Like a Fiddle
Let’s just call it a State of the Union, because that is what it amounted to.
And in that State of the Union, the longest address by a President to a Joint Session of Congress in history, Donald Trump played the Democrats like a fiddle.
The speech was too long as a speech. But it was packaged as clippable moments for social media. Trump on the border; Trump on crime; Trump on Ukraine; Trump on kids with cancer; Trump on illegal immigration; Trump defending girls in sports; and on and on it went.
Stylistically, the speech will live on in viral moments packaged for people with a short attention span.
Trump could play the Democrats like a fiddle because they are now so damn predictable.
He won the popular vote. His party did too. But Democrats are convinced he and the GOP are a threat to democracy. All they have is performance art and it changes nothing. They will change nothing. And because they are so invested in protesting every aspect of Trump’s presidency, the Democrats refused to cheer on a young boy with cancer. They refused to show sympathy to a mother whose daughter was murdered. They didn’t even show much for a family whose husband died in the line of fire of an assassination attempt.
A geriatric congressman with a cane got escorted out. The young guns of the left stayed seated in pink or black or quietly held signs. The angry base will stand with Al Green and wonder why the others did not walk out. But most Americans will wonder why the Democrats refuse to get on board a ban on boys in girls sports — an 80/20 proposition. The public will wonder why Democrats were not supportive of securing the border — another 80/20 proposition. The public will wonder why the Democrats oppose scores of popular initiatives the President mentioned.
They seemed out of touch.
It was so bad that Elise Slotkin, Michigan’s newest senator, had to turn the second half of her speech into group therapy for Democrats on how to constructive protest and stand up to a man they view as a threat to democracy who the American public just elected and still give about 50% support to.
That is just brutal stuff.
Donald Trump played Democrats like a fiddle last night. He got them to balk at protecting girls. He got them to balk at protecting the borer. He got them to balk at protecting Americans. He got them to balk at a kid with cancer.
Until Democrats can get out of their bubble and realize they are the unpopular ones, they are not going to be able to improve their image with the public. MSNBC is turning into a secret weapon for the right, grounding the Democrats in a bubble of disinformation.
Trump needed to cut the speech down. It was too long. I suspect many Americans wound up fading away as the night went on. But he produced so many viral moments of predictable Democrat behavior standing in opposition to so many 80/20 issues that it probably will be worth it to have gone on that long.
Lots to cover on the show today.
They acted like petulant kindergartners with their little signs…. Not sure how that many people are completely bereft of either common sense OR human compassion.
I now know where the words “clown show “ came from. Apparently the democrats have lost any sense of self respect. Their hatred for President Trump is all they care about. I’m so glad that I’m represented by a Republican. If I were a registered democrat I would be absolutely mortified. For the first time in four years the democrats are worried about the price of groceries, gasoline, drugs, the border, crime, and everything else that made our lives difficult because of them. Maybe they need to do some real soul searching and ask themselves if they’re really helping their constituents and this country. I would also like to ask all of the senators that voted against keeping men out of women’s sports do any of you have daughters?