16 Years of Winning vs. Donald J. Trump

June 14, 2025;
no AI used.

Dear Friends, Family, and Members in Good Standing,

Today is a very special day.

Yes, today we celebrate One Decade of Sometimes Weekly publishing. And we celebrate by observing, for the very first time, International Sometimes Weekly Day.

To mark this special occasion I submit to you, dear reader for your careful consideration, this Story from the Back Row of History.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This article is interactive. The reader is encouraged to click on embedded links throughout, when so inclined. Large headings are utilized to help save you place.

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO TODAY,

on June 14, 2009, I published one of my earliest attempts at satire on my first fake news website, Fairly Unbalanced.

That very same day I was tracking, intently via Twitter, protests in Iran following their presidential election, which saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win amid allegations of voting irregularities.

Yes, 16 years ago I was 16 years old and a very normal child.

My maybe-first humorous piece has been recorded for the Back Row of History by the Wayback Machine, a truly wonderful resource that I’m sure they’ll destroy soon enough. In my possibly-funny June 2009 piece, I satirized dictators and Donald Trump while offering a (hopefully somewhat clear) undertone of support for acts of civil disobedience.

And a month later I received Donald Trump’s autograph in the mail, on the very same day as Stephen Baldwin and Conan O’Brien. Very normal, indeed!

In a signed book, Donald Trump wrote: TO: NICK NEVER GIVE UP AND ALWAYS THINK BIG.

And yes, two years later, on April 13, 2011, at two o’clock in the morning, on a school night, during my senior year of high school, I speculated on the possibility that Donald Trump might run for president. 

I launched this publication, Sometimes Weekly, four years later in February 2015, during my senior year of college.

But I didn’t achieve any level of notoriety until another whole month when, in March 2015, I was issued a Cease and Desist Demand by the Trump Organization. I was being accused of copyright infringement and cybersquatting, even though when I registered the domain name (that just so happened to have “trump” in it) I did so in Good Faith, and certainly not to try and slightly annoy Donald Trump.

PLEASE NOTE: Before proceeding, the reader must know: I am not a cybersquatter. I’ve earned everything I’ve got.

With that, we can proceed Toward the Back Row of History.

THE FIRST MENTION I HAVE

of “Trump.Foundation” in my records is preserved for the Back Row of History through a Google Docs version history timestamp.

From this well-preserved, semi-alarming ones and zeroes perspective (that would not be possible with a dumb piece of real paper, given the physical “reality” limitations of carbon-14 dating) you can see where I highlighted the instructions for an 800 word essay on leadership and replaced that sad pablum with: “Trump.Foundation: Buying all Trump top-level domains before Donald.”

Later that day, the domain was mine.

After purchasing the domain name, I did absolutely nothing with it and promptly forgot.

A month later, in February 2015, I registered this domain name, SometimesWeekly.com, and published my first piece: an Open Letter to Men’s Wearhouse.

Then, a month later, on March 23rd, 2015—the day after my 22nd birthday—I received a phone call from my Mom.

“Nick,” she said. “You’ve got mail here… from the Trump Organization.”

I was immediately intrigued.

Of course, as you can imagine, I assumed it was probably another autograph.

My childhood bedroom (yes, painted blood red, very cool) did have a personalized-and-signed headshot of Donald Trump hanging on the wall, after all.

SURE, IT HAD BEEN SIX YEARS

since I had written to Donald Trump back in 2009, but it wasn’t uncommon for celebrity autographs to arrive at my childhood home even years after my initial burst of requests, which included responses from: Jimmy Carter, Leslie Nielsen, Alex Trebek, Bob Barker, Billy Mays, Bob Saget, Larry King, Bob Dole, Colin Powel, and Matt Lauer.

In fact, a week after I received mail from the Trump Organization, I received a letter from the actor Victor Garber a full seven years after I had written to him, with a signed headshot and a note apologizing for the years-long delay. A true mensch.

“The Trump Organization?” I repeated back. “Open it,” I told my Mom.

I heard the envelope rip open, some papers shuffle around, a pause, and then a gasp.

“Nicholas!” my Mom screamed. “What did you do?!”

“What?!” I shouted back, confused and intrigued, already beginning to laugh.

“It’s a Cease and Desist Demand!”

As she read the Demand over the phone, I laughed with delight: the whole thing had worked, and it didn’t even take much effort. My Mom, for her part, was horrified.

“But I didn’t even do anything with the site!” I said laughing, miming my defense.

Yes, it was very easy to annoy Donald Trump, after all.

I SERIOUSLY CONTEMPLATED MY RESPONSE.

This was a direct threat of an expensive legal battle by Donald Trump’s attorney, with the Cease and Desist Demand noting that “Mr. Trump considers this to be a very serious matter” and all necessary and appropriate actions would be taken to halt my blatant and unauthorized use of his precious Trump trademark.

As I considered the infinite potentialities of every possible reply, I updated the Trump.Foundation website. I made clear that the domain was not associated with Donald Trump or the Trump trademark. I figured that my Good Faith ownership of Trump.Foundation might qualify as a parody, and be protected as free speech, especially given my personal history of satirizing Mr. Trump when I was but a wee lad.

Then, I promptly blew past the attorney’s demanded Written Assurance Deadline of March 30th, 2015 without responding. And, if you’re keeping track at home, March 30th, 2015 is the very same day Victor Garber found my letter buried in his drawer and wrote back after seven years.

Finally, a week an a half later, I made my move.

I deployed the Art of the Deal and responded to Donald Trump’s attorney with my demands.

I Never Gave Up and I Thought Big, and now I was $39.99 richer.

And with that $39.99, I purchased a new domain name, TronaldDump.Foundation, which I recently reacquired as part of Sometimes Weekly’s rapidly growing Trump.Holdings subsidonym brand, which includes .Dog, .Attorney, and of course the legacy brand, .Singles.

YES, WHEN I WAS 16 YEARS OLD

in June 2009 and lobbed my first wordbomb in the general direction of Donald J. Trump, I never could’ve imagined how the next 16 years would play out.

And yes, when I was 22 years old in March 2015 and was nearly sued by Donald J. Trump, I didn’t know I would spend the the next decade thinking about, writing of, and living in his unreality, a poorly-staged production that so clearly reflects his inner darkness.

In my ongoing Battle against Mr. Trump:

FINALLY, THE CONCLUSION

Last month, in May 2025, I wrote a letter to Warren Buffett, 94, to congratulate him on his legacy at Berkshire Hathaway and to wish him well in retirement, which he plans to begin at the end of this year. Yes, a very normal child.

I expressed to Mr. Buffett my appreciation for his generous giving and for his participation in America’s public discourse, specifically his advocacy for fair taxation and his strong-arming of other billionaires toward historic giving pledges.

In my letter, I contrasted his life with “this new breed of billionaires” and their “phallic-shaped rockets,” admitting I was worried about their “seeming lack of conscience” and “unideology.”

With these important distinctions drawn, I asked Mr. Buffet: “how have you stayed in touch with your humanity?”

A few weeks later, I received my letter back and on the bottom, Mr. Buffett wrote: “by having wonderful friends, beginning with my dad.”

And so, on this Father’s Day Weekend, let us ignore the poorly-staged national production, the unreality, and instead choose optimism, as we carefully consider the character of our leaders, and of our neighbors, and determine who to trust and admire during these difficult and historic times.

Yes, the time for simple ones and zeroes has passed. Now, perhaps more than ever, we must acknowledge our shared reality, while remaining firmly committed to preserving American democracy. The darkness must be rejected. We must stand in the light.

From the Back Row of History, I wish you a very Happy International Sometimes Weekly Day.

Sincerely, your pal;

Nick Butler
Albany, NY
June 14, 2025

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