Dec.18

electoral-vote.com

Dem 47

   

GOP 53

Trump Spoke

As announced, Donald Trump delivered a primetime address to the nation yesterday. If you would like to see it, you can watch it here:

It's 18 minutes. And before you click, take note of this legal disclaimer: You cannot click on our link and then sue us on the basis of "that's 18 minutes of my life I will never get back." We provide this information as a public service, and do not recommend actually watching the speech. If you choose to disregard our advice, you do so at your own peril.

In other words, it was a giant waste of time, and we are kind of annoyed we had to watch it. In theory, a presidential "address to the nation" is supposed to be something reserved for special circumstances—some major crisis or tragedy has taken place, or there is some major new initiative being announced, or it's an important national holiday, or something like that. In this case, presumably because of all the turmoil around this administration, not to mention his sagging approval ratings, Trump abused this privilege so he could reach a somewhat larger audience with what is basically his stump speech.

Here is one way to think about the address. We put the transcript into a word cloud generator, and had it include all words used at least three times. This was the result:

Frankly, you might get more meaning out of the speech by looking at this than by listening to the actual presentation.

Here is another way to think about the address—time until 10 "firsts":

1. First Joe Biden Finger Pointing (0:02): "11 months ago, I inherited a mess and I'm fixing it. When I took office, inflation was the worst in 48 years. And some would say in the history of our country, which caused prices to be higher than ever before, making life unaffordable for millions and millions of Americans. This happened during a Democrat administration and it's when we first began hearing the word "affordability."
   
   This was, of course, a major recurring theme of the speech; Biden was mentioned by name seven times, and was indirectly referred to at least four more.
   
   
2. First Baldfaced Lie (0:25): "[Under Biden,] our country was being invaded by an army of 25 million people..."
   
   By even the most... aggressive estimates, the number of immigrants was considerably less than half that. An "army" is a body of persons trained and armed by a government for waging war or defending against another army.
   
   
3. First Xenophobia/Racism (0:42): "[The 25 million undocumented immigrants] came from prisons and jails, mental institutions and insane asylums. They were drug dealers, gang members, and even 11,888 murderers."
   
   This is something of a "greatest hits" bit for Trump; almost exactly the same sentence appears in the speech he made first announcing his presidential candidacy back in 2015.
   
   
4. First Attack on Trans People (1:03): "[Under Biden,] we had men playing in women's sports, transgender for everybody."
   
   We think it's fair to say that trans girls playing high school sports is an important enough issue that it should appear within the first minute or so of a nationally televised address, before such trivialities as the economy, the war on Venezuela, health care, etc. We will admit that we do not know what "transgender for everybody" means.
   
   
5. First "Trump as Conquering Hero" Claim (1:24): "But they're not laughing anymore. Over the past 11 months, we have brought more positive change to Washington than any administration in American history. There's never been anything like it."
   
   FDR, eat DJT's dust.
   
   
6. First "People are Saying" Claim (1:40): "[When it comes to how great these 10 months have been,] I think most would agree."
   
   Hmmm... If "most people" agree this is the most successful start to a presidency in U.S. history, how to explain the 39% approval rating?
   
   
7. First Bragging about His 2024 Win (1:42): "I was elected in a landslide, winning the popular vote and all seven swing states and everything else with a mandate to take on a sick and corrupt system that extra—it really just took the wealth from people and crushed the dreams of the American people."
   
   Trump's crimes against the meaning of the word "landslide" are almost as great as his crimes against the meaning of the phrase "weapons of mass destruction."
   
   
8. First Claim So Obviously False You Don't Even Need to Fact-Check It (3:08): "For the past 7 months, zero illegal aliens have been allowed into our country, a feat which everyone said was absolutely impossible."
   
   There is a good reason that everyone said it was impossible. That reason is that it IS impossible.
   
   
9. First Pitch for the Nobel Peace Prize (4:44): "I've restored American strength, settled eight wars in 10 months, destroyed the Iran nuclear threat, and ended the war in Gaza, bringing for the first time in 3,000 years, peace to the Middle East, and secured the release of the hostages, both living and dead."
   
   Are you listening, Nobel Committee? The first time in THREE THOUSAND YEARS.
   
   
10. First Gaslighting on the Economy (5:01): "Here at home, we're bringing our economy back from the brink of ruin. The last administration and their allies in Congress looted our treasury for trillions of dollars, driving up prices and everything at levels never seen before. I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast."
    
    "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."—George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

We could certainly keep going, to include "first vaporware policy proposal (health care division)," "first vaporware policy proposal (non-health care division)," "first legally dubious attempt to justify war in Venezuela," "first military porn," "first attack on Somalis," "first attack on socialists," etc., but you get the point.

Here is a third way to think about the address—subjects that got no mention at all across the 18 minutes:

1. Jeffrey Epstein
   
   
2. China (nor "Jina," either)
   
   
3. Hanukkah
   
   
4. J.D. Vance
   
   
5. The national debt
   
   
6. Vaccines
   
   
7. Women
   
   
8. Susie Wiles/the Wiles interview
   
   
9. Rob Reiner
   
   
10. The midterm elections

Taken together, roughly 97% of the speech was things we've all heard Trump say a hundred times before. At the same time, it avoided anything embarrassing or uncomfortable, and it also avoided anything that happened in the last 2 months. It could not be clearer that this was just his standard rally speech, the one he's been delivering for months and years.

And yes, we did leave 3% on the table as "new" material. There was exactly one substantive new thing in there—one thing that is actually likely to come to fruition. Trump announced that all soldiers in the U.S. Armed Forces (presumably, he meant active duty) will get a check for $1,776, which he called a "warrior dividend."

We are, of course, well aware of the various gifts and grants that have been bestowed on America's soldiers over the years, from Civil War veterans' pensions to the Bonus Bill of World War I to the G.I. Bill and beyond. However, here are some of the obvious questions about this new "warrior dividend":

• What is the justification for this, other than "I'd like to try to buy some votes from soldiers who are on the fence?" Most other outlays for veterans were meant to help them adapt to the realities of their post-military life, and ideally (even if this ideal was not always realized) to help them be happier and more productive citizens than they would otherwise have been. Exactly what purpose does a one-time payment in a cutesy amount serve?
  
  
• Warrior "dividend"? Dividend for what?
  
  
• How is this being paid for? Trump somewhat implied that the checks, which he said are already in the mail, will be covered by tariff revenue. This would also comport with the notion that it's a "dividend." Assuming this is the case, then this will be the fifth or sixth thing on which he's spending the same money. The tariff money is also supposed to go to farmers, and to checks for every American, and to paying down the national debt, and to upgrading military equipment, and perhaps to two or three other things.
  
  
• On what authority is Trump spending this money? Only Congress can approve outlays like this (remember that whole thing about the "power of the purse"?), and WE certainly didn't hear anything about Congress approving a bill like this.
  
  
• What will happen if the tariffs are struck down? Assuming tariff revenue is indeed the funding source, and assuming that the tariffs are found to be unlawful, will all the soldiers have to give their $1,776 back?

Despite these issues, we see no reason to think the plan won't go through. Again, Trump says the checks are already in the mail. He operates under the theory that it's better to ask forgiveness than permission, except that he skips the ask forgiveness part. And even if this is a very illegal abuse of power, and is yet another example of the President trampling all over the Constitution, "No, we cannot give this money to soldiers" does not seem like a hill that any politician is going to be willing to die on.

So, there's our take on the Trump speech. We felt we had to watch it and write it up, because this is a pretty pivotal time, and it was at least possible Trump might say something legitimately newsworthy. But, nope. And now that he's "cried wolf" one time, and abused the power of the bully pulpit to ram his campaign rally speech down the throats of a few million politics-junkie viewers, we very seriously doubt we will find time to watch or write about the next one. If (Z) wants to be gaslit, it's much easier to just read the marketing e-mails from the Angels about how they're sure to be a contender next year. (Z)