expect to get a felony indictment in blue-infested DC for this conduct. The attempt was for show. TDS obscures this. A misdemeanor prosecution should follow. No indictment needed?; 8/27/25, 10:27 AM
mikee said...: Prosecutors Fail to Secure Indictment Against Man Who Threw Sandwich at Federal Agent ~ NYT

But was it a Ham Sandwich? I understand those can lead to indictment quite easily.; 8/27/25, 10:33 AM
john mosby said...: hombre: "A misdemeanor prosecution should follow. No indictment needed?"

No indictment needed. But even for misdemeanor simple assault on a law-enforcement officer, the guy can demand a jury.

Note that I had no right to a jury when I, an LEO, was locked up for misdemeanor simple assault.

Just one of many ways the DC Council sets up the police for failure.

RR
JSM; 8/27/25, 11:00 AM
Earnest Prole said...: THEY TRIED TURNING OUR BELOVED CRACKER BARREL INTO A BARREL OF MONKEYS BUT NOT ON MY WATCH!!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!; 8/27/25, 11:06 AM
D.D. Driver said...: "I think Trump's flood the zone strategy with everything from trade deals, tariffs, peace negotiations, cutting government workforce, and even minor cultural matters like restaurant signage is to create an air of inevitability around his actions. It isn't about getting everyone to agree with what is happening just about getting them to feel like it is going to happen, that it is just the way it is. Most people didn't not agree with most Woke issues and the cancel culture that was associated with it. But when someone would get canceled most people would go along with it because to those people it felt like that is just the way it is. Trump is trying to get this same kind of momentum regarding him and the MAGA agenda in the zeitgeist. It is marketing."

This is an interesting take, except I *HATE* the left and their bullying. Getting it from both sides isn't moving the needle for me. The people crying about **Cracker Barrel logo** look just as fucking stupid as the ones who got their panties in a twist about Sidney Sweet's jeans ad. The stupid memes and the trolling work for some people. But, it makes me nostalgic for having grown ups in charge. The political right acting like hectoring crybabies ain't it.; 8/27/25, 11:06 AM
n.n said...: Trump the blogger in chief.; 8/27/25, 11:11 AM
Delmar O'Donnell said...: I agree with our hostess. I travel up and down i75 all the time. I only eat at cb or Micky d. Breakfast all day is the best menu item.; 8/27/25, 11:14 AM