Mistakes Were Made, No Losers Here

Poet Dale K. Nichols lends some rhyme and rhythm to the pro-democracy movement. Proceeds from paid subscriptions go to support pro-democracy organizations.

and

Jul 10, 2025

Welcome to this morning’s edition of Never Trump Poetry, brought to you by poet Dale K. Nichols and editor Michael Broder.

Dale K. Nichols
Mistakes Were Made, No Losers Here

Every team will make mistakes.
It’s all just part of the game.
Only losers bother asking,
“Who should share in the blame?”

Winners take each loss in stride.
You want a championship?
You’ve got to strike the attitude,
“Don’t worry ma’am, we’ve got this!”

Monday morning quarterbacking’s
such a waste of time.
It isn’t worth the effort
to dwell on the scene of the crime.

Why bench your starting center
for fumbling the snap?
Or your defensive linemen
who fail to fill the gap?

No place for silly stratagems
that keep them up at night.
Just give a loud, “Hail Mary!” shout
Go Longhorns! Fight, fight, fight!

Proceeds from paid subscriptions go to support pro-democracy organizations. Consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a one-time donation tax-deductible donation through our nonprofit sponsor, Indolent Arts.

Upgrade to paid

Donate

Editor’s Note:

I think The New York Times, for all it’s faults, got this one early and right, in an article on Tuesday by Jack Healy. At a news conference that day, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas was asked whether he would call for an investigation into possible failures surrounding the recent deadly floods.

To answer, Mr. Abbott said asking about blame was “the word choice of losers,” and then invoked a beloved Texas tradition—football—as he deflected questions about accountability for a disaster that has left at least 111 people dead and more than 170 missing.

“Every football team makes mistakes,” he added.

Extending the metaphor further, the governor said losing teams assigned blame while championship teams responded to mistakes by saying: “We got this. We’re going to make sure that we go score again, that we win this game.”

He and other prominent Republicans have pushed back against critics who have called for investigations into unfilled staff positions at National Weather Service offices in Texas, or a lack of emergency warning systems along the Guadalupe River.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rebuked critics for raising questions about the administration’s efforts to shrink federal disaster agencies.

—Ed.

About the team

In the words of Dale K. Nichols, Poet

Whatever I might feel about the merit of particular aspects of the MAGA agenda, I believe that Trump, as the movement’s standard-bearer and chief instigator, is a clear and present danger to the future of America and our way of life. That we the people decided to elect him to a second term points to certain dark undercurrents in our nation’s psyche that had been pushed to the shadows for decades until they were recently coaxed back into broad daylight. For those of you who are Harry Potter fans, I believe that Tom Riddle has reemerged as Lord Voldemort, and we Muggles are in the midst of an ugly Wizarding War that has already suffered many casualties.

In the words of Michael Broder, Editor

I started Indolent Books in 2015 as a haven for poets over 50 without a first book and a welcoming literary space for women, people of color, queer and trans writers, and others who do not fit molds or conform to expectations. I am drawn to Dale’s ability as a poet to reach a general readership with his message of resistance to autocracy and his activist support for democracy. While I am indeed a Harry Potter fan, my pop-culture metaphor for the Orange Menace is Burgermeister Meisterburger, the sadistic, oppressive, and abusive mayor of Sombertown who despises toys—and will arrest anyone who plays with or owns a toy—in the classic 1970 stop-motion Christmas television special, Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.