You want fake news? Watch the State of the Union.
By Jennifer Rubin January 30 at 9:00 AM
State of the Union addresses have become Washington kabuki theater at its worst. Everything is for show — the staged applause, the invited guests in the gallery, the self-congratulations, the empty promises. The insincerity on all sides oozes from the chamber. Worst of all may be the chin-stroking pundits who pretend this is significant.
They will intone — if President Trump makes it through the prepared remarks without foaming at the mouth about the Russia investigation — that he was “presidential.” If he could only be like that all the time, they earnestly proclaim. Yes, if Trump were not Trump and spoke others’ words that he likely doesn’t entirely grasp (quick, have him explain what the trade deficit really is), we’d all be better off. But he doesn’t, and we’re not.
Forgotten will be Monday’s events – the reports of a raving Trump calling the wife of acting FBI director Andrew McCabe a “loser;” of the president being irate over the Department of Justice’s attempt to prevent the release of a memo damaging to national security; and of him being determined to fire McCabe, who was told about former FBI director James B. Comey’s conversations with the president, making him a witness to alleged obstruction. Rather than point out that those revelations confirm Trump is temperamentally unfit for the job, and is uninterested in anything other than protecting his own hide, he’ll be patted on the head for reading off a teleprompter.
The usual play-acting associated with the State of the Union address is bad enough, but with this president it is hard to imagine how it could provide any insight into his thinking. There are two Trumps. The first one can get through a speech in the House chamber or at Davos by sticking to a script written by mainstream conservatives. The second has no interest in policy, no idea how to achieve it, no comprehension of American institutions, and no ability to lead the free world. In other words, we get either an entirely artificial and unrepresentative articulation of his presidency, or a raving, ignorant, race-baiter. The two have nothing to do with one another.
In this respect, we should stop paying attention to the prepared speeches (goodness knows our international allies must have at this point), and focus on his tweets — the exact opposite of what his apologists urge. The authentic Trump voice — a tangle of prejudices, resentments and urban myths — won’t be heard in his remarks tonight.
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/01/30/you-want-fake-news-watch-the-state-of-the-union/
= new reply since forum marked as read
