The sun rose in a cold pastel blue sky this morning. The thin dawn light exposed streets littered with shifting drifts of multi colored confetti. In certain areas, especially those near gated mansions and others adjacent to trailer parks, the charred remains of huge bonfires still smoldered and streamers made of crepe and in some cases toilet paper hung limply from bare tree limbs. The floors of the more notorious beer halls were strewn with thick bellied patrons passed out from too much drink and far too little oxygen. Indeed, many of the FOX News talking heads remained prostrate in bed for hours, utterly spent from Viagra induced highs and multiple orgasms.
Yes, last night the right wing far and wide ran amok with unbridled jubilation. Their man, Donald J. Trump delivered his first State of the Union speech and for nearly an hour and a half he not only didn't fuck up, but at times seemed--praise be to God--presidential.
In fact the performance was so slick one MSNBC wag grudgingly admitted if someone had listened to the address, without any prior context, he, or she would think they were listening to a mainstream republican President.
Luckily many of us are not thusly handicapped. We knew last night as we listened just as we know this morning we are dealing with a congenital liar who has no regard for right, or wrong and is only concerned with his peculiar concepts of winning and losing. This is, after all, the same guy who called Mexican immigrants rapists, thieves, and drug dealers and claimed he personally saw, "thousands and thousands," of Muslims in Jersey celebrating the terrorist attacks on 9-11.
Not to mention he remains the idol of people like congressman Paul Gosar, R-AZ, who before the speech issued a statement which said, "Of all the places where the rule of law needs to be enforced it should be in the hallowed halls of Congress. Any illegal aliens attempting to go through security under any pretext of invitation, or otherwise should be arrested and deported."
Just so we remember who we are talking about here, during the address, Mr. Trump's campaign conducted an online telethon of sorts. As they ran the speech live on their site they showed a list of names of those who were contributing to his 2020 war chest in real time. That's right, Doris, for just $35 our names will show up on the same screen as ol' Don while he's talkin' and the whole damn world will see 'em! The president of Democracy 21, Fred Wertheimer said of the unprecedented move, "I have never heard of anything like this. It is a no class, money grubbing misuse of the State of the Union address that is way beneath the dignity of presidency and the occasion."
In addition, yesterday The Washington Post ran an op-ed by Victor Cha, Trump's former candidate to be the American ambassador to South Korea. The administration dropped Cha as a nominee after he refused to support a preemptive strike against North Korea's nuclear sites. Speaking about the fate of Americans living in South Korea if Trump were to pull the trigger, he wrote, "To be clear: The President would be putting at risk an American population the size of a medium U.S. city--Pittsburgh, say or, Cincinnati--on the assumption that a crazy and undeterrable dictator will be rationally cowed by a demonstration of U.S. kinetic power."
Ah yes, The Big Orange Guy and his people are quite presidential.
The truth is there are millions of us who won't be swayed with smarmy platitudes and dubious offers of compromise, no matter how well Don Trump phrased them last night. That's because we've heard his not so eloquent, bellicose pandering to the monsters among us, listened to him spew an unending litany of blatant lies, and seen his cruel, petty, and vindictive, narcissism too many times on Twitter.
In other words, I choose to believe in the Donald Trump I know, not the one I met for the first time last night.
sic vita est
1-31-18
One nice speech does not a presidency make, although its tantalizing to think he's growing into his job. Its one in a row, but at this point, that's all it is. Still, Good Job, Mr. President, now lets make it two and stay off of Twitter for a week.
ReplyDelete