Donald Trump gets to be on TV tonight. He will speak incoherently, as he always does. He will neither mean, understand, nor remember most of the words he says tonight, as is usually the case. He will come to Congress to be the center of attention, as he always craves to be, with no thought for truth, justice, or any American beyond himself.
For too many minutes, a mental adolescent will be permitted to play at king in the well of the greatest hall of democracy, and some people who have sworn an oath to protect that democracy and its Constitution will actually applaud this rude beast.
We learn nothing from listening to Donald Trump. I will not tune any of my devices to any broadcast of his verbalizations tonight. I will do some work, I will write words that I mean, I will help my daughter when she deigns to grace me with a question about percentages or ratios or whatever mathematical wonders the seventh graders are plumbing this week. I will read a bit—maybe a few pages of the new biography of Frederick Douglass, maybe a chaper of Alan Greenspan’s new book on capitalism—then go to sleep in comfortable proximity to three living creatures about whom I care deeply.
I will not waste my time listening to Donald Trump any more than I will waste my time lending an ear to drunks at the bar. I shall continue to live in reason and honesty, require the same of those around me, and shun those who selfishly refuse to respect such standards.
Skip Trump’s playacting. There are better shows on Netflix.
100% agreement here. Drumpf has nothing truthful to say and will skip relevant stuff to attack his enemies and raise campaign cash. I’d rather watch raccoons passing by the house all night long.
Extremely well said Cory. Like the Catholic Church I hold every member responsible for the pedopilia by priests and institutional coverup, and every voter responsible for putting trump in office responsible for the massive damage to the world the GOP has created using the trump crime family as stooges for billionaires with undermining the constitutional Democracy with propagandized conspiracy, obstruction, kidnapping, hostage taking, war crimes, murder of members of the press,and fraud, fraud, fraud.
In a few moments I will watch the State of the Union speech, not because I am a fan of Trump, but because I have always watched them, good and bad.
Cory states very well why people should not watch this president, please excuse this old historian that feels some weird sense of obligation to see what this man plans for this country.
At 7:32 MT, Roger, I am wondering whether you think there might be something worthwhile yet to come.
grudgenutz, thus far the speech has been very elementary and predictable.
Trump has just started on illegal immigration and his goddamn wall and telling us how immigration is cruel.
Even if he promises something good in his speech, he know it will be a lie.
excuse my mistake, it should read, “you know it will be a lie”.
I think that Douglass bio should be worthwhile. He’s starting to get noticed.
I’m in the dark here, Douglass bio?
Roger, see David Blight, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, 2018, reviewed here in the New York Times.
Cory, well said, “I will not waste my time listening to Donald Trump any more than I will waste my time lending an ear to drunks at the bar.”
Stacey Abrams’ speech on behalf of the Democratic Party was outstanding! You can watch her on Common Dreams, NBC, and probably several other places. Bernie Sanders gave a speech too. I haven’t watched it yet but I guess it’s on Common Dreams too.
Abrams was direct, passionate, on point regarding policies and not afraid to indict Orange Imbecile. Most of all, she was positive and hopeful.
HOPEFUL! Not fear mongering, not grim, not preening or silly. Abrams had a clear grasp of the issues, why they haven’t been resolved yet and how they can be in the future.
BTW, Madam Speaker Pelosi especially and the Democratic women in general OWNED the Liar-in-Chief tonight. If he had even one functional brain cell, he would be very, very afraid.
They. Are. Coming. For. Him.
They. Won’t. Stop.
Bwahahahahaha!!!
BTW, I’ve seen several errors on Twitter regarding SOTU. They entered STFU.
I’m sure it was inadvertent. All those times I saw it. 😁😁😁
Thanks Cory, sometimes of late I’m just not that bright.
The absolute best part of the night was when Nancy gave Trump the F U clap. Priceless.
Listening to the draft dodger Trump talk tonight about like that the other guy who blogs all show no go.
https://www.the-immoral-minority.com/trump-administration-claims-it-would-be-destabilizing-to-give-immigrant-children-back-to-their-actual-families/
Kids might be emotionally damaged. You think?
That was very telling when the Kamala Harris shook her head after Trump called for stopping drug cartels and human traffickers. Democrats didn’t even stand up for that.
Jason there is this thing called truth. Your side has a spun version from fox/limbaugh/hannity ect . Willful ignorance. That’s why the FU clap. Dems don’t yell out “you lie” or macho orchestrated GOP “USA USA USA “ chants, or “Lock her up” chants, at a sotu speech. That’s PC not to. That’s why Dems don’t stand. That you would even not get this says it all. You are just here to obstruct. Waste our time. Go blog on Ann Colter’s site.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/02/internet-unloads-trump-sotu/
Worse than the Super Bowl and lower scoring. Brilliant!
I remember a Scotus justice shaking his head at something Obama said during the SOTU speech. I’m thinking it was Alito.
Of course, like usual, my memory is impeccable. https://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-now/2010/01/justice-alito-mouths-not-true-024608
Frederick Douglass is a vague reference because American literature is relegated to superfluity in our current educational curriculum. He is a very important figure in the 19th Century survey of American literature, unless you were taught the honkey version, and I would recommend his speeches and his own “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave” before reading his biography.
But as for Trump’s SOTUS, it doesn’t take one trained in the techniques of composition to see what his writers attempted to do. They took moments of America’s historical greatness and sandwiched Trump’s claimed accomplishments between them in the hopes that he would be associated with them. He tries to insinuate himself into moments of significance. He had as featured guests a man who was liberated from Dachau sitting next to one of the G.I. s who liberated it. And there was another Holocaust survivor who also survived a recent shooting at a synagogue. He had a ten-year-0ld girl who is in remission from brain cancer after chemotherapy. He had a couple of black folks who were recently released from prison sentences that were not commensurate with their offenses. (Revision of the criminal code did occur under his watch, but he is appropriating other people’s ideas and work.) His attempts to associate himself with inspiring moments is undercut by the fact that his actual life history runs counter to these moments. His writers cannot come up with one act in his life that isn’t tainted by malice. And for those who keep an actual track of his performance, he has established that his words cannot be believed or trusted. The ultimate characterization of the speech is stated by the Washington Post fact-checkers: “President Trump’s State of the Union speech once again was chock-full of stretched facts and dubious figures. Many of these claims have been fact-checked repeatedly, yet the president persists in using them.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/02/06/fact-checking-president-trumps-state-union-address/?utm_term=.d4b0fc551c43
Go on, Prof. Hannity spent 12 minutes praising the speech. :)
Yes, I agree with Jason that it was very telling how calm and collected Kamala Harris and the entire Democratic side was. Even in the face of the Nazi Party’s baiting chants of “USA! USA!” there was calm.
Ever since Reagan took the State of the Union speech from a standard speech into entertainment, it has been more about theatrics than substance. Who is going to stand and clap for Dear Leader, and who is going to sit on their hands seems utterly predictable by now. Also very predictable with this President is the constant flow of lies. Trump’s El Paso lies, of course, were predictable and easily disproved by crime statistics.
He spoke longer than Bill Clinton’s longest State of the Union speech, yet up came the glad handing sycophants after the speech telling Trump it was great. Ah, the taste of licking the President’s butt must be addictive. Bill Clinton was a blowhard, but at least he was coherent. It was as if Trump was imitating Mr. Mumbles during half the speech. Back in Clinton’s day Republicans compared the length of Clinton’s speech to one of Fidel Castro’s day-long efforts. I guess we can say Trump’s speech was longer than a speech by his hero, Adolph Hitler.
Yes, the speech had some good moments, touching moments. Those were written and choreographed by someone else. Trump struggled to get through his introductions of people in the First Ladies box as he read the syllables phonetically. I felt like saying, “Good Job!” as I used to do when my daughter was learning how to read.
Before the speech, Trump was complaining that it wasn’t tough enough. Dear Leader, I suppose, would have preferred to deliver a Hitler-like stem winder, but that wouldn’t have gone over with the survivors of Nazi death camps that someone weaved into his speech to make him look as if he cares about any people.
I disagree with Cory that there was better television to watch. I was a dedicated viewer of the TV show, “Designated Survivor,” and Trump perfectly fits the corrupt leaders who wheeled and dealed on that show. He was even trying to wheedle an end to investigations by threatening any legislation that Congress passes. So when Trump touched on some actual legislation that he would support, it seemed more as a bargaining chip to get Congress to stop their investigations, not an honest attempt at bipartisan legislating.
Nancy Pelosi’s sarcastic hand clap about sums up my take on this SOTU address.
It needed more arm waving and fist banging. BLOOD ALONE MOVES THE WHEELS OF HISTORY!
Now that we are in tax season, this will be the story that needs watching:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/6/18214039/irs-tax-refund-withholding-trump
As the filing deadline approaches, Americans are finding out what their REAL tax burden is from the GOP?Trump tax “cuts.” Money that was “extra” in monthly paychecks now is being offset by the actual yearly amount owed after the elimination of deductions.
This is Hillary-ous from the next dumbest male Drumpf, Junior.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/02/trump-jrs-attack-democratic-congresswomen-hilariously-backfires-one-greatest-self-owns-year/
Someone mocks Democratic women for not wearing USA pins and guess whose entire family wore none, either?
The moronic runs strong in the trumpelious males.
I was tempted to watch Law and Order on WeTV, but my job kind of obliges me to watch it. There were a few moments that I was moved by, but 95 % of it was just as you predicted.