Trump's "Midnight In America" Speech Fallout

The reviews are starting to roll in on neo- fascist hatemonger Donald "Rump" Trump's "Midnight in America" acceptance speech last Thursday night.  Here's a small sample of the (as far as we can tell) near- universal panning of his collection of lies, distortions and divisiveness:

Bloomberg:

... It was the most disturbing, demagogic and deluded acceptance speech by any major party nominee in the modern political era. It’s no wonder so many Republicans -- including Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Governor John Kasich -- are refusing to endorse Trump.  When the idea of “voting your conscience” becomes a source of division within a party, something is terribly wrong. 

Washington Post:

DONALD J. TRUMP, until now a Republican problem, this week became a challenge the nation must confront and overcome. The real estate tycoon is uniquely unqualified to serve as president, in experience and temperament. He is mounting a campaign of snarl and sneer, not substance. To the extent he has views, they are wrong in their diagnosis of America’s problems and dangerous in their proposed solutions. Mr. Trump’s politics of denigration and division could strain the bonds that have held a diverse nation together. His contempt for constitutional norms might reveal the nation’s two-century-old experiment in checks and balances to be more fragile than we knew. 

Jeff Greenfield:

In this speech, we have finally seen the answer to the perplexing question of just what political philosophy Donald Trump embraces. It is Caesarism: belief in a leader of great strength who, by force of personality, imposes order on a land plagued by danger. If you want to know why Trump laid such emphasis on “law and order”—using Richard Nixon’s 1968 rhetoric in a country where violent crime is at a 40-year low—it is because nations fall under the sway of a Caesar only when they are engulfed by fear. And the subtext of this acceptance speech was: be afraid; be very afraid. 

It is impossible to imagine anyone else giving an acceptance speech so disconnected from anything in the American political tradition. Whether voters see that departure as a cause for celebration or worry may help decide what happens in November.

Miami Herald:

Donald Trump’s angry, divisive, dark and, frankly, frightening acceptance speech, after a glowing introduction by daughter Ivanka, was pure Donald, unfortunately showing little growth from when he started on this journey: the threat of “roaming” and murderous illegal immigrants and vows to impose law and order. Like many a politician, he flaunted half-truths and selective, out-of-context assertions. And, of course, Hillary Clinton was an unpunished “criminal” salivating to throw open America’s doors to rampant, unrelenting immigration. Nonsense.

Finally, a humorous take from Andy Borowitz:

Donald J. Trump was jubilant Thursday night after accomplishing his goal of delivering a speech that no one will ever want to plagiarize, Trump aides confirmed. 

According to his staff, Trump and his speechwriters had been working overtime during the week to create a tirade that was sufficiently bloated, unhinged, and terrifying to discourage potential plagiarists from reusing excerpts in the future. 

Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, said that, right until the hour the candidate took the stage, the billionaire’s writing team was scrubbing the speech of any marginally coherent passages that might prove tempting to plagiarists. 

“There was one sentence toward the beginning that had traces of humanity and rational thought,” Manafort said. “Fortunately, we caught it in time.”

With Rump, what you see is what you get: not a "presidential" pivot, but an unrelenting display of ego, anger, authoritarianism, demagoguery, deceit and arrogance.