Rear-View Awards: A Year in Irony

If hindsight is 20/20, then 2025 was a year where irony is produced by algorithms and politicians think diplomacy is a TikTok trend. To toast our survival is the annual Rear-View Awards, the only column where irony is not just a category, it is the entire piece.

Metaphor of the Year
Hollywood director Rob Reiner, the onetime foil to Archie Bunker, was apparently murdered by his son, proving that sitcom dysfunction can mirror life and be “All in the Family.”

Best Market Correction
Hunter Biden is no longer getting $400,000 for his artwork. He is down to $100 bucks to spray-paint obscenities on a Tesla.

Stat of the Year
The New York Times ran a story on how foreign travel to the U.S. is down due to what the Gray Lady calls the Trump Slump. This is believable when you consider that for the last four years, our number one tourist attraction was the Rio Grande.

Question of the Year
When will scientists admit that the climate has been changing long before humans invented SUVs, plastic straws, or had opinions?

Cover-Up of the Year
Jake Tapper’s book, “Original Sin,” exposes the media’s four-year whitewash of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. The canard that Biden was sharp, the border secure, Trump colluded with Russia, and Hunter’s laptop was fake, Tapper reveals what Washington long knew: Biden was unfit for office as early as 2017. The book recounts one particular moment of confusion when, at a Beverly Hills fundraiser, Biden failed to recognize George Clooney and told Obama how much he loved him in Driving Miss Daisy.

Word(s) of the Year
The Oxford Word of the Year is actually two words: “rage bait” because apparently “click bait” wasn’t emotionally ruinous enough. Linguists use “rage bait” for anything that divides or offends. Last year’s phrase was “brain rot,” the term for scrolling ourselves into mental mush. Together, they sum up digital life: outrage sparks engagement, algorithms fan the flames, while burning a hole in your cornea.

All in a Name
As of this writing, the U.S. Navy destroyed its 5th Venezuelan drug boat. The boat didn’t have a chance with its name: Coke Zero.

Best Laugh
During warm-ups for the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game, players wore shirts stitched by Asian slave labor that read: “Pay Us What You Owe Us,” a bold slogan for a league so cash-strapped it can barely afford the thread.

Political Twister
President Trump’s deal with Nippon Steel because nothing says “America First” like outsourcing patriotism to a Japanese steel conglomerate. Two weeks before the deal, Turner Classic Movies spent Memorial Day defeating the Japanese. For Japan to save U.S. Steel shortly thereafter is political good sportsmanship.

Melancholy Medal
When you realize 1972 and 2025 are as far apart as 1972 and 1919. Congratulations, you are officially older than your nostalgia.

The Confirmation Cup
In 2025, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner ditched a 140-year ritual and refused to toast the president, an unexpected move that validated Donald Trump’s longtime complaints about media bias.

Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction
After the Hooters restaurant chain went bust, Democrats disrupted a Senate hearing to protest a Kennedy being nominated for a cabinet post by a Republican president.

More Effective Than Coal
Children awoke this Christmas to disappointment after discovering that Santa had revised his disciplinary policy and is now punishing naughty kids with tickets to the New York Giants. Provide such naughty behavior continues, Colorado Rockies tickets will be featured next year.

Book of the Year
“The Man Who Invented Conservatism: The Unlikely Life of Frank S. Meyer” Daniel J. Flynn’s biography of Frank S. Meyer uncovers how a Marxist firebrand became a founding architect of conservative “fusionism,” blending liberty and tradition into the movement’s philosophical backbone. It’s a richly researched portrait of a restless, contradictory thinker whose ideas still echo through today’s political discourse.

The John Filipowicz Award
To honor the memory of my longtime friend and Marine veteran who, along with his son, gave his life in the defense of their home during Hurricane Sandy in Staten Island, the 13th annual John Filipowicz Award is awarded to Maria Maresca. Army Fire Support Officer Maresca stands watch along the 38th parallel, echoing the service of her grandfather, Marine Sgt. Frank Maresca, who fought in Korea 73 years ago.