I must point out to you that sour cream is delicious; you should try it, perhaps with your jello.
Trump is no different from a guy who beats his wife, and the next day expects that if he manages a I’m-really-a-nice-guy-but-look-what-you-made-me-do-and-I’ll-never-do-it-again-I-PROMISE routine for a few minutes, it’s her job to take him back and forget about it. Apparently we are supposed to forget that the last two years happened.
No chance.
19
The NYT fact-checked 45 State of the Union, 2018: https://nyti.ms/2GyFjFI
The NYT checked 19 facts and found 2 false.
The same article checked ONE and only ONE fact for the Democratic Rebuttal by Rep. Kennedy and that one fact was true. Did the speech have only one fact?
Apparently the other three Democrat Rebuttals, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Delegate Elizabeth Guzman and Rep. Donna Edwards (Ret.) didn’t have facts to check.
Maybe tonight’s rebuttal by Rep. Maxine Waters will have some facts to check.
1
Why did he almost not at all look towards the Democrats?
4
Maybe he couldn't stand to see them glaring back?
2
Trump’s emotional, cognitive, psychological, and moral deficiencies are well chronicled. It’s clear “how” he operates as well as the fact that he believes a ‘sucker is born everyday’ and that he can bamboozzle said ‘sucker’ with impunity. However, his SOTUS was most notable for what he did not say:
1) No mention of climate change while extolling coal!
2) No mention of the rising tide of domestic, white nationalistic terrorism and violence; while fear mongerIng about immigrants.
His “visions” are existentially destructive and racist, but then we all knew that.
13
Not very 'alt-right' CNN polled 70% approval of Trump's SOTU.
The NYT 'Reactions to SOTU' polls at 90% disapproval. So who's more disconnected?
Paul Krugman: "Worse Than Willie Horton"
Roger Cohen: "Trump’s Volk und Vaterland"
Kevin Baker: "Trump’s Besotted Republicans"
Ross Douthat: "Trump Tries for a Reset"
Michelle Goldberg: "Trump’s Boring, Utterly Terrifying Warmongering"
Paul Krugman: "Trumpfrastructure Is a Scam"
Nicholas Kristof: "A Brutal Fact-Check of President Trump"
The Editorial Board: "What Trump Doesn’t Get About the State of the Union"
Anthony Atamanuik: "A Viewer’s Guide to Donald Trump"
Benjamin Domenech: "How Trump Can Be More Trumpian"
David Leonhardt: "How Trump’s Critics Should Respond"
1
We get it, Trump says one thing, but is able to do the exact opposite. Instead of constantly whining that this makes him unreliable, politicians, particularly Democrats, should make use of a president that is not always on the same page as his party and may change his opinions. Some foreign leaders understood, and greeted him with much fanfare, not so much because he deserves it more than other presidents, but because Trump likes it and it makes him more flexible to discuss other issues. It is all about giving and taking, and especially with someone like Trump, if you don't give him anything, he won't give you anything either.
1
I'm not that good at pretend either. I watched Masterpiece Theater last night, knowing I would get bits and pieces from a speech that was exactly as I thought it would be. When I switched from the world channel to CBS which I watch in the morning I saw Trump sneering as he turned to face his vice president and Paul Ryan. No one mentioned that ugly sneer.
6
The speech was superb THEATER. The actor read his lines flawlessly. He tugged on our heart strings highlighting those guest who had done something heroic or had suffered at the hands criminal immigrants. Then there was the South Korean with his crutches raised high. No visa problem for him. Pure theater, certainly not reality.
8
Trump is stumped when it comes to being President Trump. Frankly, that is the question that I have to constantly ask, who is President Trump? He is mystical even to himself so much so that the press evil or not, can't make a proper case for him.
But aside from Frank's comments, the fact remains that Donald Trump while the President of the United States of America, is anything but. Sure he lives in the White House, sits in the center of Cabinet meetings, gets to deliver the State of the Union, and fly on Air Force One (just to name a few perks), but he is most certainly the least presidential President of my life.
And frankly Frank, I don't see him changing this empty feeling I have. It simply comes down to exhaustion. I am tired by him, by you and everyone that reports on the incredibly obvious, that Trump is a joke when tagged to the title of President.
I think it is high time that you and other commentators provide the rest of us with a moniker, a name, that doesn't include the name "Trump" or the title of President or any form of POTUS. Make it something that will stick with all writers and authors. I don't care what you come up with but make it stick.
6
to RichardS in New Rochelle, How about "Potemkin Village"??
5
One thing more in the contents of Trump's set speech, more or less overlooked. In calling for every cabinet secretary to reward those in their departments who 'serve the public well' (or words to that effect) and punish or get rid of those who do not, some commentators have suggested he was setting the stage for more firings! Yes, very possibly, but there's more.....
Trump went on to call on Congress to pass legislation to facilitate some such idea! That sounds like a direct assault on the very concept of Civil Service. The country has been well service by the independence of our career professionals who do not owe their position to partisan sponsors in Congress or the White House.
Even a suggestion to reverse a history of a hundred years of keeping the managers of our extensive national government out of the swings of electoral politics is not just troubling but irresponsible in the extreme.
12
Excellent column. Trump's mention of family leave last nite is a great revelation--if you take him seriously (and you shouldn't). It seems one of his manipulative political ploys to assert support for things he'll never find meaningful agreement to, like actual public policy that implements ideas like family leave. Surely he'll condemn an actual bill as imposing 'unnecessary regulations'.
Someone at the Times should ask "The Great Divider" this time next week what he remembers of his SOTU speech. He'll remember some of the substantive lies he's repeated often enuf that leaked into his speech, and he'll remember what the media he watches helps him internalize. But after several more divisive tweets, he'll likely be distracted enuf to not remember much of the substance of his address.
If you believe Donald Trump is a menace, don't belittle, don't deride, don't disparage, don't excoriate either him, or his supporters. Neither he nor they will hear you. Like all infatuated lovers, they hear only each other.
Every minute you waste in whining, or criticizing, is a minute you could use in persuading every adult you know--and all the adults they know--to vote to remove Trump--and any Republican who backs him.
The point is not to mock Trump, or jeer Trump, or inventory Trump's flaws--the point is to purge Trump from public life. Anything else is frivolous.
14
America could truly be "great again" if half the country judged fairly and listened to their own failing logic.
Are we playing pretend ourselves Frank? Do we think that all his rabid followers will wise up and see the light come election day? Do we seriously think that those who clapped in Congress were pretending? That like Brutus they will back stab him and impeach? I am sorry to say that if any of us believe these things then the joke is on us.
2
Trump is not a real president. He just plays one on TV.
8
As always, thank you Frank Bruni. Indeed, Trump creates his own reality. However, so did we - including this publication I love - that's how we got here.
For 20 years, in the pursuit of profits, news outlets pretended they could ignore investigative reporting and instead offer the public opinion, editorial reporting, and entertainment.
During those same years, we took our rights, freedoms, and, institutions - our very connection to one another and to our humanity - for granted, instead chasing media, marketing, money, and technology...leaving our empathy for our fellow citizens somewhere by the roadside.
Our financial institutions created a reality all their own by pretending those derivatives and fantastical accounting and reporting practices were creating a booming economy.
Then everybody, press and public alike, pretended that the behavior of Trump on the campaign trail wasn't a clear and accurate indicator of who this man is, has always been.
Our politics is a direct reflection of our society. The good news...we still possess the power to alter our reality and reclaim our integrity, our humanity, our empathy, and the true ideals of this great nation.
7
If Trump had done a few pirouettes during the course of his speech it would have been more interesting. His constant turns towards the GOP, coupled with his conducting of the applause, were a sad reminder of how much he needs others to stroke his ego.
10
Great column, Frank. Perfectly said.
11
Without Obama there would be no Trump presidency
4
We are all complicit in this sick charade. I feel like a refugee fleeing what used to be a democracy.
12
Like when Obamacare passed on a ONE-party vote?
Like when Mr. Obama made up law changes on the fly, 50 times?
When he changed our immigration laws all by himself, was THAT democracy?
1
Sitting in a train station yesterday, I overheard a man discussing Trump. "I hate him; I hate the guy," he said loudly and repeatedly to a mutual stranger. Not remarkable.
What was surprising to me was his further assertions that he was for Trump's policies on immigration, ISIS, North Korea, etc. Then he doubled back to excoriate Trump the man as a horrible human being.
His supporters issue mulligan after mulligan to the president, but, just possibly, a number of them have decided it's time to start counting the strokes.
10
Thanks Frank for this great insightful wrap up of a ridiculously hollow speech, who has turned the once respectful Republican Party forever on it's head.
13
Is Bruni implying that the real statesmen were Democrats, who were sitting with their infantile, bordering on stupid, facial expressions, throughout the President's speech? The efforts of the left to deny President Trump any credibility, even his humanity, borders on absurd. I bet there will be another severe shellacking of the Dems in 2018.
6
“The left” doesn’t have to deny Trump credibility or humanity. He does that all by himself. The Dems were just reacting rationally.
10
Funny you say a 2018 shellacking. I think the idea of a Democratic sweep is wishful thinnking.
I didn't see the speech, I can't watch, and my reason to myself is that I can't stand to watch someone pretend to be something they are not. It occurred to me that Trump enjoys this opportunity to pretend to be president, another fictional persona in his closet of fictional pursuits, deal maker, businessman, playboy, all proven to be charades. His turn as president is no different, write a speech for me, put it on the the screen, and watch me read it while looking important. Idolize me. What a fraud
25
Describes Obama perfectly.
1
Obviously, both Schumer and Bruni are wrong about negotiating with the gelatinous Trump.
It is no more possible to negotiate with a Trump than it is to talk slime mold into becoming a chocolate cake.
Moral politicians who are loyal to America will publicly declare Trump a proven traitor, fraud and kleptocrat, then shun the administration for the remaining three years pf the Putin-controlled administration.
ALL who attempt to work with Trump are either traitors or Quislings.
13
Actually I think that negotiating with Trump is probably more akin to negotiating with "snot" than either "jello" or "sour cream."
Snot is sticky, gross, and carries all sorts of germs with which you can infect others through your unwillingness to use a Kleenex.
18
Maybe if we kiss the frog just one more time...
8
The sight of Trump applauding himself all the way through the speech was only slightly more ridiculous than the content itself.
26
We all know the emperor has no clothes. What really scares me is the two smiling sycophants clapping behind him.
28
Look, let's just be honest. The United States is divided into two camps:
1. Those who will support Trump to the ends of the earth so long as he gives cover to their racism, tribalism and other feelings of inadequacy.
2. Everyone else.
The #1 crowd is way too committed. They will say and believe that they saw Trump levitating if that is what he tells them he did......
The #2 crowd skipped last night because seeing an out-of-shape old man read a speech someone else wrote is not news--it's elocution.
22
The photo of Mike Pence and Paul Ryan clapping and smiling while Trump performs is nauseating. Yes, Trump has made it to the Big Top but his high wire act is in danger of being cancelled by Robert Mueller in the near future. Look, I see Russians scurrying out the back of the tent.
14
Agreed. That's why Nancy Pelosi looked like she was eating sand when he started in on bipartisanship. The man is just an empty suit who will say whatever feels right or good in the moment.
11
So right. Trump's facade is all spit and fury and self-promotion, because he is all flash and no substance. The facade is all that he is.
His supporters are fooling themselves by believing that there is substance in and behind the facade.
His opponents are fooling themselves in believing that they can fight him by giving the facade more and more attention and neglecting the substance of what they have to offer instead.
7
Is it just me, or are the comments from Trumpists getting more strident and more threatening?
9
It's just you, Robert. And, those aren't strident and threatening Trumpists, they are Timeists at feeding time.
You Democrats don't get it, do you? While the country applauded, Democrats sat on their hands. You made the mistake during the primaries and general of taking Trump literally not seriously. Mr. Bruni's Column today shows nothing has changed. You are unable to separate the man from the policies, the message from the messenger. Trump, like him or hate him, is governing as a conservative. And from a conservative perspective, he is wildly successful. From a liberal perspective he's a disaster. Trump is the embodiment of his America First message. This message may not play well in New York or San Francisco, but if you live between I-5 and I-95 it resounds. Woe unto the party that wishes for a diminishment of America's wealth and power.
2
Whoops! Imagining that the country is in love with the liar-in-chief because of his ability to read a speech written by others from the TelePrompTer shows that you are believing because you want to believe, not based on real evidence. The real evidence is expressed in election after election, even in that Reddest of Red States, Alabama. The real evidence is expressed in poll after poll where Trump’s
numbers have fallen precipitously and are at a record low for this stage in a Presidency. And it is shown in the number of Republican Congress men who have decided to hang up their wing-tips rather than face defeat from a disgruntled electorate. Now there’s ten months till November and much may happen in between. As a British Prime Minister once said “a week is a long time in politics” . So one must take nothing for granted, but we must remember it’s ten months of real bloated bullfrog Trump, not orchestrated artificial Trump
10
@ Carl Giuffre Cartersville, GA
Frankly the state of the environment is far more important than wealth and power.
Patriarchy looms large.
4
Thanks, Frank, for the one sentence rejoinder to any attempts at normalizing our national disgrace known as the 'president:'
"He pretends to be a statesman, and we’re supposed to pretend that hundreds of vulgar and recklessly divisive moments before this — thousands, if we’re adding tweets — don’t negate that claim."
14
Everything about Trump is pretend, shallow, shifting. This is characteristic of narcissists; it is very easy for them to change, chameleon like, to suit the audience they wish to impress so as to bask in their adulation. I found his delivery to be completely hollow; there is no gravitas in his voice, no sense of any inner conviction (except when he is angry, that rage is real.). He is, and has throughout his life, shown himself to be a con man. I believe that, because that is what is consistent.
11
Trump may be called "The Great Pretender", but the damage inflicted in this country and throughout the world is all too real.
Republicans are always big on fiction. WMDs, yellow cake, links to al Qaeda, trickle down voodoo economics, welfare queens, job creators, Laffer Curve... And the greatest centralized compilation of fiction can be found at the Reagan library in Simi Valley.
11
Until we see a full accounting of his tax returns so we can really understand where his money comes from and to whom he is beholden he can talk until the cows come home and all I hear is "blah, blah, blah, blah". Show me. Don't tell me.
18
And for Trump's next effort at pretending he will release a fake memo from Republicans and compromise our national security. He is a clear and present danger to our democracy.
10
I knew and said long before the speech that it would mean nothing and change nothing. Remember when his supporters said he'd "pivot" after the election? Didn't happen then. Won't happen now.
The only thing that astonishes me is the number of foolish people who still believe in and support this president and administration. History will not and should not be kind to any of them.
10
I agree: he is twitter Trump, TV Trump and teleprompter Trump but never presidential Trump. His largest lie of many was his assertion that he was proposing bipartisan "common ground" ideas. In fact, the speech was an "America first" white nationalist authoritarian militaristic manifesto. He says it. His base adores him for saying it. His base, Fox, and the Republican hard liners in Congress won't let him stop saying it. His union is fantastical. The state of his union is a lie. But he would take us down any dark hole no matter how vile.
9
This was less a state of the union speech and more a self-promotion and harangue: Look at how my presidency has already changed the landscape of this country and let's go after the FBI and DOJ (thinly cloaked as "federal employees"). The real Trump is not the one corralled by the mostly measured words he laboriously recited from the teleprompter. The real Trump is the obnoxious ignoramus who strokes his enormous ego with his daily tweets.
65
Liberals here clearly live in a vaccuum. The do not see how progressism has failed and has been soundly repudiated by Americans in the last presidential election. The laud Obama as being educated, articulate, "presidential, but forget that he got nothing done other than embracing policies and ideals that alienated a large portion of Americans and demonized whites. So you don't like Trumps vision of America? Well, that's too bad. Your vision did not work. In fact, it failed. No one cares for the Democrats or their policies anymore. Get used to it.
2
Please open your ears , eyes and mind. Democrats have not been collaborative and many have fanned the fires of descent. Face it, many Democrats have been non-productive. America is tired of your anger
1
What are the fires of descent?
1
You go to a used car lot.
The salesman takes you to a car he says you'll ABSOLUTELY LOVE!!
With no sense of shame or regard for reality, he looks you in the eye and says, "In all my years selling cars, I have never come across one that is as perfect as this one. (dents and rust are visible) This car gets better gas mileage than any car I've ever seen.
It's tires are the best ever. (you notice they are bald) The engine is so good, you'll never have to maintain it! (did this weirdo actually just say that?) This is, I think, the best car in the history of cars. Believe me."
Only a huckster would speak in such laughable absolutes. Only someone with a pathology could even mouth the words with a straight face.
But, if said with conviction, those hyperbolic words just might work on some customers.
Especially if the salesman had practiced his whole life to deceive others.
(Maybe he would even consider starting a phony University to defraud people. Nah, that's crazy!)
The person who is willing to lie with every breath and keep on lying in the face of reality can eventually bend reality and force everyone to keep up with permanent reality checks. But, somehow you're always a step behind.
That abnormal person is Donald J. Trump.
The good news… the vast majority of us can't stand him.
And that's reality.
13
If the 2018 election does not change the Congress we are in for a Trump White House until 2024.
Please get out the vote in 2018 and 2020.
Register all that will be 18+
8
November is still a long way away, God help us till then...
6
From the "What comes to mind" department is this:
"“Good morning (pick a name) .... Your mission... should you decide to accept it, is to [fill in the blank]. As always, should you or any member of your (team) be caught or killed, the (president) will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.”
Meanwhile, what is this nation going to do [if anything] to deter those who support and voted for Trump from leading the rest of us to our collective doom?
1
Folks, the major thing to remember about Trump is that his mental disability and lack of positive character, is the only wall that he has built. This wall is sky high and cannot be scaled. Dangerous!
5
Thanks Frank. The pretend is more dispiriting than the unvarnished loathsome creature. Watching the fawning is beyond nauseating. Every day this country is humiliated by this creature. And people consider this man worthy of applause?
5
Trump exposed his true self on day one at the White House when he ran up the steps leaving Melania several paces behind still getting out of the car.
7
LOL
“effluvium“
Too big a word for him !
4
Most of New York City is about "pretend". You sell condos to bad people from China or Russia and pretend that it is okay. Your advertising and fashion magazines are about people who are not real. Watch a few episodes of "Sex and the City" or Law and Order (when was the last episode where the bad guy wasn't white?). You finally have a President from NYC and you suddenly think that pretending is a bad thing? Rachel's husband
5
Old Soviet meme:
You pretend to pay us, we pretend to work.
3
Observing this sorry story from the bottom of the world ( New Zealand where we have a female Prime Minister, who is pregnant but not married to her partner, where we have had full marriage equality for nearly four years) I cannot even begin to understand how any sane person cannot see with absolute clarity that Trump is a fake. An actor. A fool.
10
Thank you!
1
You just describes a terrible ghost of a statesman, Donald J. Trump, who still has no clue as to what's going on, a master demagogue promising antithetical ideas simultaneously, as his poor brain, and the scarce neurons inhabiting it, is in overdrive trying to explain to himself the utter idiocy of his verbose nonsense. Ought he not have counselling enablers, scriptwriters, instruct him in language nuance, that a make-believe statement, no matter how grandiose, doesn't make it so, still lacks truth, and facts based on evidence? As they say, he is entitled to his own opinions but not his own facts. But for him. it's too late, too little. And a huge blow to our democracy.
4
Brilliant, Frank Bruni!
1
A year into this presidency and I'm still sick to my stomach. That he gets to stand there and give the State of the Union is an abomination. Let's never forget that he got his political start spewing nonsense on Fox News, most notably that President Obama was not born in the US. He's an ignorant liar. And he wants to claim credit for the stock market? It's down 600 points this week. Take credit for that too, hypocrite.
8
The Xanaxed Trump was held back by his handlers as he attempted to be "Presidential". The real horror were the Republicans who applauded his appalling policies and whooped & hooted their approval for his dangerous views on what will make America great again. A disgraceful spectacle of people who have sold out their constituents for their personal greed...
8
It's not as if Trump hid his intentions. Day one he ranted about imaginary Mexican rapists. We elected him anyway.
Everything else is a footnote to madness.
6
Every sleazy utterance out his lying mouth is an assault on America, the Constitution, decency, and our future.
5
A lying, bigoted grifter surrounding himself with the same. Their method of operation, "now that we're here, what can we plunder?" Loyalty to country and sworn constitutional oaths means nothing to these arrogant thieves.
7
Frank,
Worse than Trump are the cowards who won't act to evict him from the White House.
5
With no Obama, there would be no Trump
Perhaps a little cheese with your wine?
There once was a president Donald
A dull clown like McDonald’s Ronald
Whose state of the union
Displayed the delusion
That his presidency’s colossal
4
Always remember, the WH occupier is first and foremost a con-artist.
7
I am concerned that Mr. Bruni has something against sour cream.
1
How can anyone write such an absurd column? Trump appeared to be a perfectly normal individual! Trump is correct when he defines such garbage as fake news. Your credibility, Sir, is a big zero. A negative number would also be appropriate. Just because for some mysterious reason, you hate the guy you invent a story trying to justify it. Sorry, you failed miserably!!! The fact is the economy is doing very well and the simple reason is that democrats are not in charge. All they can do is lament and cry!
3
I'm not sure which circles you travel in but Trump is not perfectly normal.
The only inventions are Trump's who seems to live in his own reality of Fox and Friends and lies.
The only reason the economy is doing well is 8 years of Obama policies which brought it back and that Trump hasn't done anything to wreck it.
9
The White House may as well have put a Halloween toy figure up on the podium — like the bust of a scary old man — to utter random phrases as people walked by. It would have been exactly as meaningful as Trump’s words.
(Actually, we did not watch last night. Watching him is like eating a piece of rotten chicken that makes you vomit. An experience like that makes it difficult to even look at chicken again without gagging.)
13
That we need an annual message from the President assessing the state of our American union should tell us something, namely that union among fiercely independent people, bound not by blood and soil but by an idea, is constantly in flux as ideas and notions change. We need not be politically united for the state of our union to be strong, but only so long as we all embrace the rule of law and pursue our disparate visions by the same means, within American norms. And this is why this moment is perilous: we have a President who is not an authentic American, and who is hell bent on replacing the rule of law with a cult of personality. We need to show up at the polls in 2018 to rein him in, while we still can and so restore the balance that makes our union possible.
7
He's a very bad president, but he's good TV.
And isn't that all that matters anymore?
3
While I am in favor of most of President Trump's politics (unlike virtually all the comments I've seen here), I do oppose his tweets, arrogant behavior, and narcissism. I am entertained, however, at the level of apoplexy it causes amongst the arrogant self-important nanny state elitists who presuppose their "enlightened" knowledge and opinions will transform the great unwashed
3
Randy, You mean the 62% who oppose president punkin? Are those the people you mean?
6
And your post brands youas a Trump state elitist. If Trump is not an elitist, who is?
5
"Barack Obama set markers (preschool and community college for all!) that he’d never reach." Seems such a splendid goal next to the desire to destroy the Korean Peninsula in the quest to look macho.
I knew a fellow who, over the course of a few years, tried to get me interested in about a half dozen ponzi, I mean multilevel market, schemes. Every one better than the last. His enthusiasm was boundless. But he was a nice guy. I liked him.
I never felt the need for a good scrubbing after meeting with him. After watching the low lights on the Late Show (only way I could do it) I felt the need for a shower.
Usually a person gets a steak dinner or a tour of some condos after sitting through a show like that. All we got was the sinking feeling that this could go on another three years if voters don't wake up and send the republicans packing.
9
You have besmirched my beloved sour cream! Why?!
1
I look forward to the day when a president, any president of any party, will say to her SOTU audience: "Please hold your applause until the end."
4
For the few minutes that I could bear to watch and listen, I thought he looked and spoke like he was drugged. Maybe Pence or Kelly added a tranquilizer to his glass of water.
5
It won't be pretend when his drops the first nuclear bomb. It won't be pretend when he dismantles your revered instiutions. He won't be pretend when his kleptocracy enriches himself and his family. No sir, his smoke and mirrors gig is not pretend.
4
By now we all know an heard how illiterate and uninformed Trump is about everything an a 2 years old speaks better English than this guy. I just do not understand what is the big deal, for the duration of time, he just read speech that was written by Kelly, Miller, etc, etc, and he did not go ballistic. Bar is way too low for Trump.
2
Trump makes America increasingly vulnerable. And we don't seem outraged or even threatened as citizen!. Climate change (the military's primary concern as a threat for obvious reasons) and cybersecurity (ditto) are what can bring us down. Trump ignores both with his ignorance and 13th century border wall. Who will be getting the trebuchet contract for the wall, BTW???
Wasn't there a book before Fire and Fury called The King's New Clothes?
My question is who did write that speech, certainly not trump ?
That does not take away his daily tweets, insulting every single person who says anything against him, his denial of Russia collusion , constant insult of previous President Barack Obama.
He also never said his association of alt-right movement lastly his racism.
Never acknowledged all are Americans not only Whites, Blacks, Browns, Yellows as so many migrated to this country before his ancestors showed up in here.
Only difference is they are Whites.
Susan Page of USA today just now said " the content of the speech He read off teleprompter " that should summarize trump`s STOU .
2
Frank, you've never tried to negotiate with sour cream?
Add a touch of pepper, squeeze in just a drop or two of lemon... what's the problem?
Rather than sour cream, you might have suggested negotiating with a slime mold....
but there, I think that may be unfair as well:
Toshiyuki Nakagaki is an associate professor of biology at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. In articles such as Amoeboid Organisms May Be More Clever Than We Had Thought, Nakagaki describes some remarkable abilities in the organism known as the “true slime mold” – a creature formed by the merging together of thousands of amoebae into a single cell. Though it does not have eyes or a nervous system, it is able to “move, navigate and avoid obstacles. [It] can also sense food at a distance and head unerringly toward it.”
When researchers place separate pieces of a true slime mold into a maze, the pieces rejoin to form a single organism that spreads out into every corridor of the maze, covering all the available space. “[W]hen food is placed at the start and end points of the maze, the slime mold withdraws from the dead-end corridors and shrinks its body to a tube spanning the shortest path between food sources …[and it] solves the maze in this way each time it is tested.” Nakagaki and his collaborators conclude “[t]his remarkable process of cellular computation implies that cellular materials can show a primitive intelligence.”
Hard to find something squishy and non-innocuous enough to compare...
1
Thank you for the science lesson. The Universe and certainly all life on our planet becomes more spooky as Einstein put it or more fascinating. Is all of life better, more interesting, more honest than Trump? Where does that leave Trump? Where does that leave us?
The first State of the Union I ever missed....My attitude about his State Of the Union was, “ If anything earth shattering should be said, I will read about it in the Times tomorrow.” Thank you for keeping me informed about his “pretend” words. Deeds speak louder.
1
In spite of his foolish statements, Trump has real accomplishments and he was right to tout them. The Dems apparently don't find things like employed Americans, lower taxes and growing 401Ks as positive.
2
Employment growth has slowed under 45.
3
Sour cream, foul smelling and with mold on top, way past its expiration date!
Silly me. And I thought you were going to note how Trump took credit for an economic expansion that was started and orchestrated by our previous President.
I just finished a workshop on Leadership. Hallmarks of a bad leader: Taking credit for other's work. Not empathetic. Inconsistent. Doesn't have your back. Temperamental. Sound familiar?
6
"So tonight, I call on the Congress to empower every Cabinet Secretary with the authority to reward good workers -- and to remove Federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people."
Journalists, unwrap that dangerous goal. Detail the chilling ramifications.
2
Negotiating with Trump is like negotiating with sour cream? With rancid, moldy sour cream.
I think Schumer was partly talking about the wiggle effect--the way Jell-O moves unpredictably, kind of running away from you right there on the plate. And you can sort of see through it, but you can't be sure. It's elusive. And it's unnatural, and dyed in unnatural colors.
1
The word I would use for the speech and DJT is IRONY. The reason behind the Electoral College was was term called "disinterested," meaning leaders who had no personal vested interest in leading, other than doing the right thing for the country and its citizens. The founders were very aware of and wary of an orator who could sway votes and sway opinions, but with no underlying character or moral compass. They were aware of just how power corrupts a democracy. The College was just one more check on unmitigated power and ambition. How IRONIC that we have elected a President with no character, no moral compass, completely interested in only himself and very rich buddies, no ability to even listen or read or grow, and now his handlers are trying to make him an orator who can sway votes an opinions. He is the antithesis of the Founders' Vision. If we do not wake up, he will become the King they so vigorously opposed.
3
The American citizens are not going to be swayed away by the PRETEND of President Mr. Donald Trump's speech. Some may be misled temporarily but soon come back to their sense. So the democracy in America lives.
Most of the gripes in this column relate to Trump's lack of decorum, so why not give him at least some credit for showing decorum and calling for bipartisanship in the SOTU? God knows, that wasn't a given.
As for policy, Trump gave people on both sides of the isle plenty to work with. The immigration proposal was specific enough to create a negotiating framework and ought to lay the ground work for a compromise bill that Trump will sign. Haven't Democrats figured out yet that Trump's biggest goal is to check off the boxes from his campaign promises? He's not an idealist or even overly-partisan in his policy preferences. That probably means he'll sign just about any immigration bill that includes $25 billion or so for a border wall.
And don't both parties want to find compromises on things like infrastructure and prescription drug prices? Again, the things that Trump chose to focus on are things where bipartisan solutions exist.
Trump isn't going to suddenly change his stripes and become a great statesman, but Democrats and Republicans alike only to the country a disservice if they don't take advantage of some fertile ground for good policy compromises.
2
Mr. Bruni; "I'm not very good at pretend either" !
Beginning with the wee hours after the election last year . . . I pretended it did not happen . . . and many times throughout last year, sank to the pits of depression realizing - "he's really the president" -
Well, in name only . . .
I have been voting for presidents since 1970 - sometimes "we won" - sometimes - not so much -
BUT we all got through it - and all previous presidents DID rise to the office -
Except 45 . . . who has dragged the office and our country to the lowest depths in our history - yes - including the Civil War !
Watching the Address last night was quite painful - so much so that I had to switch the channel more than occasionally - like snorkeling and having to come up for air - or drown !
I suspect for year two; The president and his GOP Minions will continue to hammer away at the fabric of our Justice Department -
That very department which is our last hope to end this presidency !
Trump was not presidential last night - he was a trained circus animal where is trainers were fraught with fear that "he" may go off script . . . until the very last word -
We did not see Donald Trump last night - We saw a circus act PRETENDING to be our president.
5
Trump perjured himself the second he took the oath of office. He can't defend and uphold a Constitution that he doesn't understand, doesn't support and most likely has not read.
2
Remember Psych I at 7:30 in the morning? We are how we are how we see ourselves, how others see us and how was really are. Trump's playing a role. He has obviously seen enough TV to know what a President is supposed to look like. The situation is, when an actor walks off the set, he/she is able to drop the character and return to being who he/she actually is. The White House is not a set and Trump can't separate his character from his authentic, twisted self. The tweets, the vulgarity and the irrational behavior are his connection to his authentic self. This isn't going to get better.
3
That this individual called for "unity" despite his record of constant division is all one needs to know. He is phony to an extent I have never witnessed before.
3
He takes credit for an inherited economy brought back to life by Barack Obama, his main nemesis, who spoke eloquently, and weighed his words, knowing a president can shake world markets. Donald Trump has none of that self-control. Or wisdom. Or grace.
Trump's an entitled man who inherited money + business from his father, yet claims he's a self-made man. Investigated for teaming up with Russia, yet assigns blame to Democrats and to the intelligence agencies.
He bragged he'd be the 1st president who got rich in the presidency.
And, unconcerned with ethics, is using his properties for business and for weekends at tax payer cost, where secret service staff pay to stay, sleep and eat. A full 1/3 of his presidency was spent at his properties. Staffers say he watches television up to 8 hours a day when at the white house. In bed by 6:00 pm with a cheeseburger.
Still claiming to be for the little forgotten guy with a cabinet of unqualified billionaires. Every day a damaging revelation. But without a tantrum he reads a speech that someone wrote for him, and is deemed presidential.
It is an Orwell book in progress.
5
There are so many things to say about Trump, none of them good. The best way of expressing it is to paraphrase Mary McCarthy's comment about Lillian Hellman: everything he says is a lie including "and" and "the".
3
I don't think Trump is pretending anything. I think he sees his job as putting his name on other's work and promoting and selling it. His specialty, after all is in branding, and these days he's selling the right wing conservative agenda, as best he can.
Slick Willie was a name that opponents gave to Bill Clinton for his ability to bring people around to his point of view. It stuck. I think Trump deserves a nickname as well and would like to suggest "Don the Con", which can stand for both con artist AND conservative.
6
Con also has a meaning in French, in fact two or three of them, all of which richly apply to the Trumpster. I will leave you to your own devices to search out this term.
2
To take this speech seriously is to see a statesman who is making America GREAT AGAIN.
Uh, Frank, he is MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
We see one of the dangers that "Reality" TV persona's face.
Actual actors perform in regular shows. They know that they are acting, by and large, and so do their audiences. With very few exceptions, they step out of their roles when they go home.
"Reality" personas pretend to be themselves. They can more easily forget that they are still on a set and it isn't real. This is especially true from someone like Trump who may never have had a firm grasp on reality. He was, in many ways, a reality star before reality TV existed. He has spent some much time running to keep ahead of the last lies he told, he may no longer have any grasp on reality.
5
He may be pretending but his actions and inactions and those of Congress have created real life problems for millions of Americans, and are moving forward on real life consequences to our National lands and environment.
Those of us that can afford the NYTimes subscription are still insulated from his actions, and in many cases may be benefiting despite our repulsion.
8
Trump actually outlined doing positive things on some key issues: immigration, opioids, prescription drug costs, infrastructure, trade. Is Trump eccentric? Sure. Does he exaggerate? Yes. Can he be too blunt? Absolutely. But Frank, Americans already know all that. They just want their government to produce. If this Op-Ed is any indicator, the media-frenzied blue bubble will only focus on throwing rocks at Trump. The result: don't look for a big blue wave this November.
5
Thank you for writing this piece and really describing what we all saw last night at the State of the Union address.
I couldn't help wondering if this was the first time our president had actually read the speech, since he, himself, was surprised by many of the lines within it. Like you mentioned, our president is "pretending to be a statesman."
Since our president likes to label everyone, it's his turn now, using one of his favorite words, "Fake President."
Too bad Martin Sheen didn't run!
5
I have to give his speechwriters credit: they managed to write a speech which Trump's supporters would view as very positive and could appeal to people who don't look deeper than the surface of that speech--or three days before or after.
Even the fact-checkers are exhausted. Remember how he promised he could thoroughly destroy ISIS in 30 days after he was inaugurated? I'm not talking about him asking his generals for a plan within 30 days of inauguration. I'm talking about him claiming he'd end them.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/07/donald-trump-s... holds the memory.
I'd be happy to see ISIS thoroughly gone, but bombs and guns haven't thoroughly won,
Without making life better there on the ground, they will roar back with a deafening sound,
For the life that we lead we prevent them from living, the safety, the freedom, the gifts we are giving,
If all that we leave them is great desperation, they will roar back against us, the hypocrite nation
For the times they are a'changing but too much the same... we must reply with compassion.
3
Beneath the persona he attempted to project last night lies the true enemy of the State. My most serious concern is the possibility that Trump will so thoroughly decimate the Justice Department that the truth of his Russia engagement over the years will never come out. And his enablers, McConnell and Ryan, will allow it to happen. As an Independent, I intend to vote for the Democrats in the mid-terms.
11
What matters Frank is the Republicans that pretend, particularly those that found him unfit to be president that now applaud him or work for him.
8
The only conviction that trump holds steadfast is his own financial self enrichment. Everything else is of little consequence to him especially we the little people. It is going to be another rough year.
3
Negotiating with sour cream? Indeed: sour cream is often stirred into borscht.
1
This is SO true! Thank heavens someone heard the same speech I did. TY. TY. TY. Pure genius!
3
We are watching the way Putin took over Russia with his Oligarch billionaire thugs. Russia is now a pretend democracy, with a pretend court system and a pretend tax system.
And that is the way America is going. We are falling to the barbarians of the 1% class, the rich investor class who view the world as their empire and the poor as their, well, their robots.
Ukraine finally got rid of their Russia stooge, who sits in Russia today, hiding from charges of High Treason. But before he and Manafort left, there were many bodies lying on the ground, killed by the thugs hired to protect the oligarchs. I fear that America is facing the same kind of civil war. I find myself wondering just how many people showing fanatical alliance with Trump here on the Times" comments section are in reality, Russian bots.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
9
Just sit on your hands and scowl like the rest of the Democrats. The fact is the economy is better, unemployment is down, companies are giving bonuses and hiring more. Illegal criminals are being deported. The VA is in better shape. We still have the ACA which is an expensive disaster but at least you don’t get fined if you can’t afford to purchase it. The last administration did nothing about opioid abuse. The Democrats care more about illegals and elites then the common man and that is why Trump is president. Take your blinders off. The 8 years before this were a disaster. Finally policies to help the American people.
4
The lines have been drawn, Connie. I don't think argument is going to persuade anyone. I imagine my rebuttal to your comments would sound as specious to you as your comments do to me. Don't argue, vote, I urge you to vote this November. You'll be voting with the 36%; I'll be voting with the 64%. We'll see how it turns out.
5
We decided early in the week not to watch the chief buffoon. Definitely bad karma, and time better spent doing our nails and vacuuming the cat.
6
Ignorance can be bliss! Good luck! Some people think they gain more useful information from watching pundits, than actually observing! That's what pundits are paid to do. Give you the news you want to hear! Simply following your favorites, MSNBC, Fox, the NYT, Breitbart, etc. to form your opinions, is a sure way to a blissfully, ignorant state of mind!
Bravo, Mr. Bruni! Very well said.
3
Strange speech. Unless I missed it the only references to blacks was historically low unemployment, the MLK monument, and standing for the national anthem (reference to NFL protests). But blacks can't just be booted out bc they were brought here originally -- by while people! So why dwell on them? Hispanics though, that's another story bc their presence is not "our" fault. Other than low Hispanic unemployment numbers and a few cameos by guests with Hispanic-sounding surnames, MS-13 was the message of the night for Mexicans and Central Americans in the U.S. We can still purge these suckers, right? Yikes!
Make America Great Again remains a rallying cry for bleaching out the stains of color. And Trump remains a dangerous sham.
95
"Hispanics though, that's another story bc their presence is not "our" fault."
I always find it curious that a large number of White Americans seem to think that Mexicans/Latin Americans "came" to this country after them. They are stunningly oblivious to the fact that while mostly English Europeans were settling in the East, Spanish Europeans were doing the same in the West. To want to purge Latinos out of our country as if they are newcomers and not part of our culture is mind-bogglingly dumb when you consider that nearly a third of our country is composed of cities with names such as "San Francisco," "San Antonio," "Tucson," "Albuquerque," "Las Vegas" and, the second most populous city in the country, "Los Angeles."
When you are born and raised in the Southwest you understand this instinctually and you perceive Latino/Hispanic culture as part and parcel of what it means to be American. I simply can't begin to imagine this country as only White. When I try to, the only word that comes to mind is "foreign."
1
Superb column. Thank you.
1
Great storytelling last night. The rest of it made me want to vomit.
5
The speech was really pathetic propaganda; all flag waving and bible thumping and patriotism and abusing some fine people in the chamber. Really pathetic.
In regard to the flag waving and bible thumping:
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Sinclair Lewis
10
Just a word of praise to Doug Mills the NYT photographer. On covering Trump, he always gets the telling shot frequently from an unusual angle. In this case, the Caudillo in Chief is prompting the dems to give him a standing O after making one of his toothless assertions about prescription drugs.
Thank you Doug for always being worth a thousand words.
6
The real SOTU was given by Joe Kennedy III. Watch it and you will realize that there is hope for this country.
14
Trump is such an incorrigible thief he even stole his most quotable phrase ("this is America's moment") from Hillary Clinton.
I predict his first temper tantrum on twitter will be when someone tells him.
13
Stock market all time high; unemployment all time low. Were Obama in office, would you call this all fictitious, Frank?
4
You Americans should really be worried, but not because of the President you have got. I'd loose my sleep thinking of the millions of you that supposedly used their brains to finally conclude that kind of guy should be President of...something... good luck to you...
11
Can his speech writer be our president?
2
No. It was Stephen Miller pretending to be a Speech Writer.
2
Empty pledges from a serial liar, fully approved of by a venal and greed-ridden GOP congress. This is what America has come to.
7
If his lawyers are so worried about him testifying under oath because he will perjure himself, why not get it over with and just crazy glue his lips shut. He lies so much, there is no truth in his world.
4
This is so validating. It has been said in many ways, "The Emperor has no clothes," "delusional," "empty suit,". The list goes on and on. But, I think PRETEND is the best description of the icky feeling I get when I see this awful man. He lies to our faces and then one of his sycophants says, "Oh, what he MEANT was..." and I'm being asked to pretend that I didn't see and hear what I just saw and heard. The phoniness of Pence's nodding and smirking and play-acting loyalty and adoration of Trump - he's SUCH a bad actor and I know darn well it's all a fraud. The Republicans pretending that this man is the greatest President in history (and some even saying just that) when they whisper with each other that the man is an idiot. Yet they expect us to pretend along with them. It is crazy making, maddening, and ultimately incredibly depressing because there are no consequences for Trump. None. And, no matter how many NY Times articles speaking truth, no matter how many speeches made by Democrats, no matter how many marches, the man continues to be Teflon Don. I think The State of the Union would cause the framers to roll over in their graves.
10
The first words that came to my mind was "Bad Reality TV is What Trump Does Best". Those poor people Trump exploited, made me cringe. The stupidity and emptiness of the speech reminded me he was speaking to his base, obviously not the Chamber or the Nation.
3
Just to make sure we are all on the same page. Evangelical ministers can give Trump a Mulligan because ... situational ethics are ok? And Hillary gets pilloried because she let Bill get away with his tawdry affairs. But Melania is applauded because... the Donald paid for his sex? It would seem that if you are looking for a moral majority, you must look to your Left.
8
Yes Frank Bruni, most decent people are not that good at pretend. By contrast GOP leadership excels at pretend. They have been trained for decades at pretend 101. They been practicing for years how to slap deceiving titles on corrupted regressive laws, a.k.a. Citizen United, they been perfecting the Demagoguery 101, bringing it to all times highs.
So the question is what is the end game.
Demagogues undermine the stability of a “by the people” form of government particularly by turning “the people” against each other.
Is this your end game republicans, are most of you the enemy of the people. What do you have in mind after destroying this Democracy, any plans, big vision for the country.
Spit it out, you gutless creatures!
6
Tax cuts.
No illegal aliens.
No more billions in aid to our enemies.
No more gravy train for allies. Let them pay for their own defense.
No more rip off trade deals.
No Hillary. Trump should be on Mount Rushmore for saving us from Hillary.
Thank you President Trump! Viva Trump!
5
The Trump circus may be full of clowns, formerly known as generals and hedge fund managers, who won't say the emperor has no clothes, but compared with George W Bush, who was and is an idiot and complete war criminal who killed hundreds of thousands, who devastated several countries and who crashed not only the US, but world economy, I think Trump is a breath of fresh air. Polluted, yes, but hey, it could be much worse, and it has been. Let's face it, our Congress went along with the murderous Bush/Cheney farce, as did many Americans and millions suffered for years. Trump may be no prize and will never be perfect, but please put him into a proper context. He's the logical result of everything that's come before.
2
To call the rancid odors that emanate from the Liar in Chief a “breath of fresh air” is laughable.
1
The state of our union is threatened every day by the state of our executive branch, which is vulgar, venal, ignorant and incompetent.
7
The Great Pretender. The role of a lifetime, for a lifetime Con Man. Thanks, GOP. You've achieved your dream, while NEARLY crushing ours.
See you all in November. Bigly.
10
"an especially hollow charade"
This Op-Ed is Frank Bruni at his best! Makes my subscription to the Times worth every penny.
6
"He creates his own reality" and he is a pathological liar. Aren't we lucky to have such a president?
2
By far Mr. Bruni , the essence of your essay, the sum of this man's whole presidency thus far was contained in the short phrase...should he go before Mueller (this elected disaster) is"incapable of not perjuring himself," encapsulates every proclamation that comes forth from the liar-in-chief'.
6
This is Trump at his most boring. The only objective of this speech was to give a plausible pretense of presidentiality. No folks, he won't be going out on a whistle stop tour of America tomorrow to sell infrastructure and a bipartisan immigration solution. By now, does anyone--- left, right, or middle--- really think that Trump wants to bring the country together? Does anyone think he can work steadily and hard to lead the country to needed solutions?
But this speech certainly wasn't for his supporters. His most rabid partisans certainly do NOT want to hear about bipartisanship, compromise, and moving forward with immigration. They love the unscripted, insulting Trump and share his most extreme opinions. (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/us/politics/trump-state-of-the-union-...
We democrats, moderates, progressives, everyone who has opposed Trump certainly knows what to expect: nothing different, just more of the same from this man, with a steady decline in civil behavior, dignity, and empathy. We've watched this man for two years now. We know what he is.
I dream of a time when Trump gives a speech and no one shows up except a few yawning reporters. Because that will mean that he has lost his hold on Americans, that everyone knows that he is nothing but a fraud. I hope that we may see this as soon as the next SOTU.
5
All I have to say is actions speak louder than words. In his first state of the union speech all I heard was me, me, me. All I saw were the cheshire cat grins from his cowardly toadies and applause for inaccuracies and lies. I sat at home wondering in awe at what his gullible supporters saw in this vile, racist, misogynist, hollow, soulless, con artist, incompetent fool, attempting to appear normal. It was truly a sad night for a country bought by and for the ultra wealthy and religious hypocrites.
7
Three ring circus without the fun. Trump showed himself to be vain, a liar, incapable of putting together a decent speech with half decent ideas, and more interested in using people's miseries to his advantage. I felt sorry for the parents whose grief was showcased by him to promote lies about immigration and everything else.
The only reason Trump is still in office is because the GOP wants him there. And GOP does not equal GOD. They will not reign forever and let's hope things change in November.
8
Why didn't a Dem shout "You lie"? Because they're all enriching themselves on his coattails. That's the real pretend.
Make no mistake about it, the "pretend" world is the world of republicans. Republicans can't handle the truth, so they create their romantic fantasy in which all is well if their beliefs are accepted.
3
I have coached high school speech-and-debate teams for 20 years. I can say with some legitimacy that Trump is a LOUSY public speaker. When he speaks extemporaneously, his sentences zoom off in 12 different crazy directions. He is incapable of speaking a simple declarative sentence on his own, so he falls back on blurbs--"Build the Wall" and "Make America Great Again." When he is scripted, he is bored. It showed last night in the State of the Union Address. He was sleep-walking through it, except for his usual hysterical ramblings about the dangers of immigration. (Apparently, he thinks all Hispanic immigrants are members of MS-13.) He paused in all the wrong places, probably because he had not read the speech beforehand. He ended sentences with a thumping emphasis on the last three words, to telegraph to his audience "This...is...serious!" He stepped all over his applause lines. He was sniffling like crazy. (Head cold, or something more ominous?) I also noticed that he looked almost exclusively at the Republican side of the chamber. He acknowledged the Democrats a few times with a smirk and a sweep of his right hand, as if to say, "Get on board with this idea, OR ELSE!" And he spent so much time patting himself on the back about tax cuts and the economy that I thought he might dislocate his own shoulder. If he had been one of my students, I would have ripped into him for such a lazy, jingoistic speech. Instead, he's Chief Executive. God have mercy on us!
11
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. Trump is the biggest player - taking on all the parts in a neverending whirlwind rotation. Time for a rewrite.
1
"...world of sand and wind and make-believe, where the merest gust can alter the shape of everything..."
Love it! Had to put down my coffee and applaud!
9
I grew up in a country where TV mostly emulated real life, or at least tried. All soap operas revolved around the working classes. The world's longest running soap opera is based on the working class: Coronation Street. American soaps are routinely about the wealthier segments of society and yet American's adore their soaps. In one country, then, TV reflects reality. In another, its people try to emulate TV; you see it all the time in America. So I was wondering how long it would take for that trend to wind its way into politics. Forty years is the answer. We now have a president who has learned everything he knows from TV -- thus not a lot -- and truly thinks life is like a TV show for everyone. He's even using people, as puppets, with props even, at the SOTU! The worrying part about this sickening sight in politics, is that people think it's real and actually applaud every sentence as if sheep. It's not real. And just like a TV show, it is missing all substance. The man said absolutely nothing and yet still had to use people to gain a little emotional response. That is the sickening part. Can we please get celebrity out of politics!
5
Remember those ads after the Superbowl, when the star player of the winning team is asked "Where are you going next" and the player answers into the camera "I'm going to Disneyland"?
Whether it's Nick Foles or Tom Brady after Superbowl LII, neither of them have to say they're going to Disneyland. After Trump's glorified sales pitch for himself, we're now DisneyNation or officially, the United States of Fantasyland. Just lean back and enjoy the show.
Who needs Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck when we have Donald Trump, the penultimate cartoon character?
Any doubt we're not in Kansas any more evaporated as Trump led a master class in delusion and deception and crowned himself the Wizard of Oz, raging away behind the green curtain.
Per his State of the Union, Trump says everything's coming up roses but watch out for the immigrant rapists lurking in the rosebush. Oh, and he's planning to repave the Yellow Brick Road. Trust me, Trump says, I have a friend in the infrastructure business (also known as a big donor).
Trump has yet to figure out that a salesman who's shifty, dissembles, prevaricates and outright lies isn't going to close many deals. And reading a canned speech off a teleprompter crafted by GOP scribes from polling data isn't just old wine in a new bottle; it's vinegar in a mason jar made in China.
Trump has a deal we can't refuse.
This November we'll know whether it's America or Trump who wakes up to a severed horse head in their bed.
Tally ho, Toto.
8
Read his book: The "Art" of the Deal. This is all a part of his Con. He is preying on the aspirations and fantasies of people who want to "believe". Time is running out for him (his age) and so he has nothing to lose. Add in the fact he has "pardon" powers and he has nothing to fear, so he keeps the Con going.
3
Thank you, Frank Bruni, for calling it like it is. Fall 2018 is coming, hopefully in time to put a major dent in some of the charade.
6
So here was an opportunity for many liberals to hear Trump first hand and they decided to forego it. And then they come back and feel the need to participate in discussion about it.
And then this nonsense of article which pretends to be about the speech but all it has is the replay of a broken record that we have been hearing.
2
Oh, please. An "opportunity to hear Trump first hand"? We've heard him every single day first hand more close to three years now, at least. This was scripted, and obvious sales pitch that any intelligent person would tune out. The broken record is the response of this fraud's his knee-jerk defenders who don't care, as long as the stock market is up, that he is an amoral, unqualified demagogue who is tearing this country apart for his own financial gain and endangering all of our lives.
75
I was rolling my eyes within 30 seconds of Trump's opening words. By the end of the speech, my eyes were tired indeed. Not only did Mr. Trump gloss over the many tweets and other things he has done to disrupt our country and to disunite us, he totally ignored important issues like Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
5
First let me confess, I did not watch Trump pat himself on the back last night. I purposefully avoided it because Trump's face and voice disgust me (and that is before hearing what comes out of his mouth). I've learned that he lies with every breath so what's the point in paying him any attention. Besides, the faces of Ryan and Pence flanking Trump on the screen would have been too much to bear.
So, let's not get distracted. The issues facing the nation are many. Mueller's investigation (of treason (AKA collusion), obstruction of justice and money laundering of Russian mafia riches) continues but is being undermined by Republican traitors to the Constitution and The People. And, of more immediacy, the government is going to shutdown on February 9 if Trump doesn't get his wall of shame.
Trump has said he will put citizenship on the table in exchange for funding his wall. I say, let's trump that offer. Democrats should put the wall on the table in exchange for citizenship for ALL 11 million undocumented immigrants AND increasing the tax rate on income over $1 million to 90 percent. Sound unrealistic? So is Trumps gambit to grant citizenship to Dreamers in exchange for his wall. In other words, meet nonsense with nonsense. And prepare for a government shutdown.
Finally, a word about Trump turning the US presidency into reality TV. Change the channel!
5
Donald Trump is our first post-Andy Warhol president--capable of acting presidential for fifteen minutes and, rarely, for even ninety minutes at a time.
4
I have never missed a State of the Union, Democrat or Republican but this is one State of the Union that I ignored. Donald Trump may hold the title of President and sit in the White House, but he is not my President and the only feeling I have for Trump is pure hate.
10
I totally agree, although I would like to point out that from my perspective sour cream, though admittedly squishy, is not actually sour and is a pretty good food, particularly on potatoes, whereas jello...
1
" ... as “one American family” ... " And in every family, everyone is assigned his or her chores. Our American family has yet to settle on whose turn it is to take the garbage out.
2
It was akin to watching an episode of The Apprentice where a man stood at a podium pretending to be a president. He doesn't seem to own his more formal televised speeches because he doesn't write them...the ideas and the words belong to someone else (S.Miller for all I know) and that comes across as unbelievable and disingenuous. And it is creepy to watch someone without any honestly held beliefs try to pretend, to the those of us who see through him, that he really, really cares about everyone.
3
In the mind of a malignant narcissist, reality is whatever makes him the exalted center of attention. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS. Rome can burn as long as the would be emperor is rewarded with empty praise. When faced with overwhelming evidence of criminal behavior, burning everything down may be his only remaining "reality".
2
Everyone must remember that whenever Trump and the right yell "religious liberty," they specifically mean the legal right to discriminate, mainly, against LGBT.
3
Like many Americans who knew ahead of time that the Stephen Miller written speech, delivered by a druggy trump, was a huge buzzkill and waste of time. I only listen to SOTU speeches given by a president whose words are true and meaningful. President Barack Obama, was the gold standard of truth and integrity. I miss him every single day.
8
I only watched the Dem's response---I lack the intestinal fortitude that columnists need to watch a Trump speech. But re Trump's fantasy world, he has helpful 'colluders'. This at least inspires priceless satire---and we sure need it.
Andy Borowitz writes---
"Sarah Huckabee Sanders Proofreads State of the Union One Last Time to Remove Any Remaining Fact"
“Press secretary Sanders, is proofreading the text of tonight’s State of the Union address one last time to remove any remaining facts, Sanders confirmed on Tuesday.
While a team of wordsmiths… attempted to craft an entirely fact-free address, “It’s good to have a fresh set of eyes to root out any stray accuracies that might have crept in,” Sanders said.
,,,,for example, while purging the speech of truths, she noticed a reference to the African-American unemployment rate standing at 6.8 per cent, a statistic that she deemed “unacceptably correct.”
“I read that and my Sanders sense started tingling,” she said.
Taking her blue pencil to the text, Sanders changed the number to a “better-sounding” 2.3 per cent. “That may seem like a tiny detail, but it’s stuff like that that separates the professional liars from the mere amateurs,” she said.
Once Sanders is confident that she has obliterated any lingering traces of reality from the script, she will forward it to Trump, who will insert misspellings. “It makes him more comfortable reading it on the teleprompter if things are spelled his way,” she said.”
The Borowitz Report
9
And yet how sad that the only response Democrats could come up with was little drooling Joe Kennedy. No new ideas, No new blood. Just retread Kennedy posturing.
5
I agree. I admire his youthful idealism, but the Kennedy brand no longer holds sway. I would have preferred a more seasoned female commentator of which there are many. Why him?
2
Yes, a fresh young face, talking about honor & compassion for others rather than gloating about his greatness was certainly a poor contrast next to the eloquent, generous Trump.
7
This is a serious moment in our country. We have a fragile State of the Union now where there is a lack of fidelity to the rule of law. Hard to listen to this President who has divided us more than ever before, harming our country as he infects the civic fabric we hold dear. And, with a compliant congress, viewing Pence and Ryan sitting and smiling through this torrent of meaningless words further disgusted me. Ryan, the unconscionable lackey of Trump has become a pariah to anyone who values justice and decency. What swine they all are, we didn't deserve this government.
17
Don't fret, Mr. Bruni, the Fake President always reverts to type. It's always just one divisive, angry, abusive, and false Twitter-rant away. To his last breath, locked in his narcissistic straight jacket. This is the only "truth" emanating from the Trump persona.
10
Let’s be fair. In his first (and hopefully last) State of the Union address, Donald Trump laid to rest one nagging worry about his ability to function as president.
By sticking closely to the speech on the teleprompter in front of him, Trump proved that he can actually read.
That leaves America to wonder: How can anyone capable of reading be so ignorant?
11
"Leave the gun. Take the cannoli." Leave the speech. Take the tweets.
6
Mr. Trump pretended to be a shrewd businessman on a vapid television show. Enough people bought the act to make it a commercial success. Enough of the same types who viewed his pathetic "reality" show swallowed the idea that he would be an acceptable President.
The success of his television show was merely pathetic. The success of his Presidential run, on the other hand, is an existential disaster.
8
Am I wrong? There was not one word about education in his entire speech.
6
Frank, you are not only not good at the "pretend" stuff, you're not much on the realities, either. Other than ramrodding ACA down our throats, replete with lemon-sucker and sour-pussed Pelosi telling us we'd know what the bill would do once they passed it. Well, we sure found out: not nearly emough, and such a mess that, like much of government, it can't be fixed.
Obama was a smiling teleprompter-reader who promised the moon's green cheese much to the delight of all those who were tired of Velveeta.Trump promised fewer taxes. I'll take that over green cheese any day.
4
Trump promised fewer taxes, but he did not even deliver that -- unless you're a corporation. And, frankly, given the state of this country I'd rather pay more in taxes and see money going to fix the opioid crisis, our failing infrastructure, our school systems, the list goes on and on. We are going to fall behind the rest of the world fast if we don't start investing in ourselves.
8
Note that you mention teleprompter in reference to Obama, but don't find that a problem with Trump. Or did you really think he wasn't reading that? I'd like just one ACA hater to give details on how it was rammed down his throat and damaged him. All Republicans promise lower tax cuts. This one is on borrowed money, an unneeded pay-off to corporate America & the wealthy. Amazing that some fools believe it was actually for them.
All SOTU addresses are a bunch of hog wash. They should be mailed to Congress like the good old days.
But his tax cuts - my military retirement check for February went up $100. I'll take it.
1
"The Moving Finger writes, and having writ, moves on: nor all your Piety or Wit can erase a word of it....." Omar Khayyam. When duty called, he fled. Despite all the bluff and bluster he knows that and he will go to his grave with the epitaph: Donald Trump, draft dodger.
3
Unless he gets Muellered, only three more State of the Unions to go. We can do this America!
3
It was very freeing to keep the TV off during the cretin's reading a speech creepy miller wrote for him. I read a great book and FaceTimed with my grandsons,what a lovely reality they are. I can't look at or listen to his odd voice,he makes me nauseous.
8
A few weeks ago I had a nightmare. As we approached a cliff the horse I was riding, rather than turn away as instructed, leaped over the cliff. I woke up feeling quite shattered. Worrying about the dream kept me from further sleep which these days is needed more than ever. Since I raise horses and still ride at 85, I could not recollect any horse daft enough and cantankerous enough to take a leap into space. Fortunately I picked on an antidote to calm my nerves, thinking that perhaps the rider was not me but Gop and the horses name was Donald and that as he leaped into space Gop was yelling….”Goddammit I told you Whoa”
Unfortunately I could not recall of any horse with an orange mane, so sleep was delayed.
4
I wonder haw middle America viewed this speech.
Now that their minimum wage has been raised, their taxes lowered, they do not see American servicemen cowering in the back of an enemy vessel.
I wonder if they ran this morning to the NYT fact checkers who said all the good thing that happened this year were due, not to this President, but the one who kept middle America at status quo for 8 years.
The NYT has got to see this country as the man in the street does, not the elite of Washington DC.
5
If you're the "man in the street" you'd better look around, as you're not in good company.
He didn't invite Nazis. Didn't mock the disabled. His pants were zipped. This, for his GOP, was sufficient. We're deregulated again, regressively taxed again, Climate Change is officially a hoax, and Stormy Daniels is giggling all the way to the bank.
5
I found it hard to feel much, if any compassion for the individuals or families who were exploited in Trump’s performance tonight. Just pure manipulative political theater. I feel sick..... and powerless.
24
Vote Democratic in November. Millions of us will join you.
7
Agree they were exploited but somehow the rawness of their grief and the nobleness of their actions broke thtough the charade of their exploiter. Could they have turned down the invitation? Yes.
I did not even care to watch Mr. Bruni, rather I read "The Dangerous Case of DT" (by Bandy Lee), had a great cup of tea and went to bed. I refuse to acknowledge that clown as my president.
33
Oh I know. Seeing him or listening to him makes me sick. He will never be my "President"
2
Trump's SOTU should be given at one of the rallies he puts on for the faithful, where he rants and raves, insults his enemies, threatens nuclear war, promises to clear the country of foreigners, and lies, and lies, and lies, as he bullies and insults. That is the real Trump. That is when he expresses his real aims for the country, and shows what he means by having protesters thrown out, and encourages violence against them--none of this "American family" baloney. We know all too well who Trump is. No one buys the facade.
26
He still worked in his gifts to the base by suggesting that all crime is committed by illegals, all illegals are in MS13, & Guantanamo should be expanded. The real Trump can't totally hide.
1
All you need to do is change the characters:
“Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
3
I doubt Trump would be capable of working as a cashier at a Dollar Store.
19
Actually, having Donald as a cashier would be a grave mistake as I am sure that the first thing he would do is shortchange the customers.
1
Wow you’re right, he wouldn’t want to give any of those middle class shoppers any change due.
Thank you, Mr. Bruni, for taking one for the team by watching the SOTU. From your description, it was as I feared it would be, lies, braggadocio, and unbelievable palliatives, aimed only at his base because he refuses to understand that they are a minority, and that their goals are not America’s goals.
As for me, I spent my evening watching NOVA’s excellent YouTube channel and some videos that channel has liked, and went to bed feeling like a human being who lives in a world where progress isn’t a curse word, where amazing people join each other to do amazing things to make the planet safer, humanity healthier, and provide the element of wonder to life made sad by the oaf who somehow sits in our White House, despite the majority who said “no”.
This morning, I woke up to an article about his classy followers Yelp-bombing the Guggenheim for offering him a gold toilet instead of the priceless Van Gogh he wanted. In other words, my day started with a good laugh. We will persist, and we will survive. That’s what those of us who love this country and this world do, and we have the bigger impetus. Hope your day goes well.
27
You're missing the President's main point about immigration from African countries - yes, he described it as effluvium, but his main point was that it was black effluvium and less preferable than white immigration from countries like Norway. So not just disparaging of African nations for their poverty and social disorder, but rather deeply racist.
12
Thank you Frank Bruni! I feel a little better now.
10
My "pretend" was to do what I've done for years as a lifelong resident of the greater metro area, ignore the great exhibitionist and flim flam man by turning him off and then when the coast was clear listen to what intelligent fair minded people had to say in response.
18
Great speech, and the country is finally headed in the right direction. Loved watching the sour faces of the Demorats last night.
We finally have a president after 8 yrs of an embarrassment of a man.
9
Great speech? Maybe by Trump standards. But, that's a pretty low bar. The man's vocabulary is an embarrassment to us all. The only reason spoke many new words last night was because he didn't write his speech!
The country's economy may be headed in the right direction. But, if you compare relevant statistics to the stats at the end of Obama's administration you would see there's no significant change. The Dow breaking records doesn't mean much to most Americans who can't afford to play in that particular game of chance. Although our pension plans do.
Calling Barack Obama an embarrassment is like proclaiming the Super Bowl will be canceled this Sunday for lack of interest! It is just plain FALSE!
How is Trump not more embarrassing than Obama? Trump lies more than most pathological liars! Most politicians lie occasionally, or make misleading statements. However, when you look at the fact checking on Trump, his truthful statements anumber fewer than most other politicians lies!!!
Trump is a threat to our national security. Pretty sad when you can't trust the president of the United States of America to not provoke the unstable leader of the world's most imminent nuclear threat! Bulllying is more important that preventing nuclear war.
2
After last night’s STOUS address, the preposterous conclusion that our nation is finally “...headed in the right direction” conjures a smoke shrouded, WW I battle field and a soldier’s profile releasing a single carrier pigeon - on a mission to somewhere!
1
I agree! And the Democrats showed who they are last night. Disgraceful behavior!
Beyond Russia, another notable leave-out was gun violence. Trump blamed two terrorist incidents on immigration policy and called for change, but ignored the rash of mass shootings on his watch in 2017. Trump's discussion of the opioid crisis further highlighted the glaring omission of gun violence, as there were 38,000 deaths from gun related violence in 2016.
176
And how many wounded?? But I believe in the 2nd amendment, but I personally don't like guns. End poverty and racism, and just maybe the gun violence will disappear, but then again, the country is run by the military industrial complex and the bankers, and corporate America, and wall street, and we've spent over the last 40 years, $16,000,000,000,000, (16 trillion dollars) on wars.....so I can see where the gun lovers mentality comes from.....
1
I believe we have had over two dozen mass shootings since January 1st. We may be in for a very bad year. Of course, what Trump also will not say is that nearly all mass murders (98%) are committed by men and they are mainly white. Those are our true home grown terrorists, but no Republican will ever acknowledge it.
1
23,000 of these deaths were suicides. Guns are a very effective method of suicide but are certainly not required. People who want to commit suicide eventually will, guns or no guns. Of the 15,000 non-suicide deaths more than half were justified police shootings, justified defensive shootings or
un-categorized shootiings.
Look, let's just be honest. The United States is divided into two camps:
1. Those who will support Trump to the ends of the earth so long as he gives cover to their racism, tribalism and other feelings of inadequacy.
2. Everyone else.
The #1 crowd is way too committed and they will see Trump levitating if that is what he tells them they are doing.......
......and everyone else skipped last night because seeing an out-of-shape old man read a speech someone else wrote is not news--it's just elocution.
21
I watched "Pirates of the Caribbean"....those pirates are more honest, have more integrity than those running your Ship of State.
Flipped to Trump during one commercial in time to hear him call on Congress to basically give him the cover (power) to purge the government workforce of those who aren't sufficiently loyal to him. He ruined my sleep, for the 376th night in a row. I hate the man.
23
I flipped between the SOTU and Homeland season 2. Can't wait for Season 7.
It occurs to me that Frank's headline appropriately uses an unusable word, fantastical, a word like irregardless that has an excessive "fix," be it "pre" or "suf," and how better to categorize this President than by using a very, very excessivistic word.
5
My advice to Mr Trump: don't answer questions from Robert Mueller, you'll go to prison for lying. In other words, you simply aren't the sharpest knife in the drawer.
10
"In other words, you simply aren't the sharpest knife in the drawer."
Knife? Actually, Trump is the equivalent of a kindergartner's scissors.
1
Love the title of this.
Couldn't the NYTimes do a "Here's what an honest presidential State of the Union would sound like...
Perhaps something like, "Our country has become increasingly divided and I take the blame to myself. It is a time like none other that we need to pull together to combat our real problems and make real progress. Such as the opioid crisis, infrastructure, inequality, the environment, gun violence, poverty in our country...
I guess I'm just fantasizing.
5
Hollow words, waiting for his twitter response to his own speech.
7
"waiting for his twitter response to his own speech"
I was truly hoping for a Stormy Daniels/Jimmy Kimmel blast, but that didn't collaboration go well either, so no dice.
1
“Americans love their country, and they deserve a government that shows them the same love and loyalty in return,” he said. How does minimizing Russian interference in the 2016 election — and thwarting the investigation into what happened — accomplish that?"
You would think there are far more important evils going on, especially the economic depredations the Republicans are committing and Trump is docilely signing off on. Seems like Bruni is infected with the same Russia fever infecting all the other establishment propagandists. Foreign interference in America has been the favorite theme of right wing mouthpieces for many years. I say this rarely but: How boring!
4
Frank, one of your best columns. And isn’t ‘let’s pretend’ a favorite game of 5 year olds?
6
Unity for Trump means doing whatever he wants while getting nothing in return. Self-demeaning praise and unquestioned subservience is more accurate but the phrase won't fit on the teleprompter. Trump wouldn't be able to read the sentence even if it could.
You can almost imagine the script writer at work. Trump demands loyalty from Congress. CTRL-H: Find "Loyalty"; Replace with "Unity." Print. Fingers crossed Trump can read the jumbo print on the teleprompter.
4
The US president is a character out of a Hollywood political horror movie, with perfect casting. Frankentrump lurches around like Boris Karloff, physically and mentally, with an even more hostile snarl on his face. Unpredictable, dangerous. But it’s real, not a movie. The public needs protection.
7
Acidic. Creepy how authoritarian it sounded. Flanked by enablers Pence and Ryan, a call to purge the government based on loyalty or political beliefs. Hubris. Not even a whiff of actual governance, but stoking racism + fear of immigrants + obscure gangs.
Donald Trump was happily the center of attention, and that was what mattered for unstoppable self-promotion. His biographers said he never minded being compared to a circus provider who said "There's a sucker born every minute."
As a businessman, Trump left ruins and casualties for other people to deal with. We'll be picking up the pieces of our democracy as well when this aberration is over and done with.
16
It does not appear that the speech changed most commenters minds.
4
Poor Mr. Bruni. That was a tall order, finding a way to disparage the powerful images and messages of the SOTU. For one thing, the accomplishments Trump was crowing about were not fictitious at all. Sure some might have been trending his way already, but still he enhanced them. The sight of the black caucus sitting in feigned boredom while Trump announced the lowest black unemployment rate EVER recorded was an image those watching will not forget. Since he couldn’t question Trump on his facts, he had to turn back to the Trump is a vulgarian schpiel. The far left wing is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of America. We need a more reasonable left is we are to balance the far right part of the GOP.
2
Oh, there was at least one solid, and terrifying proposal in Trump's speech.
Trump called for Congress to give him virtually unlimited power to purge ANYONE in the Federal Government who he doesn't like or who offends him. Did everyone but Walter Shaub and me miss it?
Shaub tweeted:
"POTUS calling on Congress to remove civil service protections for feds serves the goal of politicizing the career ranks, and it comes on the heels of Paul Ryan saying he wants to "cleanse" the FBI. There's a reason America did away with the spoils system. (Hint: banana republic)"
Trump had just one sentence but my blood ran cold when he said:
"So tonight, I call on the Congress to empower every Cabinet Secretary with the authority to reward good workers -- and to remove Federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people."
If that doesn't terrify you, too, then you don't realize or don't care that Trump isn't deconstructing the "Deep State", he's deconstructing all faith in fair and just government, solely to protect Trump and his family.
463
Welcome to Honduras, Mr. Trump! Some years ago I had a friend who was in the foreign service of her country, when her political party was in power, and out when it was not. She told me, "Never fear, in another couple of years we will be back in power and I can resume my old foreign service job."
As a retired federal employee, this might be one of the most disturbing parts of a very disturbing speech. Most government employees serve faithfully no matter which party is in power at the time. It's not really up to the president or the congress to purge agencies as we have seen done in the past year. I hope there is pushback against this request by Trump.
2
I don't think you need Trump to deconstruct "all faith in fair and just government". Your idea of government is a fantasy. Government is the IRS. Government is the Department of Motor Vehicles. Government is not a benevolent and "fair" benefactor here to provide you with all the things you need. It is a bureaucracy run on a day-to-day basis by people that don't care any more about you than Trump does. I am not an ideologue that believes government is the problem, but any bureaucracy does a poor job of serving individuals. Trump is not the first president to believe that the government is not just. Regan was not. Thomas Jefferson believed “that government is best which governs least”.
Trump is emblematic of America's disdain for knowledge. America seems to be the most anti-intellectual country on earth. Trump is proud of never reading anything, and says so openly. You are what you read, once said a wise man. Therefore Trump is nothing. Many Republicans say that they see no need for universities. I sat by the waters of Quebec and I wept when I remembered America.
6
Why aren't the Republicans saying something about Trump allowing the mandated sanctions against Russia to expire, after they voted for them 92-2 in step with Democrats? Why aren't they saying something about the Trump administration allowing a legally barred Russian spy chief, Naryshkin, to meet with undisclosed American officials? This administration, undermining our rule of law, and our national security, in plain view, is not enough to impeach this president? I really am so disgusted with Republican politicians these days - I see them as nothing more than a white collar criminal class.
8
Trump, in a Telepromptered speech smugs much less than he does when he free associates his harangues. So in this approximately 1 1/2 hours he smugged for only 78 or 79 minutes, including when he introduced his invited guests who, almost to a man and woman, were embarrassed by the attention that was focused on them because Trump was using the death of one of their family to bring adulation to himself.
But the State of the Union speech is now history (or some version of it, anyway) and today is Wednesday, the 31st of January. It is 279 days until election day and the beginning of the removal of a malignant cancer from the White House.
4
The photo heading the column is perfect: a grown man absurdly mimicking the facial expression and gestures of honesty and sincerity. Barnum was at least a competent faker. The administration we've endured for the past year is as realistic a version of a functioning presidency as Monty Python and the Holy Grail is of the Middle Ages.
7
Criticize till you rot. Sadly Trump 2020 is happening folks.
It is Reagan 2.0 vs Carter Malaise speech and Americans do not care that much about Dreamers when push comes to shove. It seems that the majority is content with jobs and games and are oblivious or unable to critically think to realize that the job growth is due to the work of Trump's predecessor and that the games will end when the party stops because a broke government will take back all their paltry tax savings by cutting the services that are now available to them.
The key is timing. Can the administration sustain the economy until the midterms or until the next presidential elections or will the chicken come to roost before that. Frankly I don't think the plan of the GOP is to get another term. I think it is to gorge themselves at the trough that America has become. All you can eat buffet through 2018 and anything beyond that is gravy.
The guy was elected because of anger and prejudice. Anger from a base that is uneducated and abandoned and prejudice from white women who were hardest in their judgment of another woman. The latter seems to be moving back to reality disgusted as they are by Trump's moral failings though in the end making ends meet may turn out to be more important than moral outrage. The former remain unmoved in their support especially when they see the democrats supporting the Dreamers who like it or not symbolize to some extent the foreigners they have come to blame for their economic misery.
4
Gorging at the trough also explains their refusal to acknowledge global warming. I agree. They are grabbing with both fists.
Nobody, except maybe Donnie John, is that good at pretend.
1
Pretend is exactly the right word.Mr. Trump came to the presidency pretending that he was fabulously wealthy( no tax returns to prove it)and that he had a foundation that was generously spreading money around( the foundation was funded by other people's money) Worst of all he pretended that the Russians were our good friends and that there was nothing to see in their meddling.Most of us are tightly tethered to reality and have learned not to pretend!
6
How to learn something from a Trump statement: Whatever he says, take it that the opposite is true.
2
The Russians have made a huge investment in influencing our culture through brainwashing. Infiltrating news networks and inserting misinformation designed to attract the uneducated. They have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Voice of America was like a ham radio compared to the reach of Message from Russia. They now control the Presidency and both houses of Congress.
Tonight was a evening of celebration for their partisans. America is now a client state.
1
You said it all Frank...I forced myself to really listen and tried to find anything redeemable in his speech. Instead I found myself nauseated by delicate, poetic phrases written by a speechwriter that I doubt Trump even could find the nuance in. I found veiled "Trump is the only one, the greatest!" lines throughout. I found empty rhetoric that didn't reflect any reality. My ex-husband promised by son hockey skates when he was six. He "meant well" and could puff his chest out with pride on what a good father he was looking out for his son's development. My son is 40 and the skates never materialized. Sort of like Trump. He either never comes through with his "promises", or sullies the subsequent action so that it is counter to its original intent. I left my husband...we need to leave Trump and his circus before we are all destroyed when the carnival tent falls down and kills what is left of our democracy.
3
One thing Trump did make clear, and we can count on; war with North Korea for the mid terms.
He is a proven, serial liar. Every president lies but the sheer volume of untruths and the way he uses them in an attempt to make himself look better is staggering. The real crime is that his supporters and the gop enable him by letting him get away with it.
For his supporters it's like pro wrestling... they enjoy the spectacle, they know in their hearts it's a lie, they believe it anyway.
For the gop? It's covering their eyes with one hand while holding out the other for campaign contributions.
1
Frank doesn't fear Trump failing, but shudders when he sees Trump succeeding. Trump soundly delivered a winning speech to a winning nation tonight.
How on Earth do you get black members of Congress to NOT stand when black unemployment sinks to its lowest EVER?
Every woman voter will remember the grieving parents for a long time.
2
The man is a proven racist who equivocates on Nazis, taking credit for something he had nothing to do with. You want to know why the Black Caucus (and any other minority group) will never applaud him? Charlottesville.
1
"Trump on Tuesday night identified priorities: immigration reform, infrastructure."
-- Those certainly should be priorities.
But to identify priorities is not enough. They must be acted upon.
1
It is kind of tough, because my friends in Europe do not really get that we are not all one mind in the US. Hey, not to be biased, but these are really small countries and kind of similar in ethnicity. So they don't really understand the vastness and diversity of the US.
To be fair, most of my friends are very positive on the US. They just want to know how we got Trump. That, I cannot explain to them, except to say that it will get better.
State of the American Union 2018?
America, between the political parties, seems in agreement on one fundamental but rarely mentioned fact: Virtually everyone believes, philosophically, there is no Cartesian mind/body duality, that the one can exist without affecting the other, indeed be separate from the other. America rather believes a behavioral (body) tendency reflects a type of thinking (the mental) and vice-versa, that every thought has behavioral consequences.
Thus from the right wing and its religion, nationalism, business mentality all behavior must be herded and thought crushed to a tight way of thinking and behaving, because strange behavior equals strange thought and vice-versa, and we must have none of that. But that is also how the left wing behaves! It treats thinking with which it does not agree as having behavioral consequences and vice-versa, it is always on the lookout for behavior with which it does not agree.
Therefore we can assume the future of America no matter where we turn will be increased control of behavior and thought, for the one equals the other, and any deviation in the one equals deviation in the other. Strange behavior is threatening to the body politic and strange thought likewise. And this also explains why people are so fearful of AI, not to mention that it will reach consciousness: It will think beyond us and therefore potentially behave in ways we find threatening. All thinking today is morality of some stripe and morality is thought.
One insightful moment came when Trump pleaded for giving ex-cons a second chance.
Does he actually realize that many of his cohorts and family members may be convicted of crimes (not to mention his own money laundering problems)?
2
The speech was a standard, if overly long, SoTU -- perhaps a bit darker than most with all the MS13 stuff. Made me afraid to go to Long Island.
What I'd really like to do is go back in time and stop whoever it was (Reagan? Clinton?) who started bringing in a parade of heroes, widows and kids to serve as props for patriotic jingoism. Now, instead of policy talk and proposals what we get is a series of mini-biographies linked together by standing ovations and feel-good one liners. Can we lose some of the "boy-plants-flags-on-Veterans-Day" stuff and have some substance?
2
"Can we lose some of the "boy-plants-flags-on-Veterans-Day" stuff and have some substance?"
Then this kind of gem wouldn't have been heard:
"Here tonight is one leader in the effort to defend our country: Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Celestino Martinez – he goes by DJ ..... or CJ -- let's just call him CJ, OK?"
DJ? He can't even read off the teleprompter.
2
I guess I was watching a different State of the Union address as Mr. Bruni because I thought it was excellent filled with sincerity and conviction. President Trump looked very presidential and spoke directly to the audience about the issues that affect all Americans. It was very compelling and Mr. Trump did himself proud. He included all Americans in his delivery not just a select few. The Republicans were ecstatic but the the Democrats less so. Some of the Dems had blank looks on their faces and I think they forget where they were. They looked confused poor people.
I thought the Democrats acted like spoiled children who did not get their own way. They sat through most of it and would not even stand when President Trump spoke about our military, robust economy and saluting our American flag. It was disrespectful and there was no excuse for this rude behavior . They appeared angry and disgruntled probably because their candidate, Hillary Clinton, was not on the podium. Nancy Pelosi looked bored and uneasy as though she did not really want to be there. She probably did not but was just going through the motions. It was hysterical how the Democrats fled the room as soon as the address was over. I guess they had somewhere to go.
I was proud of my president, Donald Trump, and like what he has accomplished so far. He wants to make America great and with the help of Democrats, if they are willing, will succeed. Please do it for our citizens and country.
15
America was great when Americans believed in, depended on, and backed our Government. Since the corporate powers bought that government that was by, for and of The People, electing Senators and Congresspersons who will do what they're ordered, even writing the proposals for them, depending on division to gain and keep power, what's to be proud of?
Trump may be unaware of his own ignorance - or not; he seems to pride himself on his 'acting on instinct' without background information. Perhaps he knows he's doing what helps the corporate powers, or just that he helps reap more profits in his own business. But Republicans in Congress know that the Trump regime is working well for their benefactors.
Democrats are still promoting good things for the people (not just the billionnaires). But if they win a majority in 2018, can they follow through? Think of the billions that will go into electing against-government Dems. And even if they dare vote for what would be good for America and Americans (ALL Americans), think then of the fortunes to slander them - and the distrust today not only of government but of the most trustworthy news media.
Hopefully, Americans will vote as wisely as is available to us, in every election forever after. And hopefully we'll pray that it's not too late to restore a democratic government that will work for us all.
8
"I thought the Democrats acted like spoiled children who did not get their own way. They sat through most of it and would not even stand..."
Somebody needs to go back to videotape of Republicans' behaviour when Obama gave the SOTU.
10
The Democrats know Trump just spews a string of lies. How would you react in that situation?
5
That's an insult to sour cream, which is a delicious addition to cakes and cookies...and sometimes comes with a free glass.
1
to see a real SOTU speech, watch Joe Kennedy in Fall River. He enumerates the ideals that had me in the Navy in Vietnam, allowed me to build a career from nothing, to start a school to train men and women in carpentry skills, to help with affordable housing. His vision is the America that has given me unlimited opportunity and to which I do and continue to want to give back to and be part of. My America is not Cadet Bone Spurs America. It is inclusive and generous and fair and welcoming to all.
5
Completely agree, Mr. Bruni. Trump's audience is supposed to pretend that they are listening to someone recognizable as an American President. Wasn't it funny when he tried to encourage the audience to give him a standing ovation? At the next SOTU, there will be a teleprompter for the audience, too.
1
Well done Frank. This article expresses the sentiment of the majority of the nation in ways Republicans and Trump supporters will of course deny in their usual delusional positions. But the content here is spot on.
Yes Hilary Clinton had the admirable and dignified Khizr Khan speak during her campaign, but Donald Trump has made dragging out grief-stricken (for whatever reason) relatives to validate his policies, a veritable leitmotif of this presidency, and this time was no exception.
Too bad the majority of Americans like myself, who have been utterly devastated since his election, could not have been part of the invited audience for his “State of the Union” speech.
2
The President, along with the congress ( all controlled by republicans ) are elected by the people to work for the people. All of the people.
~ not just 35% of the people.
That is who the speech last eve was directed to.
1
He makes a perfunctory call for unity but no president has poisoned the atmosphere and inflamed our divisions more than Trump and he's done it intentionally.
1
"...we’re supposed to pretend that what he says today has any bearing on what he’ll say tomorrow, when what he said yesterday contradicted it."
When "what you say today" has no bearing on "what you say tomorrow" I would call that "lying"... and lying is not shrewd negotiating. It makes negotiations impossible.
1
I did not watch the State of the Union last night because it is clear that this president has no idea of the state of the union. Bruni's word pretend is so apt. But this morning, it is clear - as a people, we let this happen - loopholes in the changed election process that would let a populist demagogue rise to the forefront, the ability to buy out campaigns, even huge ones like the presidency, that exist in all our campaign laws, and so much more. We have recovered from the 2008 recession, largely due to the Obama administration's hard and unsung work. But we are now headed towards an even more punitive detrimental disparity between the super rich and the rest of us. It is up to us to move our democracy forward.
1
I started to watch the SOTU address years ago when Bush II spoke and half of Congress sat and never applauded or cracked a smile. Then it was Obama’s turn and the other half sat glumly (or worse) as promises were made that couldn’t be kept. At least he seemed earnest. So I thought, why watch Trump? Nothing he says will last longer than the time it takes to say it, except the insults, which last a very long time. The fact-checkers will find lots of falsehoods and more than a few whoppers. And the political show will go on, like Groundhog Day, the same depressing routine every day, repeat. There are better things to do.
The calmness and reason in today’s piece are a remarkable antidote to what passes as “opinion” elsewhere, especially on TV. It parallels what I think many other readers participate in around the dinner table, or in just about any serious conversation among friends and family.
Thank you Mr. Bruni for responding with equanimity.
But maybe, on the other hand, the Democratic response should follow immediately in the same hall, like in Parliament, and maybe with the same grumbling responses in real time. Joe Wilson broke with tradition with his “You lie!”, but maybe a series of “You’ve got to be kidding” rumbles from the assembled lawmakers would match the current president’s flouting of every other rule of decorum.
The President, along with the congress ( all controlled by republicans ) are elected by the people to work for the people. All of the people.
~ not just 35% of the people.
That is who the speech last eve was directed to.
6
On CNN tis morning we were able to Listen to the police officer who adopted a beautiful baby whose parents were the victims of the drug opiate . His proactive altitude again showed how shallow and meaningless the GOP politicians are and applauding nothing more than a Hollywood speech . Mr. Bruni as usual was right on the mark with his comments about this speech.
This young police officer talked in detail how difficult, expensive drug treatment was, no preaching but the truth. Unlike the right to live protesters he and his wife adopted a baby as so many other American people have, knowing that these babies suffered from drug abuse. They walk the talk and they aren't mean what a surprise.
As we move forward to the midterm elections we should all realize that
Trumps policies directly affect people and this president is nothing more than a con artist. Don't get fooled again.
4
Thank you, Mr. Bruni, for your always most insightful analysis of the situation at hand. We are faced with an especially terrible horridness in this man. He presents a clear and present danger to our nation and its people in all the ways you suggest, but also to the world, all its people and even earth's viability to support life for the long haul. That the entire Republican establishment pretends this is not the reality before us is beyond disgusting and will not be forgotten in the next election, or ever. This president and his ilk are an outsized pox on the cosmos that needs healing from the disease early before it all hope is gone. May the people and the nation have the wisdom and the courage to do what needs to be done. We must start the treatment and care plan that the nation and world require for survival before its too late.
3
I have heard many state of the union addresses. None was as unidirectional towards white Americans than yesterday's speech. You were offered no hope if you are Black, Latino, LGBT or Muslim. Trump clearly believes that he can rule, and win another election, by pandering to a minority of voters in the smallest states of the nation. Let's hope he is wrong.
2
If President Trump wants to unify the country he will have to apologize, admit fault, and make sincere and actionable amends for everything he has done to divide it. I do not hold my breath.
1
The Art of the the Deal - a deal between Trump and the USA. Isn’t this the deal where Trump wins and the other side loses? Isn’t this the book that Trump didn’t actually write? Isn’t this the book the royalties from which were supposed to go to help the homeless, Vietnam veterans, to combat AIDS and multiple sclerosis? According to a Washington Post investigation this did not happen: the paper said "he gave less to those causes than he did to his older daughter's ballet school.”
What a great deal for the USA!
2
We know Trump is really rich, because he told us so. We know he is a great deal-maker and can make Mexico pay for a wall, because he told us so. So why doesn't Trump just pay for the wall himself and get Mexico to pay him back?
2
"He pretends to be a statesman, and we’re supposed to pretend that hundreds of vulgar and recklessly divisive moments before this — thousands, if we’re adding tweets — don’t negate that claim."
And don't forget - we pretend that what he says he's going to do today bears any relationship to what he will do tomorrow.
1
Wait for wait for it 3-2-1!
Now the games begin how long will it be for the next angry twitter barrage. The next no I did not say that. No that was not what I meant.
The best thing Trump could have said last night was that he would resign from office and save us and the world what will soon be coming.
2
I thought about watching the SOTU address with my young son as a way to discuss the functions of government, but I decided it was best not to do so. This is a person to be ashamed of, not to celebrate. I don't want my child polluted with his mean, low ideas.
2
I read as a threat Trump’s message that it takes a catastrophic event to unite the country. That is frightening on so many levels. If his poll numbers continue to shrink, causing even Republicans to abandon him, will he start a war with North Korea just before the November elections? His message sounded like this: If you don’t bow down before me, I’m going to take you all out.
3
The consummate demagogue in all his splendor. But we, half of us at least, already knew that. Here is our frightening reality - take a look at the two equally resplendent opportunistic sycophants clapping in the background of the accompanying photo. That's the order of succession you're looking at. And right behind them lurks, for now at least, Orrin Hatch, he of the recent "perhaps greatest president in our history" comment. It's as if the cast of The Three Stooges has taken over our government, except we keep putting them there. And nobody is laughing. Well, except them - because the joke is entirely on us.
90
The stock market is up and I live off my investments. I should be happy.....which I am, but what about the state of our country. This is not the America I grew up in. I am embarrassed by our president, our congress and the division I am seeing in our country as America becomes a questionable isolated country in the world that is changing daily. Remember the time when we were not forced to pay attention to our government every day? Each day there is a new crisis as we have never witnessed in the past. It is unnerving and tiring at the same time.
100
The state of the union is not great. It never has been. It has always been work in progress. Over the last year, there has been improvement in some places and a deterioration of matters in other areas. The one thing that in my mind stands out is that there has been an effective bulwark against attempts of the Trump "regime" to weaken democratic institutions and rules. This civic engagement to protect and nurture the ideal of the United States is the most remarkable feature of 2017. Let's remain vigilant also in 2018 and beyond.
74
What democratic institution should and rules do you mean?
I fear the bulwark of which you speak is an illusion. Let's see what this year's elections bring. If Democrats make up some ground, there is hope. IF they have only middling results, the end is a lot nearer that we might think.
The P. T. Barnum of American racism and imperialism, the chief bigot-in-denial brought his show to Congress last night. The State of the Union was really about the state of Trump. Which chimera would show up?
The speech was also about the price of admission to America, the attractions and illusions, the fears and thrills, flag-wrapped in kieg-lighted negative space by a President who a major news organization has said is unfit to clean toilets in his predecessor's future library.
We got a replay of his biggest hits. Lots of dead people, cherry picked politicized grief. A closed door, denial America where imaginary immigrants are more dangerous than real school shootings, the 1600 mass shootings on Trump watch, the nation's largest domestic attack—the cause and center mass of America's “new moment.”
Trump's foofaraw (fuss) over America is abject fantasy: so it is reasonable to recognize his fixation on "growth" and the power of hate and fear as signs of his self deception that he reigns over the world and the US.
A Man is insane when he dwells in fantasy.
Yet we are witnessing iconic loyalty to a man intent on destroying democracy—who many voters still support.
His SOTU was a list of blame narratives to populations of religion and color, drawing from a deep well of stereotypes and smears for Pavlovian political responses. He described an America building an expensive wall of fear, left to the mercy of xenophobic vanities.
185
Brilliant commentary; excellent writing.
To begin with, nothing that could have been said, even by the greatest orator who ever lived, would have changed the perception in most people's minds, of this mad, embarrassing, dangerous year.
That said, this was not a "great orator", spectacularly so. This was not even Trump, whose improvised, jingoistic theatrics can make for riveting (if not enlightening) TV. This was someone putting on a show, with fairly poor acting skills, of moderation and empathy. Except that it came out as rote, and not heart-felt, and only the guests' stories, carefully placed to buoy the speech up, and provide assured standing ovations- from the entire crowd (unlike, say, just about everything else in the speech) could lend it the feeling of sincerity. A night of obfuscation and insincerity.
202
He is, of course, also pretending that climate change is not an existential threat.
136
Trump was very clear last night about one thing: he's determined to start a war with North Korea. If he does, that will be the end of "pretend" for all of us.
151
Thank you, Frank, for your wonderful and truly refreshing honesty. Thanks for calling "a spade a spade." Never thought I would read such truth anywhere in our MSM, especially within the pages of the beloved NYT anymore . . . Thanks for renewing my faith in my online subscription.
No, I did not watch tonight's scripted performance; the first one that I've missed in all of my 60+ years. For exactly the reasons you've clearly described so accurately, I intentionally decided to pass on this one. Seems we were both correct! Thanks for watching and responding for me. You're braver than I am.
Just wanted to acknowledge your valuable contribution tonight. Again, thanks!
166
I'm 66 and also chose, for the first time in my entire life (even as a small kid!) I chose not to watch a State of the Union. He's a liar. Why bother with a liar? End of story.
1
What Frank really wanted was for Trump to go off the rails. He kept it on the rails, now he is a fake statesmen. There is no winning for Trump in this paper at this point.
16
Trump was already "off the rails." I'm not sure what Frank was looking for, but whatever it was, it hardly stood even a ghost of a chance of getting the train back on track again, let alone keep it from going "off."
127
There is no winning for Trump in the world at this point, not winning with this paper is nothing compared to the way Trump is losing with the people of the US & the civilized rest of the world. The US is in rotten shape, and it is because of Trump and the Republican congress.
1
Because one carefully read speech does not change a presidency or a man.
1
Imagine a lost explorer coming back to America after two years, and witnessing the spectacle that it Trump. It is shocking, it's an embarrassment.
It came to me tonight, Trump is acting out, in real life, Monty Hall and Let's Make a Deal. He imagines himself the ultimate president and deal maker, but he is merely a re-dyed orange haired cognitively challenged showman.
What is truly scary about his persona, so vividly shown in the picture accompanying this article, is that he thinks he is the bomb, the greatest. He has one thing right, there has never been anyone like him, and let us hope, that after his coming demise, there will never be one like him, ever again.
314
Watch the movie "Idiocracy". This is the age of Trumpism and the Republican Party one party ruled nation.
3
It came to me a long time ago that liberals are acting out, in real life, Monty Hall and Let's Make a Deal.
My first thought was the picture says it all.
This is not in Mr Bruni's op-ed but I just need to add it here - when Trump said he when he "empowered every cabinet secretary ... to remove federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people," can we hope that includes him? He fails us every day.
297
That is an absolutely terrifying statement. All Civil servants should be willing to take a loyalty oath?
Well, there goes the rule of law.
191
My first thought was that he was talking about whistle blowers and people who talk to reporters. Gave me chills..
2
Every employee of the federal government takes an oath of loyalty - to the Constitution. Trump increasingly acts like the oath is to him personally.
6
Frank, perhaps, if McConnell and cohorts had not made it their purpose in life to obstruct President Obama’s every attempt at governing, some of his programs if not all, may have come to fruition. But we’ll never know and as a result we can’t really blame him for not accomplishing his promises. Blame the Republicans.
201
It is the Presidents job to push an agenda that gains broad bipartisan support. An opposition party still has power and the ability to pull the pendulum. Reagan and Clinton both understood this well. Dont think Obama ever understood or cared, and obviuosly Trump will never get it. The President owns his record, it is never the oppositions fault, that is a truism of democracy, no matter your party
Cannibalism starts at home for Republicans.
It wouldn't matter to Trump. If Obama had cured cancer, established world peace and eliminated poverty, Trump would just have that many more things to undo.
The work of a destroyer is never done. Sigh.
3
All I can say about his boring speech is that we must all leave our comfort zones and take to the streets when he fires Rod Rosenstein for obviously this is a man who is absolutely terrified of what Robert Mueller knows about him.
291
As a pundit said this morning, we are experiencing a slow rolling into a Constitutional Crisis. When he fires Rosenstein so he can hire a flunky who wil then either fire or stymie Mueller, this country MUST take to the streets. Every single one of us who understands the authoritarian threat he and his Russian minions are to America must not sit back and say, 'Oh, well'. If we do, we are also culpable in our own destruction.
Old Ben Franklin is wondering if we are, indeed, going to keep our republic. The jury's still out on it, Ben. I hope so. I so hope we can keep it.
2
There's Trump teleprompter talk and there's Trump tweets and his behavior. What we saw in tbe State of the Union speech was a clever sales pitch complete with heart-wrenching props tbat President Trump seemed to sleep walk through in slow motion. But, reading between the lines was the harsh "winners" and "losers* that are tbe true Trump view. Do we must honor tbe flag with the hidden dig at African-American professional football players who prptested police brutality by taki g a knee during the national anthem? Then there's the endorsement of the 2nd amendment that conveniently ignores the recent rash of gun deaths at high schools across the country while conveniently ignoring the 1st amendment that allows political protest and freedom of the press. And then, there was the old canard that illegal immigrants are drug-dealing MS-13 gangsters who kill high school girls ingnoring the fact that immigrants have a lower crime rate than citizens. And his "four pillars" of immigration reform that destroys families, but will allow Dreamers a long path to citizenship while their patrents and siblings are deported. Behind the words lurked the callousness that has been the hallmark of Donald Trump's first year of intolerance and inhumanity.
103
"And then, there was the old canard that illegal immigrants are drug-dealing MS-13 gangsters who kill high school girls ". Canard ???
Did you not see the grieving parents with your own eyes?
Do you think they care about your statistics?
If we can't agree that criminal gang members shouldn't be allowed in , we are truly doomed......
1
Not just callousness - honest-to-God genuine off the boat racism.
I doubt if Mr. Trump sees anything at all disturbing about the slave ships.
1
For those who followed European politics: it is Berlusconi all over again. A wiseman out to enrich himself fakes being a leader.
81
Although Berlusconi is at least smart enough to know how government works, and he reads.
And Berlusconi went into politics to stay out of prison. he need to change the law. Maybe another parallel here, since the guy was already thinking outy loud about pardoning his folks and himself...
But Berlusconi is not stupid.
1
"The word that came to mind most often as I watched Donald Trump deliver his first State of the Union address was “pretend.”.....
I’m not that good at pretend."
You are probably better at pretend, Mr. Bruni, than think you are. Life, after all is pretend, or in the words of Shakespeare (As You Like It):
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
Which part does Mr. Trump play? Stay tuned and history will be back right after the commercial. We all end up though the same:
Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
15
He has indeed achieved a lot in a year - he can now read. However with any message from Trump, it will not live up to the hype and he, the man will simply revert to type and his squalid and nasty modus operandi. Not much has changed in Trumpland, so expect more of the same.
52
And what have the Democrats proposed as an alternative?
I'll assume that you'll turn down any better job that comes your way because of the Trump economy.
"Pretend" is okay, but we could just stick with "fake".
35
When it came to the opiod crisis, I found Trump’s choice for a “feel good” story utterly bizarre. He introduced a cop and his wife who offered to take, and then were apparently given, the baby of an addicted pregnant woman the officer crossed paths with on his job. The addicted mother was and still is homeless from what I just read. Is this actually a story we should cheer about?
95
We should cheer for the baby. It could have, and probably would have, ended much worse if not for the intervention.
Can more be done? No doubt, but what will work? The crisis has grown in leaps and bounds for the past 10 years, and we haven’t stopped it yet.
1
This article is the breath of fresh air I needed before turning in for the night.
I'm thoroughly disgusted by others at the NYT taking Trump the slightest bit seriously, even temporarily.
68
Thanks for saying what I've been screaming about endlessly, Jon. Disgust is the right word. Nothing else comes close. The man is a cornered rat who is perfectly willing to take down all of America's great institutions [EPA, Dept of Education, State Department, FBI, GOP (ok, maybe that one wasn't so great)] to save himself. Remember when Van Jones from CNN said, "He [Trump] became President of the United States in that moment, period?" That moment was a year ago like, when last night, he proved capable of reading off a cue card without bursting into flames.
3
Thank you for confirming what I expected. I am so glad that I did not waste my time on that speech. Brahms symphony #4 was a much better choice for the mind and the soul.
147
Brahms sounds soothing to the soul. I chose to watch Grace & Frankie episodes, for an infusion of honesty, wisdom and empathy, and actual great acting. Can't get any of those with That Man.
2
Forget the context, there's no reason for all those proofs and arguments.
All you need is a list of words, which, in any sentence, on any subject or in any form, have no meaning when Trump uses them:
Words describing ethics or morality, or those describing the characteristics or feelings held by ethical, compassionate, or generous people. Words which describe equality within community, a common good or common interest, togetherness, equality, or unity, including family. Words of sympathy for suffering, or those which show appreciation of poverty or oppression. Any words about ethnicity or race. Those describing appreciation for others, or for heroism, patriotism, and especially, sacrifice. Any words about responsibility and accountability. Words showing respect for the Constitution, the rule of law, or American government. Words about legality, criminality and justice. Words describing science, art, spirituality, or the soul.
Surprisingly, when you take all those away, there still is something left:
Words about militancy and power. Those which attack, scorn or deride. Those describing the possibilities of selfishness and greed. Words of war. Words of suspicion and which incite fear. Blaming words, and hating ones. One word in particular is well expressed, over and over: pride.
48
The State of the Union address seemed more like an election campaign speech than anything else. With the choreographed applause-stand-sit cycle repeated ad nauseum, and the ridiculous and prolonged squats routine Messrs Pence and Ryan performed, even without being aware of the entire Trumpian era of glitz over substance, one could reasonably have judged the whole show to have been an infomercial.
Particularly dismaying was the egregious exploitation of the various victims of crimes for party political reasons. Such acknowledgement by a President must always be private and off-camera to avoid any such charge.
A simple opinion from the other side.
165
The streamed version included a running name and contribution amounts across the screen. It WAS an infomercial.
1
You mean like when a professor was aggressive towards police and Obama held a beer summit only because the professor was black? I could take every point you make and give you an Obama example of exactly the same thing. Frankly, at least Trump wasn't applauding the perpetrators of the crimes as we have so often seen in the courts and from our politicians who are more worried about offending someone or other rather than applying common sense and genuinely worrying about the victims.
"the ridiculous and prolonged squats routine Messrs Pence and Ryan performed,"
I suggest you go back to the Obama State Of The Union speeches and watch Biden and Pelosi jumping up and down like music box puppets. It's all part of the routine just like the president's party applauding and standing while the opposing party sits on its hands.
Well, just list out his promises/expectations - and how long & how he cancels out every one of them...
I give it a week.
18
Last year's Trump:
"The world is on fire. American carnage. I alone can fix it."
This year's Trump:
"There.
Fire's out. Carnage only caused by foreigners.
Fixed it!
You're welcome."
124
I didn't bother watching the Orange Traitor give his speech; I knew he would never apologize for tearing this country to shreds. Instead, I watched a few episodes of "Veep," which gave me all the political truths I needed for today.
54
Nothing but empty words. I hate it when draft dodgers wear a flag pin.
458
One dodge was for bone spur in on of his feet but he didn't remember which one, left or right. Yes, this guy is "so-called president".
1
Right James, well done. You hit him on the spot.
1
Did you hate when for 8 years a man with zero business, executive, or military experience masqueraded as president?
Did Trump really talk about family values? I am surprised the earth did not open up and swallow him. Trump's history of abusing women and indeed most people who don't agree with him or get in his egotistical way would disqualify him from talking about family values. this as well as his unconstrained potty mouth for which he needs a teleprompter to control. Perhaps he is talking about his own family which makes a bundle from his new tax plan. Trump talking about family values is like a KKK person claiming how much they love other races.
85
Well, at least Melania didn't stand when he praised 'family values'.
1
A while back, scientists attached electrodes to a mound of shivering Jell-O. The electrodes detected brain waves in the Jell-O, thereby proving that Trump can indeed have Jell-O, orange Jell-O, in place of a brain.
20
Do you know the old Soviet joke? We pretend to work, and the bosses pretend to pay us. Here's a guy who pretends to do big building deals, when all he does is take laundered money. No wonder Trump does not like the Russian sanctions.
He depends on the free flow of payoffs
72
Oh my what a speech. Opioids, gangs, nuclear war, immigrant refuse threaten, but prisons, guns, bigger bombs and a wall will make us safe. Mr. Trump, a man who knows nothing about any of these issues, will make sure all is well. Sleep tight.
68
Re:Trump's "SOTUA", and quoting the eternal Molly Ivins,
"It sounded a lot better in the original German."
Joe Kennedy was the essence of Boston brevity and focus, and a very acceptable future.
87
I’m sure he’s a fine fellow but the choice of Joe Kennedy III for rebuttal was a mistake. We need a little fire and fury ourselves and I did not feel that in his presentation.
7
I feel a small amount of shame that I was obsessed by the bad or absent make up which made it look like he'd just eaten fried chicken and hadn't properly wiped the grease away from his mouth. In a world where Trump can shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, this is the type of mistake that can take a Democrat down.
1
Ironically, it was the Nixon/Kennedy debates that first showed us the importance of optics in our perceptions of competence. I totally agree and had the same reaction.
For many Americans, there is no pretending.... there is unfortunately a short memory span. Trump has spent the last year being vindictive, lying, and offering false promises, yet Democrats keep crawling back hoping for bipartisanship. If Democrats are going to win in November, they need to earn our respect. We can not respect those who pretend Trump is our President.
50
I didn't bother watching the state the union address this year. What's the point when fact checking Trump's speeches tend to reveal mostly lies. Actions speak louder than words so I'll be paying attention to what he does this next year rather than the words that come out of his mouth. If by the midterms the tax bill is the only thing that has been accomplished then it will be time to vote the bums out.
13
Frank, you left out that the level of rhetoric was somewhere short of high school graduation.
20
On behalf of high school graduation speakers everywhere, I will accept the apology I know you will issue on further thought.
This speech and its delivery is exactly what anyone who doesn't live in "the bubble" should have expected. It was drivel pregnant with half-truths and sentimental hog wash. Any viewer would have had to experience pain when the heartbroken loved ones of those who have experienced horrendous loss were paraded before the cameras, but there can be no question that they were used cynically by Trump and his mindless toadies.
I am reminded again, as I'm m so frequently, of Judge Joseph Welsh during the McCarthay hearings when , in a voice rife with anguish, he asked, "Have you no shame, sir? Finally, have you no shame?"
I would ask that of Trump, but I think we already know the answer.
67
Donald reminds me of Mussolini. The facial expressions, the hand gestures, the bombast, the sarcasm, the nods of approval when the audience applauds. He even claps back, as did Benito. Ominously, the similarities are more than superficial.
442
Just like the time he shoved aside the Prime Minister of Montenegro to make sure he was in the front for the photo of national leaders at NATO last summer. Terrifying.
2
Trump’s speech was an amalgam of conservative and right wing talking points. The speech was geared towards his supporters, and the Republican party and there's no doubt they lapped it up. I do think Trump knows his own mind and is doing what he thinks the job is. Marketer in chief. He's a terrific Trump brand promoter, and right now, the brand is the Republican party. Telling him that he is the President of all Americans is like telling a business owner that they should adopt their product for people who are almost certainly not going to buy it.
11
What I saw and heard disgusts, saddens, terrifies and makes me ashamed of the State of our Union.
He uses other people's grief to his own comfort.
He uses other people's courage to hide his cowardice.
He uses other people's triumphs and successes to claim as his own.
He uses other people's honor and integrity to cover the fact the he has none.
He uses religion to align himself with righteousness.
He uses the flag to cover his disrespect for it.
He uses our military to demonstrate his strength.
He uses our diversity to divide us.
He uses our strengths to weakens us.
He uses our love for our fellow citizens and country to foment hate.
He makes me sick.
826
Well put. Regarding your first point...It seemed to me he chose to talk about the dead children of these parents in a way that would elicit the most tears. The lowest moment of a lowly speech.
40
You summed him up perfectly. Thank you for this incredible description of the most venal individual we have ever had running this country.
40
Well said!
1
One of the more fantastical things was that the cure for the opiate crisis was to "crack down on drug dealers and pushers." Does he mean Jeff Sessions is going after the real supply chain - the McKesson's and the crooked doctors who improperly prescribe them long-term to patients who don't need them?
Don't bet on it. Must be those criminal-minded immigrants who are responsible.
33
His stories contradict his policies. He praised a North Korean amputee who fled persecution and illegally crossed into another country. Would Trump let him into the US--maybe if he's white and Christian (not Catholic). Lovely that a baby of a homeless addict was adopted. What happened to her birth mother? Doesn't matter as long as she does not have an abortion.
293
In this tract, Mr. Bruni unfairly maligns sour cream - a flagrant display of partisan Jell-O bias of the worst kind! Shame on you, sir: sour cream is a quintessentially American condiment, notwithstanding the insidious implication that the revolting decoction of ground up bone meal, sugar, colorful dyes and water is somehow superior to this noble prince of the dairy section.
Bolder than its haughty yet weaker flavored European ancestor, crème fraîche, sour cream elevates even the most humble of food items to the sublime: what baked potato, bowl of chili or jambalaya does not cry out for a generous dollop of the beautiful stuff, I ask you?
The same can not be said of Jell-O - despite our nation's multi-decadal quest to find some suitable culinary purpose for gelatin that does not provoke nausea: aspic is sure to cause shudders of revulsion in a majority of those present when it appears; and forget not Jell-O shots where outright regurgitation (brightly colored, quelle horreur!) is a nearly inevitable consequence of consumption.
While I am one normally given to decry the actions of our elected officials across the board, in this case the Senator from New York (I can no longer bring myself to use the appellation of 'Honorable' for any of them, I fear) has it right: our 45th President is best likened to that queasily jiggling and most foul marraige of scientific 'progress' and charnel house refuse, Jell-O, and I find your assertion to the contrary to be distasteful.
31
Bad enough to read anything the lying vulgarian says, worse to have to look at or hear him.
I didn’t waste my time watching the loathsome fraud, I read a book this evening.
50
What do you expect of a real estate broker?
Seriously.
Wake up!
Perhaps start believing in fake news.
The State of Trump's union is built on fake news--bigly & sadly.
20
Well - he actually CAN read.
Thanks Frank Bruni, and many of the regulars for keeping me sane: a year of insults and turnabouts, lies and attacks, so often verging on the very edge of what is legal, would have been otherwise unbearable.
32
""Americans fill the world with art and music. They push the bounds of science and discovery"
"Beautiful clean coal"
" The planet is actually cooling"
Oh well, talk about intellectual dishonesty.
The future is history.
38
"The future is history"
"The future isn't what it used to be"
-Yogi Berra
22
Actually 'The future is history' is the title of a book by a Russian author, M Gessen, She describes essentially the history of Russia after the collapse of the USSR and how, after the initially gained freedom and hope for a better future the country is falling back into the repressive mode. The old power structures being reinstated. And Mr. Putin being the Godfather.
That is the Trump/GOP preferred system for the US as well.
26
I don’t want to be part of Donald Trump’s “American Family” he requests.
I like my diverse fellow Americans, those that came here as children whose parents aren’t citizens. I hate the fact that my family might be poisoned because Donald Trump is ruining the environment by deregulation. I don’t want my family threatened because the president calls North Korean Leader names and tempts him with war. I want my family to love all people and stand up for them whether gay, lesbian, trans, bisexual or queer. I want my family to continue to love our neighbors no matter color or ethnicity. I want my family members to be able to trust that they can go to public schools that are well funded instead of defunding their public education. I want my family to be treated in fair and just worker ways, and resent my family’s CEO’s are getting breaks that are not fair.
Donald can have his family and call it “American” - but don’t ever say his family is more American than mine. It never will come close.
143
Those executive orders, against the environment and the rights of women, that healthcare wrecking tax cut, the incompetent judicial candidates. There is no way this country can unify until they are all gone.
Rescind. Reboot. Try again. We have a chance to halt a lot of this come November.
49
Not impressed and I’ll take the Jell-O analogy a bit further as when Schumer described dealing with him. Amoebic, with no substance and just artificial color, i.e. fake!
17
This man gets it: sour cream is delicious, it did nothing wrong and does not deserve to be used as the culinary metaphor for the Anti-President!
11
This is the first State of the Union message that our household did not watch in over 50 years. Like Frank Bruni, we are not good at pretending.
64
As he did last year at his address to the joint session of Congress, he read from the teleprompter and didn't veer off script. Some people think this makes him presidential. I think it makes him looks like he took his Thorazine.
241
Great piece. Wish your publisher hadn't led us into this abyss.
15
Remember, Trump is the symptom, not the disease. Every Republican administration starting with Reagan has been leading up to this psychotic state of affairs for 38 years. Take down every Republican/November, 2018.
97
Sorry but he is the disease and he is killing us.
Make America great again - bring back the president who gave the 2017 State of the Union.
20
You miss the point. Trump is a chameleon. Trump recognizes his average voter, however, barely reflects on his numerous contradictions and changes. Trump will clothe himself in whatever fits the occasion. Tonight he used a moderate and reasonable tone. Contrast that to his rallies in the deep South. I wouldn't be surprised if his approval rating goes up 3 or 4 % after this speech. If there is one word that fits the American public it is guillible.
35
The apparatchiks are cheering, the economy is booming, unemployment is low, and the currency is strong and the leader takes credit. This is Germany in 1936. In a few short years it will come to an end. Are we not going going down the same road?
79
The world will little note, nor long remember......especially as soon as the next off-script tweet blows into the world ether and harried toadies scurry to spin things vaguely toward sanity. Not a long wait, folks.
21
The true state of the union is a country divided--and pushed farther apart by a president who uses insults and bullying to portray his political opponents into the enemies of state. Any economic success in America during the past year has happened despite, rather than because of, Donald Trump.
48
Trump has never cared about truth. Ask his ex-wives (and even his current wife). Ask the banks who no longer lend to him. Ask the students at Trump University. Ask the thousands of small contractors he's sued to avoid paying them.
Truth and facts do not enter into his equation. He says whatever he thinks will win over whomever he wants to win over at that particular moment.
The truth is, it doesn't matter what he says. Just watch what he and his cabinet does.
64
The state of the union is that of lawlessness. The GOP not only refuses to enforce the law but is openly as guilty as Trump himself of obstructing justice. Trump and the Republican party are the greatest threats to our union in modern history.
68
The president's a dreamer too if he thinks Robert Mueller's investigation will go away or if the state of the union is better than it was a year ago.
20
Chris Christie said, just prior to the State of the Union, that Trump would not bring up the Russia investigation because that would get him in a poor frame of mind. Really, what does it say about Trump's culpability that he loses his composure (such as it is) over the subject?!
President Obama could let even inane charges about his country of birth roll off his shoulders. Oh, to again have a presidential president. ;)
43
Invoking the name MS-13 would be like citing the Mafia when the Bruni family arrived at Ellis Island or another point of immigration. But, he did take a page from Reagan and put on a decent, tweet-free performance.
Republicans often bragged about Reaganomics, though every bit of the one time actor's GDP gain was correlated to inflation. The continued inflation of stock prices is still under the cloud of rising interest rates. He and many others are riding the back of ZIRP, not the roof of Romney's car.
It was nice of him to mention every day Americans, their efforts and sometimes heroics they/we need to survive.
6
Has everybody, including Trump, forgotten that his own grandfather came here from Germany to make a better life for himself. Which he did, in rather typical Trump fashion. One can do worse than spend 48 minutes watching the BBC documentary on the Trumps, grandfather, father, Fred and Donald.
7
My comment about MS-13 and the mob was sarcastic.
1
Speech breaks all records for preying off the presence of heros whose heroism had nothing to do with Trump.
56
Let them eat cake. While workers are getting bonuses now, in the long term they will have a dirtier environment, unaffordable medical coverage, sharply reduced Medicaid, and a host of other problems including an underfunded government. And just as in the past, the Democrats will come back in to office and try to clean up the financial mess.
24
I can only pray that we vote for people in that that truly care about the American People and our Nation. I pray we have the biggest movement in our History. Just say no!
18
"The State of the Union traffics in the sublime — and thus in the ridiculous....But Trump is a ridiculous breed apart, his moods more erratic, his poses more ephemeral, his pledges emptier."
And this historical disconnect that any State of the Union address reveals looms far larger and wider with Donald Trump than any other president.
Did anyone share my feeling as I heard all these grandiose words--in the first part of the speech, before immigration reared its ugly head with his focus on crimes and mayhem by immigrants--that I couldn't rid my mind of his normal voice, often angry, usually intemperate, and always ugly?
A speech is a speech is a speech. It's easy to read the words scrolling in front of you.
But anyone knows the real person speaks in the vernacular. And we have heard a lot of Trump's vernacular, which is the direct opposite of all those lofty, sugar-crusted ideals he sent spiraling to the top of the capitol dome.
Like balloons that stick there, until suddenly they pop at the light of a new day.
107
You're a better person than me, Christine, if you actually listened to him. My wife and I can't stand to hear his voice, and will always hit the mute button.
I really like your writing and imagery above. Likening Trump's "lofty, sugar-crusted ideals" to "balloons" that are sent "spiraling to the top of the capital dome...that stick there, until suddenly they pop".
Hopefully, we can pop the "balloon" of this entire administration soon, and move this entire Dog-And-Pony Show to the West Wing.............................. of Guantanamo.
1
Are you kidding, Fake-News-Frankie? This was the greatest state of the union ever! Biggest audience ever! Most applause ever! Best reviews ever! They're already saying I should win an Emmy for best televised speech ever! The failing New York Times is the worst enemy of the American people ever! (Next time you grant me an interview I may arrive five minutes late. Just sayin'.) Now excuse me while I go bask in my own glory.
242
Trump would have added "most beautiful speech, ever" - and everyone else would say "most gratuitous use of
'Beautiful,' ever." ;)
16
It's Ryan/McConnell who please
The Don in his sheer fantasies
They use him, abuse him
Are happy to choose him,
Abet all his Russified sprees.
A manufactured shivaree
With hokum aimed at you and me
The future is dire
We walk a high wire
The end we're lucky we can't see.
210
At the core the one thing that we have always demanded in our president and rightfully so, is character.
A man who would consort with a porn star (and pay for her silence), while his wife was recovering from the birth of his son is totally devoid of character and much, much more.
Those who would lift him up are infected with his transgression.
Forgiveness should be repaid with contrition and growth.
This man obviously lacks the wisdom to understand.
319
Yes, Thomas, remember when the GOP was all about "family values?" By my count, the infected amount to approximately a third or so of our country: Not all, but most, Republicans, the wealthy, and evangelicals. Then there are racists and anarchists. And finally you have some very fine people from all walks of life who are now impervious to facts or logic due to having been brainwashed by Fox News and its ilk. What do we do about it?
6
An immoral, indecent, bigoted 71 year old white man is now the leader of our country. We are supposed to respect him? No sir!
I am a 74 year old white man myself.
What if the next Democratic nominee for President had 5 children by 3 different wives and paid off porn starts for keeping silent about his affair with them?
Republicans would or would not be silent about that?
2
Trump's son was a concession to Melania written into the prenup with the caveat that she was to return to her former weight and figure as quickly as possible. Donnie doesn't find pregnancy attractive and that is all that matters.
His only interest in his children are as props to show how wonderful he is. He produced the lovely and talented Ivanka - with no help from her mother, it seems. He doesn't seem to recognize Eric or Tiffany, losers both. He is ambivalent about Jr., but the boy does do all he can to please daddy - just as Trump did for Fred. As for Barron, well that's his mother's project.
1
I'm able to separate his policies from his personality. Why can't anyone at the NYT do the same?
8
Both policies (to the extent he has any) and personality are horrendous.
15
You cannot separate leadership from character, which is apparently what you describe as personality. Trump has no character and cannot lead the country.
17
Joe from Iowa: If you want to make sure that millions of Americans will not have health insurance, for instance, can you explain what kind of policy that is? Can you explain the "personality" of a "president" who would support and advocate for such a cruel policy of harm and disenfranchisement????? Seems to me that a policy like that stinks, just like the personalities that would try to trick Americans into thinking that this was "good."
19
Well, I did enjoy the stories behind the people in the gallery. I wish there was more attention spent on them and others who really are the ones who truly make America great.
14
@Janice, yes their stories were interesting and
some absolutely heartbreaking. And they were being
used as shields to hide the Republican's
duplicity and stoke the dwindling base.
The Republicans could care less about anyone
unless they are very wealthy and can
give them money, sad. May plastic Pence and
obnoxious Ryan suffer muscle spasms from
holding those fake smiles for so long.
Ever tried to hold on to a fake smile and
nod and nod for hours?
Those boys do earn their keep.
30
The people in the gallery are no different than people all over the world. The same goes on elsewhere.
10
For a while there, I though the president was being more sensible than I’d ever seen him. He seemed to speak clearly and with humility, and showed that although he had flaws, he cared about his kids, as well as his restaurant business. That was a bit confusing until I realized I was watching an episode of Bob’s Burgers.
Flipping the channel from the Cartoon Network to CBS, I was soon greeted with the familiar stiff doofus, clinging to a teleprompter for dear life and cluelessly clapping incessantly into the microphone. He talked of clean coal and walls and savage immigrants raping and murdering everyone in sight.
As the president made point after point to uproarious applause from his Republican lickspittles, all I could think was, where’s Joe Wilson when you need him? A good “You lie!” every now and then would have provided some much needed balance.
The president struck a familiar pose several times during the festivities, the one where he forces a broad fake grin and sticks out his chin in smug defiance like a slow child in a school play who breaks character to mug at the audience.
I used to feel pride when Barack Obama addressed the nation. Now I just feel nausea and despair, forced to endure the embarrassment until he’s Muellered out of the picture, or simply collapses into a black hole of his own ignorance.
I changed the channel before it was over, and realized that Peter Griffin would have made a better president.
897
Ok, well this made me laugh out loud!
40
Bob's Burgers are too good for DJT. He likes winners like McDonalds
11
Thank you so much, Gemli, for retrieving 'lickspittle'. A wonderful word whose time has come again to describe the trump administration and what used to be a viable political party, back in the days of Eisenhower.
21
It would be interesting to find out if the word "I" was used in tonight's speech more than any other State of the Union speech. And one more thing: While many individual Americans deserve praise for their services to the country, wouldn't the Kennedy Center be a more appropriate venue for that? Otherwise, Americans might get the impression that these people are being exploited to boost the public perception of politicians.
101
Joe Kennedy's response used "I" not even once.
19
Not once in Joe Kennedy III's outstanding Democratic response did he use the word "I." There's a lesson there, Emperor Don....
32
He is indeed playing at being a statesman and did it slightly more convincingly in the speech. His power was the use of the guests, all of whom were genuinely heroic in their own right and whose stories are deeply moving and a call to action. Unfortunately as you point out he preaches to the disadvantaged but his policies tend only toward enriching his own ilk.
120
That is disingenuous. It is more than apparent that his policies are helping average Americans get jobs, receive bonuses, and pay less in taxes. Try to be honest.
Why do those "guests" submit to being used as shills for a politician?
1
I did not hear any concessions to Democratic views or priorities. He spoke of unity but offered not a single olive branch to those who oppose him.
255
A lunatic year did not evaporate in a one night stand.
332
When words fail me, I frequently look to our great men of letters.
Here are the closing lines of H. L. Mencken’s famous obituary of William Jennings Bryan -- a three-time Democratic candidate for President -- whom he encountered at the Scopes Trial in Dayton, TN. Written in 1925, it reads as if it could have been printed in the Times today with just a little light editing.
“The issues that he bawled about usually meant nothing to him. He was ready to abandon them whenever he could make votes by doing so, and to take up new ones at a moment's notice ... At the Democratic National Convention last year he was on both sides {of Prohibition) and distrusted by both. In his last great battle there was only a baleful and ridiculous malignancy. If he was pathetic, he was also disgusting.
Bryan was a vulgar and common man, a cad undiluted. He was ignorant, bigoted, self-seeking, blatant and dishonest. His career brought him into contact with the first men of his time; he preferred the company of rustic ignoramuses. It was hard to believe, watching him at Dayton, that he had traveled, that he had been received in civilized societies, that he had been a high officer of state. He seemed only a poor clod like those around him, deluded by a childish theology, full of an almost pathological hatred of all learning, all human dignity, all beauty, all fine and noble things. He was a peasant come home to the dung-pile. Imagine a gentleman, and you have imagined everything that he was not.”
614
History doesn't repeat itself, said Mark Twain, but it does rhyme. I think the rhyme here is eerily parallel....
18
Extremely apropos; thanks.
11
Brilliant! Thanks for posting this.
2
Pretend statesman indeed.
By not enforcing the punitive sanctions against Russia for their meddling in our sovereign electoral processes—sanctions that were voted for by an overwhelming majority of congress with only 2 Senators and 3 Congresspersons dissenting—Trump and his administration have committed treason.
Trump is, and will now forever be, a traitor to the United States of America and anything good that it may have ever stood for.
Pretend statesman. Real traitor.
583
Thanks for adding this. He mentioned our "rival" Russia once. But he failed to implement the sanctions so overwhelmingly supported by Congress. As he recently said "I'm all kind of trader" ( or was that traitor?).
10
At this point I see little don as a convenient distraction while the republican house does the dirty work.
203
The widespread use of the term "Dreamers" clearly rankles: he wants to repurpose it to apply to true "Americans."
24
This seemed more like a campaign or inauguration speech because, quite frankly, he really didn't have much to say about accomplishments and improvements to the Union over this past year....
It must have taken real effort to find lot to say about the Trumpet's effectiveness as a "leader."
Poor speechwriters--I feel sorry for them, working for the Trumpet.
20
You must not have been listening. He certainly did say quite a bit about his accomplishments.
1
Tamar, he said quite a bit about good things that were other people's accomplishments. Like aircraft safety.
5
Voted for Obama twice and I think Trump is a boor. But the bottom line for me is that the economy is doing well, meaning my family is doing well. Everybody (including Krugman of the Times) predicted a "global recession" with Trump. Instead, the market is up 30%. It doesn't get more quantitative than that. We can dispute who gets credit as long as we want, but why rock the boat? As long as Trump keeps making America great again, I'm with him. He can insult whoever he wants via Twitter.
10
Hmmm. Yes, it is good that the Obama still continues with strong markets and low unemployment. My family did quite well under Obama, even taking into account the mess than he inherited. This week the S&P is down. Does this lower your support for Trump by 2%?
And of course, the economy is not everything. I personally don't feel that my family is safer, with North Korea and Iran. And growing violence against people like us.
But hey, that's just me.
18
The first year of trump was actually the endgame of the Obama economy. IIRC, today was Janet Yellen's last day on the job. Look at the markets today. They are the harbinger of things to come. Prof Krugman may get his due.
18
Wow. So, as long as you're making money, you don't care that our president has louche financials, has likely criminal activities, is beholden to one of our main geopolitical enemies Russia, is destroying the environment, is stoking racial hate, and is busy enriching himself and his rich pals (who in turn give him more money - virtuous cycle!) while leaving my children and your children and their grandchildren trillions of dollars of debt, not to mention a damaged planet. But hey, you're making money, so it's all good.
45
Paul Ryan thinks this is a comedy. Was there ever a speaker who cared less about America than that charlatan? Yes, there is one; Trump.
483
I am trying to figure if Ryan is merely spineless, or is treasonous, in his enabling of Trump.
Does the State of the Union address have any sobering effect on Trump's behavior? Of course not! Earlier this month, Trump had a made for TV meeting with Congress in which he tried to project being knowledgeable, open minded and responsible. And then he turned around and gave a profane, prejudiced take on immigration.
Trump can stick to the script for only so long. If the Generals can't discipline Trump, the memory of a brief speech sure won't.
30
I watched from beginning to end. Intensely. Uninterrupted. And I'm happy to report that the paint dried nicely.
73
An excellent State of the Union speech.
6
Wrong both times.
16
If there is any justice in this country, this will be the last State of the Union address this fraud ever gives.
771
I doubt it, but would welcome it.
10
After a year I learned to do not waste time to listening to his scripte speeches but wait for the morning tweet of President Trump.
107
A respectful word of advice to Democratic pundits: don’t be too quick to lambaste Trump on this speech. He KILLED. Nothing negative that you write now can possibly have a positive effect on anyone beyond the committed liberal chorus, and might actually add a point or two to his approval numbers over the next week.
If you REALLY need to nickel-and-dime his speech, fact-check him, roast him on rah-rah, then wait for a week, if that’s possible in your world. So far, this was the performance of his entire LIFE, forget about his presidency. Not only did he secure his base with it, but he must have pulled in a Texas ton of the marginal, on BOTH sides of the ideological divide.
He absolutely creamed you with the only audience that counts: America.
9
I am 65% of America (a larger number than 35%). We acknowledge that you 35 percenters are happy with your guy. Enjoy him while you can. There's a new election coming up.
57
Wow. I guess there really ARE two Americas. I was not "Killed" by his speech but his policies, brinkmanship, and regulatory rollbacks will finish the job. And you will go with us.
34
Well said Richard.
The liberal chorus should embrace their past rally cry of “When they go low, we go high!” ( really a reminder to take the high road) and skip the vitriolic hatred for a day or so and just allow that it was a good SOTU message.
You don’t have to like it but don’t make yourselves look small, petty and close minded as usual by micro criticizing each sentence.
I’m not a fan of The President (note ability to avoid childish name calling here as well) but I can concede it was a well written and delivered speech.
You can fire up the 24 by 7 hatred in a few days.
Let “The Resistance” take a self imposed time out.
2
Same old song. Just the Muzak version. And a slower, much slower, RPM.
149