Tired of those mainstream media safaris to observe the rustics in "Trump country?" So is the Philadelphia Inquirer's Will Bunch:
There are no sooty coal mines underneath the steep, foliage-shrouded streets of Mount Airy, no Formica-wrapped diner where men in flannel shirts and steel-toed boots load up on painfully bitter coffee and heaping platters of cholesterol while dissecting last night’s Hannity, no driveways where an unemployed factory worker parks his Chevy truck next to a “Make America Great Again” yard sign. [snip]
...Behind ancient stone walls, on the narrow, sloping yards, stand the signs of resistance at home after home: “Impeach Trump,” or “Black Lives Matter/Philly Children’s March,” with more than a smattering of “Hillary” yard signs that owners refuse to take down, and one that declares: “In This House, We Believe: Black Lives Matter/Women’s Rights Are Human Rights/No Human Is Illegal/Science Is Real/Love Is Love/No Matter Your Faith Or Ability/Kindness Is Everything.”
Welcome to the throbbing heart of Anti-Trump Country, a land where — if you believe in polls — the majority of Americans reside, and yet a place that the mainstream media seem determined to ignore. (our emphasis)Of course, the mainstream media's fascination with the Trump malignancy also includes its almost pathological desire to convince itself that "It'll all be all right/ just take a deep breath and act like everything's normal." A couple of Republican never- Trumpers have some words of caution, like David Frum on CNN who previews tomorrow's State of the Union address:
“Look, if President Trump gets through the hour without putting a fork in somebody’s eye he will be praised as the most presidential president since the most presidential president,” he said. [snip]
Substitute co-host Poppy Harlow clarified that if Trump merely sticks to the teleprompter he’d gain critical acclaim.
“Just for not doing something hideous,” Frum agreed. “There is a special Trump scale where he is graded differently from any other president. If he just behaves like a functioning human being for an hour, we think he’s done a great job.” [snip]
“I don’t have any questions left about Donald Trump,” Frum said about the possibility of Trump’s polling increasing. “He has answered every question I have. And I think we all know who he is. We all know what he is, we all know why he’s president, and what got him into that job. So, I think the question for all of us is how do we protect the country during the remainder of the presidency. There are no serious questions left about what kind of person he is.” (our emphasis)And John Weaver on Twitter:
Caution: Trump will read from a teleprompter at the SOTU. It will be passable, though extreme. Yet, members of the mainstream media will once again say he's turned the corner, he's met the minimum threshold, etc & normalize his behavior. Don't fall for it. Not for 1 second.— John Weaver (@JWGOP) January 28, 2018
Here's an example of what Frum and Weaver are talking about. Repeat offender Fareed "Not Woke" Zakaria (who imagined Rump "became President" when he lobbed some cruise missiles into Syria last year) is impressed by Rump's performance among the plutocrats and oligarchs at Davos last week (his op/ ed is entitled "The Trump We Saw in Davos Should Leave Us Encouraged").Why?
On Friday at the World Economic Forum, Trump gave a good speech that was forthright, intelligent and conciliatory, embracing the world rather than condemning it. The address was extremely well received here at the World Economic Forum by both American business leaders and even non-American attendees, who are overwhelmingly skeptical of Trump overall. [snip]
But whatever you think of the policies, the larger point is that Trump the conventional Republican is working within the American system rather than trying to destroy it.So, we're supposed to overlook the destructive, "America First" policies and take heart ... that he reads words others have written for him, and he's acting like a "conventional Republican"?! You mean "conventional Republicans" like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan? Or Devin Nunes? Or Steve Mnuchin? Or [plutocratic party- before- country name here]? Is he angling for an interview with someone at the White (Supremacist) House? Count on Zakaria being one of those who will "fall for it" tomorrow night.
Last but not least, check out the link round- up that Infidel has put together, once again capturing the Zeitgeist for the week.
3 comments:
Previews of the SOTU are predicting a more conciliatory, level Trump. I still find it amusing that the rightwingers harped constantly that Obama spoke using a teleprompter, yet it's okay for any Republican. Also, Obama had a much greater presence and fluidity in his speeches, while Trump, a “TV star” still looks and sounds stilted as he obviously pivots and reads line by line. There's no comparison.
I won't watch the televised speech. It will be on every blog and news feed and Wednesday it will be rehashed and evaluated and cheered by the Republicans and rightwingers and critiqued and criticized by the Democrats. I will look forward to the Democrats response speech afterwards, though, and hope it will be a good one.
I find myself looking forward more and more to the midterms. We've got to work toward taking the Senate, maybe the House. We can't go on like this.
donnah - We won't be watching the SOTU either. How anyone, at this point, could be fooled into thinking they see a "new Trump" who is smart, empathetic, competent and (dare we say) "presidential" is MIND BOGGLING.
Someone suggested deliberately choosing some other channel to watch instead of the speech, believing it would drop his ratings. I did some Snope-ing and found that unless you're a Neilsen ratings family, it won't matter what you watch instead of his SOTU. But imagine how many brains cells you preserve by watching old Happy Days reruns instead of watching the bloated assmange who is ruining our country!
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