Trump “State of Union”
Donald Trump began his second term as America’s President on January 20, 2025. A Day that Will Live in Infamy? We shall see! I committed to a course of intense self discipline when confronting the realities of 4 more years of Mr Trump. Basically, hold your fire as Trump rolls out his agenda. Be patient- hope that Mr Trump will accept his popular and electoral college victories as an opportunity to heal a very polarised country. Give his novel policy prescriptions some breathing space. Give the disrupter a fresh look and see if his unorthodox approach can positively shake up the status quo and re-energise moribund institutions. Give the self described “genius” time to work his wonders on the economy. Give the Nobel Prize wannabe space to pursue creative initiatives to intractable foreign policy and national security issues like Gaza and Ukraine. Frankly, I was very skeptical my hopes of normalcy would be realised because his entire public life suggested he lacked the necessary skill set- intelligence, judgement, a moral compass to pull it off. I have kept my pledge the past 6 weeks and have courageously and selflessly avoided responding to the never ending trolling and grifting by our Commander in Chief. Congratulations to your truly! I remain quasi committed to this approach and will allow the dust to settle on the barrage of executive orders. Policy changes and structural modifications generated by the Trump Administration to date. Based on the pace of the announcements and the radical nature of many of the proposals, I anticipate the essay I plan for April 15th will be Dickensian in length. I may need more bandwidth than is currently available on my system. In the interim, I will comment on discreet events that require immediate comment or they will lose their relevance in our ADD world. Today, a review of Trump’s address to Congress. Tomorrow, an assessment of the tariff policies and the evolving trade wars. Finally, an early look at the state of the Trans Atlantic Alliance. We need to move quickly on that topic because the alliance may be gone by mid April!
President Trump spoke to a Joint Session of Congress for 100 minutes. It was the longest Presidential address to Congress in American history. The atmosphere was almost raucous at times. The Republicans were approaching orgasm and the Democrats were comatose. It is very difficult for even gifted speakers to hold the attention of any audience with extra lengthy remarks, but it is a credit to Trump's mammoth personality, physical presence and outright exuberance that, by all accounts, he succeeded. His television ratings were very solid. From a stylistic perspective, the speech was a masterpiece, particularly when compared to the low energy and somnolent presentations of President Biden the past 3 years. His base loved the speech and adore their guy. He was clearly enjoying himself, ad libbing and baiting his opponents and achieved a nice emotional connection when he acknowledged the special guests in the audience. The entire event was a spectacle- more akin to a royal address in monarchial times. He projected power and the willingness to exercise it. His high energy communicated confidence, a dynamic executive at the centre of the action committed to progress and change. Some, even many, may object to the Castro like length of the remarks and the repeated self congratulation, but the Trump team went back to the White House thinking “Mission Accomplished.”
Did the speech tell us anything about the state of the country and the strength of our constitutional Republic. Unfortunately, YES! President Trump standing on that hallowed dais in a space of honour and the unqualified adulation he received from the Republican side of the chamber is the most concrete sign to date that the United States has entered a period of “moral, intellectual and spiritual decline.” The Republic is hurtling toward and abyss and the guardrails have left the building. The substance of the speech was self indulgent nonsense. The "narcissistic sociopath" qualities I have previous observed were radiant- in full force and in all their glory. Trump lied promiscuously, probably more egregious falsehoods uttered in 100 minutes than (with the exception of Trump 1.0) any prior President generated in their entire Presidency. He is pathological in its disrespect for the truth; almost every line contained a falsehood. He did not win the presidency by the largest margin in history- actually it was the 44th largest margin of victory. There are not millions of dead people collecting social security. He did not have the best first month as President in American history- no he is not superior to George Washington. Putin is not a peace loving leader. The European Union is not suckering us all the time. The Canadians and Mexicans are not intentionally poisoning our young people. Vaccines aren’t dangerous etc etc etc... Not one person with any connection to reality or any knowledge of history could honestly believe anything the man was saying, and often repeating again and again. The exaggerations and half truths were off the charts. He was graceless and tasteless in describing his predecessor. Plus, Ukraine didn’t start the war and they are not the obstacle to peace. His distortions of facts is almost abusive to the audience. You either accept them and incorporate a new reality into your brain or just laugh and say he really can’t mean this stuff. The bottom line is that liars cannot be great leaders and the TRUTH MATTERS. Running from it or hiding from it is not the sign of a mature nation- certainly not an exceptional or indispensable one
Trump is only part of this depressing narrative. The full scale of the moral collapse of America’s political class become crystal clear when you observe the complete dereliction of duty from traditional republicans in the face of Trump’s nonsense. They have gone silent. Worse, they get hoarse from cheering as he disses every core principle of the Grand Old Party. Free trade- see you later. Standing up for freedom and democracies- I don’t think so. Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Reagan and George Bush I must be turning over in their graves. They vote for Hegseth, Gabbard, Patel and Kennedy knowing they are wildly unqualified or crazy. At the speech, the Republicans did a good imitation of the Soviet Politburo during Stalin’s time- summed up by the adage "You don’t want to be seen as the first person who stops clapping.” It amounts to an unconditional surrender by the adults in the room. You become submissive and completely give up your judgement and suspend you powers of free thought. Basically, you sell your soul to preserve your position. The level of self delusion necessary here is breathtaking. The Republicans are emulating the behaviour of the Roman Senate when confronted by a deranged emperor eg; Nero or Caligula. They smile, squirm and hide- not a good role model guys!
Trump is certainly intimidating, even menacing and he loves this environment. His antenna for weakness is excellent. He loves power and gives every indication he intends to pursue his “policies” full speed, both domestically and internationally. Unfortunately, the rule of law and the constitutional checks and balances framework are just inconveniences to him. To halt our decline, institutions and courageous people need to keep their hold on reality and do their jobs as judges and citizens. Plus, the sycophancy may ultimately backfire politically because chances are high that Trump’s policies, once executed will prove to be catastrophic for our economy and our standing in the world. Hopefully, it wont be necessary for things to deteriorate so badly for people to wake up. The damage may be irreparable.
