Man, are we getting repetitive.

To my colleagues in the media: Please stop saying this could be the scandal that topples the president.

At the end of every week since Trump took office, the 24/7 squawkers have been trying to justify Chicken Little bullhorns. “It’s been a rough week for the president,” a newscaster invariably begins. “The walls are closing in on Trump as his friends strike immunity deals,” cawed Rachel Maddow last week. After the “N-word” scandal, CNN’s Chris Cuomo actually uttered these words: “This one is big.” So what does that make the rest of them? The alarm bells have  become shrill political Muzak.

But this week really may have been his worst yet.

Not politically, or course. Asking Trumpsters to defy or define his thinking is like asking a believer to defy or describe god’s. Good luck finding logic in either.

No, this was Trump’s worst week because his worst fears materialized: He wasn’t the center of TV coverage. Even on Pravda Light, Fox News.

What wonderful misery that must have brought. The man does two things: watch cable news and eat KFC. And a bucket will only last you so long. What was he going to do? Workout in a gym? Read a book? Talk to his wife?

No, Trump’s personal hell is to turn on Fox, CNN and MSNBC and find, instead of his plump visage, an earnest homage to the man Trump mocked to gain office (a mocking that became exponentially more monstrous when juxtaposed with renewed stories of McCain’s ordeal). 

Add to that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle — and his daughter, for god’s sake — praising McCain, without exception, as American bravery incarnate. That sure must have made Trump’s bone spurs itchy, poor guy.

Then, in perhaps his last, greatest tactical maneuver, McCain planned his farewells to the letter. And none of those letters spelled T-R-U-M-P.  They spelled out George Bush and Barack Obama (men who bested him in elections) to give eulogies. Even Mike Pence got an invitation to ceremonies, even though he never served a day in the military (the invertebrate’s  father and son did, however). That’s like sending out birthday invitations and listing the one person not welcome to the party.

And in case he had forgotten his unpopularity among real people (common in Narcissistic Personality Disorder), Aretha Franklin passed away in what was arguably the most joyous, appreciative funeral in Detroit’s history. Stevie Wonder sang the closing song. A teary eyed Bill Clinton played one of her songs to the church through his iPhone and referred to himself as a “groupie” of hers.

Trump didn’t even need to be uninvited to that funeral. Michigan may be a red state, but Detroit is black and blue. You think Secret Service would have protected him from the D, which never needed rumors of tape of the N-word to know he uses it. Belief runs both ways. 

Russian collusion? Yawn. Campaign donations? Next. Racism and sexism? What else is new?

No, what most stings Trump is a lack of attention. How fitting that ceremonies honoring an iconic woman and esteemed political foe would relegate Trump to back page news. And it’s no coincidence Franklin and McCain found fervent, universal love through the understanding of a concept as foreign to Trump as Sanskrit.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T.