A New, New Low for Trump

décembre 02, 2025

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Tuesday, December 02, 2025

Feels like every day Trump sinks to a new low. Alas, the president somehow sunk even lower this week. He pardoned someone that, by all accounts, should not have been pardoned. Below, Esquire's political columnist Charles P. Pierce opines on the ridiculous act and begs us all to keep giving a crap, even as the news gets crazier and crazier.

—Chris Hatler, deputy editor

Plus:

Trump Just Completed the Most Legally Indefensible and Politically Stupid Act of His Career

It appears we've entered the IDGAF period of the president's second term.

In this period of time, the only relevant question is "How much?" As in, "How much does it take to spring a convicted international drug trafficker to get out of prison after barely putting a dent in a 45-year sentence, especially while the government is committing war crimes all over the Caribbean under the cover of national anti-drug policy?"

The president's pardon of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández is not only morally and legally indefensible, it is pragmatically and politically stupid. There is nothing to be gained from it. At least nothing over the table. It has revolted the entire criminal justice community and has virtually drained what little credibility that the administration's alleged war on drug smuggling had in the first place. It has made the president look ridiculous—not that looking ridiculous seems to bother him any more.

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The Best New Restaurants in America, 2025

This year at Esquire we've seen dozens of new restaurants like this, places where spectacular food is coupled with a damn good time—where ambition and abandon meet. These are the places you hate to leave, but when you do, you leave full. Full of some of the most deeply personal food you can remember eating, full of joy and ideas and hope. You stumble out, way past your bedtime, practically dancing in the street.

Sunny's, for instance, is the most fun of a new generation of American steakhouses, with none of the traditional dick swinging but all of the swagger. In Oakland, after the last cheese-frosted pies are served, a place called June's Pizza turns into an after-hours dance bender, with vintage speakers making even the oven jump. We've seen this again and again in 2025. A good time founded on the recognition that good times—with friends around a table, breaking bread—are more important than ever in chaotic, topsy-turvy years like these.

By Esquire Editors

15 Gifts Esquire Editors are Actually Giving this Holiday Season

The holidays are sprinting toward us like your dad sprints through the airport. Between work, group chats, and the general chaos of the world, gift-giving might be somewhere between "eh" and "I definitely can't think about this right now." We get it. December does not care about your calendar or your inbox. But that's why you have us.

We've been cooking up gift ideas all year—just scroll the hundreds of gift guides we've assembled for proof. And now, we're cutting through the noise and getting personal. We, the Esquire editors, are here to tell you what we're actually buying and wrapping for the people we love , so you can take inspiration—and yes, shamelessly copy our great ideas.

Some of us are going luxury, others are keeping it simple. So any buyer of any budget can cheat off our homework. Take inspiration. Copy shamelessly. Without further ado, here are the gifts we're getting our loved ones this holiday season.

By Bellamy Richardson