Wrong Address

It should come as no shock that, no, I didn't watch Trump's Address to Congress.  I figured that post-speech coverage would discuss the points that stood out the most, so why put myself through what was sure to be a massively long speech overwhelmed with a tsunami of lies and self-aggrandizing pomposity defending his actions turning the nation fascist and a vassal of Putin and Russia.  That it turned out to be an hour and 40 minutes made the decision even more justified.  

I did record it so that I could later see Sen. Elissa Slotkin's response (which I thought was very good, most especially for an opposition party's response, which is traditionally horrible) and watch the post-speech commentary.  Unfortunately, that did mean that, when fast-forwarding through my recording, I did have to watch Speaker Mike Johnson sitting there with a smirk on his face and bobbing in cultish delight.

Still, though, from experience, it's easy to understand a Trump speech from after-the-fact commentary and clips.  And from what I heard in the analysis, two things most especially stood out for me.  One was the amount of time Trump spent on Social Security, which suggests that that's an upcoming target to try to dismantle.  It's hard to imagine even trying that would go over well with the public, particularly with seniors who vote more than any age group.  And that concept alone should terrify MAGOPs in Congress.  

(Among the data that Trump brought up in order to undermine Social Security was how there are millions of people on the Social Security rolls that Musk "uncovered" who are over 100 years old, some even supposedly 200 years old.  Except that what Trump and TeamMusk didn't grasp is this is just a computer glitch where 19 million people aren't marked as deceased -- yet they're not receiving Social Security.  In fact, just 44,000 people over age 100 get Social Security payments...which is not surprising since there are 86,000 Americans living who are over 100!!)

And the other thing was Trump proclaiming the end of "unelected bureaucrats."  It's near-impossible not to burst out laughing at the pure tone-deafness of that comment with his unelected shadow president Musk sitting at the event front-and-center, talking some time off from doing his best to dismantle the government.  But what also stood out from the comment was the lack of realization that "unelected bureaucrats" are all the people who actually operate government - federal, state and local.  Who on earth does Trump think puts policies and laws into literal action??

There was so much more he referenced, of course, in his 100-minute ramble. Claiming that MuskCuts have saved $100 billion -- that in reality is a few million.  Wanting to buy Greenland.  Although very little on the tariffs that went into effect that very day and crashed the stock market.  And almost nothing, just 91 seconds (!), mere lip service on the economy and its resultant rising inflation, which was the #1 issue for the public during the election.  And next to nothing on proposals he had for improving the lives of Americans.  Still, though, it was touching that he brought along a young boy who's a cancer-survivor and wants to grow up to be a policeman.  No word if the  youngster wants to be a member Capitol Police, or how he'd feel if hundreds of violent criminals he arrested got pardoned and released from jail.

(I will add, though, one thing in high praise, that Trump had good timing to give his address last night, preening with joy at all the fictitious MuskCuts he's saved.  It would have been so awkward if he'd done it after this morning when the Supreme Court blocked Trump trying to freeze $2 billion in foreign aid.  I mean, man, when even this Supreme Court rules Trump is acting illegally, you know you went way over the line.)

But ultimately, why spend much time listening.  We've heard Trump speeches for eight years.  We get it at this point.  They're filled with made-up gibberish, going on endlessly, and even as his most loyal acolytes insist, you shouldn't listen to what he says, but it's only what he means that you should pay attention to.  That's why, as we've seen, it's what he actually tries to put in action that is the only thing that matters.  (Still, in a perfect world, you'd like to believe that you can trust what the president says.)

So, the speech itself?  I'll keep this all oh-so much shorter than Trump made things.  It sounds like it was very Shakespearean:

"A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."