It started decades ago with damn Ronald Reagan when, during one of his State of the Union speeches, he brought in a special guest who he acknowledged during his speech for having done something or other that statists thought should be cheered--and they did.
Since then the number of guests at SOTUs has multiplied faster per speech than the number of those infected in the U.S. with the Wuhan coronavirus.
But Trump took things to a completely new Monty Hall level, Tuesday night. He acknowledged guests and started giving them surprise gifts.
He gave a cute young black girl wearing glasses a scholarship of some sort. He gave Rush Limbaugh, who was just diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Trump had his wife, Melania, who would have been a perfect curtain puller for a game show, put the medal around Limbaugh's neck on live national television.
He introduced a black man who is 100 years old and the last one of the Tuskegee Airmen to fight in World War 2 who is still alive. Trump announced that earlier in the day, he had promoted the former airman to Brigadier General.
And then Trump introduced the wife and two kids of a soldier, who had served four tours of duty in places the U.S. doesn't belong, and Trump then surprised them by having the soldier, who had been in Afghanistan, come on down. And there he was on national television hugging his wife and the kids.
Yes, Trump is a showman and, of course, he is street slick.
Between "contestants," he pointed out Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who was a guest, and called him the legitimate leader of Venezuela. He babbled some stuff about Iran having "options." The Democrats didn't stand and applaud for much but they did stand for these two Trump saber ratling events.
He also attacked socialism but then promised socialist-like anti-freedom programs such as government ordered paid family leave, new road and bridge projects, and high-speed internet services for all.
In short, this presidential version of "The Price is Right" will probably boost Trump a couple of points in the polls, while the government continues to expand and while the Empire gets more belligerent overseas.
But, in the end, it's empty behind the curtain for almost all of us.
-RW
What a farce the whole thing was---but more entertaining than most!
ReplyDeleteHe could have extolled the adorableness of babies and puppies, and the Dems still would have remained sitting on their wealth-redistributing hands.
And I was waiting for him to give that one protester the "Trump Rally Treatment"...i.e., exhort his sycophants in attendance to "Go on, get 'em outta here...toss 'em out"...
Maybe Trump could be a learning moment for libertardians. What candidates do the libertarians have that are charismatic enough to get some of those ideas out there? Mass immigration from especially non white countries is a big loser with me and this is now a libertardian staple of policy. I hate duh-versity at this point since not all cultures are equal. Free trade is also a questionable policy position given the vast inequities in currencies that can be manipulated.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, libertardians need to learn from this guy.
How to be a con man? No thanks. Anything we need to learn from or about Trump I can get from Hayek’s Road to Serfdom. He’s growing the government even more! This guy doesn’t have anything to do with freedom.
DeleteBut from what you are saying I guess neither are you.
Most people are too stupid for freedom which is another point most libertardians miss. For now, we are vastly better off with Trump than anything the Democrats offer. Besides, I did not say Trump was perfect.
DeleteLet me know when the libertardians offer anyone with common sense.
Common sense has no place in the Oligarchy. The Idiocracy has been outdoing itself since at least the Great War if not before. Its always this species downfall.
Delete