With the holidays now upon us, one would think there would be some kind of slowdown in the insanity of our political realms. No dice.

Gov. Rick Scott

In late November, the governor released a budget proposal so foul it raised hackles all along the political spectrum. Salaries for state employees who fight forest fires remained woefully stagnant, the burden of education funding was shifted to local school districts, and funding for meaningful environmental protections stayed anemic. But an entity charged with wining and dining corporate execs was set to receive hundreds of millions — that is, if the legislature goes along with the proposal (it won’t). So, unless you’re a corporation — or someone whose job it is to woo corporations — his proposal is a tad on the scorched-earth side. Literally, if you think of the firefighters.

Sounds like Drogon.

Donald Trump

The billionaire developer and somehow-presidential-frontrunner was in Sarasota last weekend to headline a rally that thousands attended. In a move that set new standards both for tackiness and animal cruelty, someone painted “TRUMP: MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” on the side of an elephant. Inside the rally, Trump doubled down on all the terrible, racist, xenophobic and otherwise offensive things the lame-stream media has called him out on, none of which has prevented him from doing well in the polls. But political observers, including some within his own party, suggest this is the proverbial pride before the fall.

Time will tell, but at the moment he sure seems like (the intact) Theon Greyjoy.

Annette Taddeo

When something horrible happens — say, a shooting that seems like it might have been motivated by ideology — it’s best to withhold judgment until one knows the facts. Congressional candidate (and Charlie Crist’s running mate in 2014) Annette Taddeo’s people did the opposite. On the heels of a man shooting up a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado, killing three, Taddeo’s campaign sent out a fundraising email deploring the fact that some states have lax gun laws. Granted, the shooter did turn out to be a scraggly Fox News-ite. But it might be better to wait at least a day before using a tragedy as a fundraising tool, lest you wind up looking like an unscrupulous opportunist.

Sigh, she is our first Petyr Baelish.

Barack Obama

Nov. 30 was the first day of the two-week Paris climate talks. Advocates say this is our last shot to create policies on carbon emissions that have enough teeth to curb the effects of humanity on the environment. President Obama is in a tough place. Agreeing to meaningful policy changes for the U.S. will piss off the industries that lobby to keep environmental regulations lax, industries that will fight in 2016 to elect candidates friendly to their cause. But to opt out of a protocol that the rest of the world is following would not only make us look like assholes, it would also have dire consequences for the world.

For being in such a precarious position, we give him Jon Snow.

This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2015.