By Paul V. DeMarco
Guest Columnist
By some estimates, there are still about a quarter of Americans who haven’t settled on a presidential candidate. I had a recent conversation with one of them. He’s a smart, middle-aged, college-educated man who is somewhat more conservative than me. But he has unplugged from politics for his mental health. When our conversation turned to the election, he parroted the conservative media narrative about Biden being senile.
I admitted to him that I to had been stunned by Special Counsel Hur’s report describing Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” I spend some time with conservative media, which for months had been peddling inaccurate descriptions of Biden as a doddering senior ready for the nursing home. But then I watched the entire State of the Union address and was reassured.
So I asked my friend to watch 15 minutes of the SOTU. I knew he wouldn’t agree with some of Biden’s policies, and conceded that he is not as animated as Trump. But I expected he would come away from the viewing confident that Biden was not cognitively impaired. As a general internist, I have seen hundreds of patients with dementia of all varieties in my career, and it would be impossible for someone with dementia to have given that speech or handled the heckling as he did.
I also encouraged him to give Trump 15 minutes of equal time. After I watched Biden’s SOTU, it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen more than snippets of either man for months. So I watched Trump’s Super Tuesday victory rally in Rome, Georgia, from two days after the SOTU.
Our enhanced ability to watch people speak for themselves is one of the major advances of modern politics. I enjoy political theatre and try to see as many competitors as I can in person (whether I will vote for them or not) when they come within striking distance. In 2016, I saw Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Carson, Kasich, and Clinton (Bill, who was stumping for Hillary) when they came to Florence. I’d recommend everyone visit the Gallivants Ferry Stump, the longest running stump meeting in the country. There’s no substitute to being in the same location as the candidates. Sometimes you learn as much about them by the crowds they attract as by the speeches they make.
But if you can’t attend in person, you have the next best option – YouTube. With that ability, why not transfer some of the time you are spending being told about the candidates to time listening directly to them? I hadn’t listened to Trump at length but a handful of times since I saw him in person in 2016. That speech is still ringing in my ears. The moment he shouted, “And who’s going to pay for it?!” and the crowd shouted “Mexico!!” was the most frightening example of demagoguery I’ve ever witnessed.
Trump has always been bombastic and vulgar, but watching the Rome speech right after the SOTU highlighted the contrast with normal political speechmaking. Although Biden made many references to “my predecessor,” his allusions to Trump were based on differences in their positions and accomplishments. Right out of the gate in his Rome speech, Trump launched a fusillade of personal attacks. He dismissed Biden’s speech as “The worst president in history making the worst State of the Union in history.” He imitated Biden’s stutter; he mocked his cough.
Although I felt my friend could watch any 15-minute segment of the SOTU and come away with an accurate assessment of Biden, I asked him to watch the last 15 minutes of the Rome rally. If not for the American flags in the background, it would be easy to image Trump’s concluding monologue being delivered from the canvas of a WWE ring.
As foreboding music played in the background, Trump presented the U.S. as a sulfurous wasteland. He intoned “We are a nation in decline, we are a failing nation… we are a nation where free speech is no longer allowed and where crime is rampant like never ever before… and now Russia and China are holding summits to carve up the world… we are a nation that is hostile to liberty, freedom, faith and even to God… we are a nation whose economy is collapsing into a cesspool of ruin… where fentanyl… is easier to get than groceries to feed our beautiful families… we have become a horrible and unfair nation.”
Biden’s SOTU is anchored in reality. I’m not sure what nation Trump is describing, but it’s not America. The surreal and disconnected nature of Trump’s speech can’t be adequately conveyed by my words. It must be seen to be believed. Spend fifteen minutes with each man before you make a decision.
A version of this column appeared in the March 21st edition of the Post and Courier-Pee Dee.
Paul DeMarco at the Gallivants Ferry Stump Meeting in 2006.
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Kinda cool that I had that picture from 2006 to illustrate your mention of the Gallivants Ferry Stump.
You got to hear Biden then, too, didn’t you? (Or am I mixing up my years?)
One question re your column: After your friend viewed both speeches, what did he say?
I haven’t talked to him since the conversation I write about in the column. But we talk regularly so I will see if he’s done the homework I suggested, and if so, will report back.
Good column.
But it doesn’t matter.
Trump could walk on stage, place the microphone up close to the back of his pants and rip off the nastiest sounding fart in the last 50 years and be celebrated by half the country who call it “Presidential”, “bold”, and “a perfect demonstration of the type of leadership we need.”
and Paul’s friend would say, “Well, it wasn’t really what I expected but it was brave and we need someone brave today”
and Franklin Graham and a host of “good Christians” would remind everyone that farting was something God designed and being willing to enjoy God’s gifts in public was a sign of a great spiritual leader.
Words should matter, yes. But one party has been preaching a degenerate gospel of anti-politics for over a quarter century now. So it’s only consequential that it has embraced the anti-politics of an anti-politician. I mean, how many times have we heard Trump voters base their support on their assertion that “he’s not a politician”? But despite its bad popular reputation, politics is the oil of democratic government. So, those who reject politics, whether knowingly or not also are rejecting the democratic process. Meanwhile, through word and deed, the Republican Party has been undermining the republic from within. Because, as Arthur Miller said long ago, “when government goes into the business of destroying trust, it goes into the business of destroying itself.”
Which person read his speech off teleprompters? Does that not factor into evaluation at all? Or are we just judging candidates on their ability to read words written by others?
Let’s see how they do in the debates.
Well, I did disallow your other unpleasant ramp about your obsession.
But on this one, I’m going to TRY to explain something to you, although I doubt it will have any effect.
Your obsession with teleprompters is absurd. Any president of the United States who is delivering a long speech uses a Teleprompter. He would be insane not to. Of course, we did have ONE insane president, who mocked his predecessor (in much the same way you do) for using one. But he has often used one, too, not that he was stuck with the words. When he DID read the words, his staff breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The first president to use the device was Ike. It’s been pretty standard ever since then. In fact, it becomes a big deal if someone doesn’t. A lot of people talk about Clinton having to ad-lib the 1994 SOTU when the machine was loaded with the wrong speech, but that didn’t happen — although it DID happen on another of his speeches to Congress.
I know that people like Trump and his followers and the proverbial drunk at the end of the bar like to mock people who are careful to have their speeches in front of them. That’s because people like that like to just blather on about whatever pops into their heads. And this has a predictable effect: They sound like idiots…
Just like in the 2020 debates Biden will kick the cult leaders ass in the debates. He can’t cheat like he does at golf.
Trump regularly uses a teleprompter. Anytime his staff needs him to be serious, he has to use one because they can’t rely on him to 1) know what he’s talking about 2) not say something nuts that isn’t a part of his own policies
Even so, he will throw in stuff that makes his staff upset.
As folks like Mick Mulvaney and John Kelly have said, Trump has very little knowledge of many aspects of the government and especially foreign policy. He often contradicted himself in private meetings and would have to be reminded of what he had just said.
So we are not dealing with anyone with good memories in this campaign.
He doesn’t use one at his “rallies” because he’s just making up crap and spewing nonsense, lies and venom.
The White House has declared Easter Sunday as the national Day of transgender visibility and has banned any religious symbols for its Easter egg decorating event.
If you want to understand why Biden will lose in November, these are the canary in the coal mine events. Tone deaf identity politics… People are fed up with this nonsense as much as they were fed up with Trump’s nonsense.
Could you give us a link on that? All I’ve seen is the usual traditional Easter Egg roll. Well, that, and going to Mass and spending time with his grandkids.
No, wait — here it is. And here is the White House response to that.
By the way, Biden did not “declare” that day. He just It’s been a thing since 2009, and always occurs on March 31. This year that happened to be the same day as Easter. As I just learned from Wikipedia. I’d never heard of the thing before now. But thanks to Biden’s critics, I am now aware of it. So “conservatives” are going out of their way to make transgenderism more “transparent”… Hey, it’s worth it if you can damage Biden, right?
Someone online posted that Fox celebrated and honored the Trans Visibility Day a few years ago themselves on their social media platforms- on March 31st.
Now suddenly Fox News has a problem with it – LOL. They are jokes.
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/karine-jean-pierre-defends-trans-day-by-pointing-out-fox-has-same-recognition/
Do any of you remember all the transgender people we had when we were growing up? Are you seriously going to suggest there is no social media component to the sudden onset of trans and nonbinary young people? It’s a fad.. a sad one at that unlike pet rocks and beanie babies. This isn’t real.
I’m not arguing with you, certainly not on the social media point. Yeah, when I was a kid, there was just Christine Jorgensen. And maybe Tiny Tim. (Only Miss Vicki might know.) But nobody I knew.
So yeah, there are all sorts of things — particularly things that relate to identity — that I would ascribe to social media. It’s like Trumpism. It used to be that people who believed in something like, say, the Qanon stuff looked around them and thought, “This must just be my imagination, because I don’t see anyone else saying these things.” And then they went on with their lives.
Now, in an instant, anyone can find a support group of thousands (out of the billions on the planet) who essentially say, “We are this, and you probably are, too.” So people who felt alone feel surrounded by affirmation. Folks who support this group or that one see this as a good thing. But I think even they agree that if you apply the same process to, say, neonazism, it’s not good at all.
The Rabbit Hole can really pull people in, and convince them of things that would have been impossible before, when everyone was looking out at the same gen-pop crowd around them, and developing their conclusions about normality from that.
And we can argue all day whether that was a good or bad thing. And probably would, if I would let it drag on. But I won’t, because I can’t stand Kulturkampf battles on the blog. All they accomplish is even greater polarization.
What I don’t mind a bit discussing — up to a point — is that social media play a huge role in all this. I think the implications of this kind of interconnectivity rival A.I. as a potential threat to humanity. And A.I., so far, hasn’t become a problem — although the problems are imminent.
Social media have been tearing us apart for years now, and this nation’s adversaries know it, which is why you see things like what the Russian bots, and now the Chinese, have been doing.
And of course, A.I. is coming up right alongside it.
But while A.I is nothing to sneeze at, the threat is slightly different. A.I. may be able to outdo social when it comes to fakery, but social media affect humans as social animals in ways for which our brains have not evolved. Which is bad, because everything we’ve accomplished as a species — particularly the creation and maintenance of complex societies — depend on the ways we’ve learned to work together…
Results of a study published in Nature last year showed “that although exposure to content from like-minded sources on social media is common, reducing its prevalence during the 2020 US presidential election did not correspondingly reduce polarization in beliefs or attitudes.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06297-w
Polarization has, to one degree or another, been with us always. People generally aren’t led blindly into it, they instead actively search for “proof” of their own preexisting preferences and biases.
… which preference based algorithms provide at a magnitude exponentially greater than anything previously seen in human history. And people just get crazier and crazier.
If this transgender has was real, we’d see statistically consistent numbers of transitioners across races, genders, geographic regions, economic classes. We don’t see that. It’s mostly overweight white males who think they’re women.
If you have a penis, you’re a man. A man can’t give birth. It’s very simple. Everything else is mental illness.
Actually, I’d look at chromosomes, but I take your point. You might like this piece I read in The Boston Globe today. The headline is “Sex and gender: The medical establishment’s reluctance to speak honestly about biological reality.”
Your comment about overweight males reminds me of another reason not to go by the penis. When I was on my high school wrestling team, our No. 1 heavyweight was a guy who weighed 340 pounds. When we were showering in the locker room, there was no way anyone could observe his genitalia. His belly hung well down below that area.
But man, all he had to do was get on top of his opponent in the wrestling ring, and that contest was over. And he was more spry than you’d think. He also played football, if I remember correctly…
The fact that you couldn’t see it, didn’t mean it didn’t exist. If he came into school wearing a dress, would let let him play on the girls track and field team?
Biology is biology. Deciding to be called a woman when you are a biological male has become a fad. Trying to alter / criminalize language to force people to accept this fad is not acceptable.
Biology is biology. I will postulate that many Biologists would respond, “REALLY?!” I am not a binary, black and white thinker. I don’t live in a world of 0 or 1; in many ways I am a Qubit (short for quantum bit), which is the basic unit of information in quantum computing and counterpart to the bit (binary digit) in classical computing.
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle (the principle states that the more precisely the position is known the more uncertain the momentum is and vice versa).
Schrödinger’s Cat (a famous thought experiment that demonstrates the idea in quantum physics that tiny particles can be in two states at once until they’re observed. It asks you to imagine a cat in a box with a mechanism that might kill it. Until you look inside, the cat is both alive and dead at the same time).
Black and white or shades of grey? I suppose it depends. Full disclosure: Everything I write is a lie.
QED = quod erat demonstrandum, meaning “that which was to be demonstrated”. Literally it states “what was to be shown” Also Quit Enough Done!
Lighten up y’all!
Post hoc ergo propter hoc!
No, I’m not trying to prove that I remember what I leaned in those two years of high school Latin.
I’m just demonstrating that I paid attention to “The West Wing”…
🙂
“Actually, I’d look at chromosomes”
Very ones and zeroes thinking.
By contrast, medical professionals have to take a more nuanced approach, such as in studying a variety of factors influencing human health:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31561-0/fulltext#seccestitle40
One quote:
“Gender is an equally important variable as biological sex in human health, and influences the behaviour of communities, clinicians, and patients.”
Yeah, that was the point of that piece in the Globe. The medical profession increasingly pushes the idea that gender is a separate thing from “biological sex,” and the writer was arguing with that. You increasingly find that sort of language out there, and the writer was taking exception to it…
Actually, no, a more careful reading of the pieces shows that’s not what the Globe article’s authors were saying. They were merely taking exception to a certain choice of words related to “sex” and ONLY to sex. It wasn’t pushing back against the underlying (and generally accepted) notion that transgendered people are real. Nowhere in the piece do the authors say that sex and gender are the same thing. They are not. Read it again any you will see that they only take issue with the re-definition of “sex.”
You may be right. When I’ve caught up a bit on what I’m trying to do today, I’ll go back and read it again.
But that brings up something. Obviously, you gave it a “careful reading.” Do you subscribe to the Globe, or were you simply able to call it up and read it without a subscription? If the latter, that’s good news. I will make a note to refer more often to things from that paper. Perhaps they allow non-subscribers to read a certain number of items.
This is one of the things that concerns me most about blogging these days. To me, almost everything worth discussing these days is from things I subscribe to. This was fine 10 or 15 years ago, before everybody got so serious about pay walls. Now, it’s a huge problem — I bring up something, and I want everyone to read it so we can have a discussion with everyone informed, but most people can’t open it.
So it’s good news when they can.
I’m about to conduct another experiment in accessibility. And hoping folks can get through the barrier. I’ll go do that now…
given that I actually have a trans family member and given the fact the great majority of people that talk about the issue all the time don’t know anyone that is actually trans, I’ll speak from experience and knowledge (and I’m still learning)
the prevalence of trans men and trans women is thought to be pretty much equal now (NIH study in 2020), give or take. Many people are still reluctant to describe themselves this way so it’s very difficult to be accurate.
we see trans people – gay people, etc from all walks of life, all genders, all races, from many different countries- even countries that publicly state they don’t have any gay or trans people. Obviously, some people fear loss of jobs, families, even their lives in some areas of the world if they ever stated such a thing.
there is a BIg difference between cross dressers and actual trans people. this is very basic – like elementary- but somehow-someway some people get it confused and can’t understand it. sigh…….
watching online videos, listening to right wingers online, on cable tv, on social media, and right wing politicians that seem intent on proving they hate trans people with a passion and have made them a political punching – that don’t have a damn ounce of knowledge on the subject- is not a place for real information.
being trans is not a mental illness. Gender dysphoria, which some trans people have including my family member, is a mental condition much like anxiety is a mental condition and it requires proper and ongoing treatment- but it’s not a mental illness.
in some ways, it might be easier if it was a mental illness because most people don’t laugh at and ridicule people with mental illnesses like they do trans individuals ( and like Doug did above and Brad let him get away with).
I, too, know a trans person — one of my youngest daughter’s closest friends. So, when people claim these people don’t exist, I know better.
The folks who have it in for them now are the same sort who insisted homosexuals were simply confused or outright defective, turning them into political fodder and campaigning against granting recognition and rights to them back in the 1970s.
Of course you “get it.” I agree Doug and Brad should very carefully reread what you wrote.
This is an obvious change of subject from you posting that The White House declared Easter was Trans Visibility Day (They didn’t, it’s always March 31st)
and that they banned religious symbols from Easter Eggs- (They simply used the language that was the formal policy to remind everyone of the policy that has been in place for decades)
Are some young people declaring themselves to be trans or gay because of social media? Yes- very likely.
Are some young people declaring themselves to be trans or gay because they have friends/family now that are likely to be more accepting of it than they would have been in 1984? Yes- very likely.
Is there any excuse acceptable for right wingers to make it much more difficult for these people to live their lives without interference from damn politicians and the government – or people that don’t like it?
Absolutely not.
There’s a difference between living without interference and forcing someone else to comply with your beliefs… when it comes to bathrooms, locker rooms, sports teams, forcing others to use language they don’t agree with, etc. then it’s not acceptable.
Men can’t have babies. Women can. Using terms like “birthing person” avoids the biology.
Males and females are biologically different. Don’t force people to accept another narrative.
I really don’t care if you accept it or not (Not talking about you personally- just people in general).
Trans people have a basic human right to use a restroom that corresponds to how they are and how they act and feel. They also have other human and civil rights. You not liking it or not wanting it is irrelevant. There are lots of things people don’t like that they have to live with or ignore.
If my trans family member (born a biological male) walked into a men’s restroom, you’d be 100% convinced a woman was in the restroom with you and would be complaining or some might even call the police. She doesn’t look like a man. She’s much more feminine looking that many women.
Most people don’t use locker rooms except in school. I haven’t been in one in 40 years. I think exceptions can be made to accommodate the 1-2 trans people (if that many) at a school that might need to use a locker-room for some reason.
No, men can’t have babies. 99% of Trans people would agree with you. (Another example of seeing some extreme content online or some article on a right wing website or some other place that isn’t representative of the great majority of trans people).
My family member is a trans woman, not a biological woman. She knows that better than anyone else.
There is also no reason for school teachers to be discussing their sexual identity, sexual preferences, or inventing pronouns for children to use.. there is no such thing as ze/zir.. particularly at the elementary school level. Or trying to normalize drag queens as suitable role models. Just stop all the nonsense.
We’ve got a national epidemic of illiteracy in the schools and we have too many teachers worrying about whether their personal identity is valued, treasured, celebrated, and recognized. Teach the kids to read and do math…
Drag queens can be fine role models just like anyone else. If people would quit sexualizing everything- including things and people that aren’t trying to sexualize anyone, that would be a good start.
Milton Bearle, Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, etc use to dress up in drag with the huge fake boobs included and perform on family tv back in the 1950s and 1960s. I guess some would want them kicked off tv these days.
It’s amazing how some of you are being played by those that want to play you and gin up this stuff to ludicrously silly levels.
It’s perfectly reasonable for a teacher to call a student what they prefer to be called – unless a parent forbids it, especially older students.
A teacher not “discussing their sexual preferences or sexual identity” would mean teachers can’t disclose they are married, can’t put up a picture of themselves with their spouse at a football game or even a picture they took at church – or even mention they went on vacation with their wife to a great city over the summer.
and the ironic thing is – the “don’t tread on me” crowd sure is a sensitive bunch that wants to tread on everyone else.
None of that is true Doug. I don’t know why people make up such nonsense. It’s not necessary. You are smart enough to know such a thing isn’t true. (Sadly, too many aren’t)
It’s obvious the news sources you rely on aren’t providing an honest service to you.
As Brad mentions
The White House didn’t declare it. It’s on the same day every year. Easter isn’t.
The White House announced it, as well as proclamations about Easter and 11 other Easter weekend events that just happened to fall on Easter this year.
I am glad they did given violence against Trans people and violent rhetoric and crimes against Trans people have increased dramatically- most likely due to right wingers ramping up their actions against trans (and some gay people) in the last several years.
With a family member that is trans, we feel it every day.
The White House didn’t ban any religious symbols. They simply announced -as a reminder- the longstanding policy which also included advice about not making it a politically partisan event- all good policies and good reminders. The event is for everyone, not Republican kids or Democrat kids- and it isn’t a religious event. It’s an Easter Egg hunt with kids from all different backgrounds present.
Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board, a group that supports the White House Egg Roll, said in a statement, “The American Egg Board has been a supporter of the White House Easter Egg Roll for over 45 years and the guideline language referenced in recent news reports has consistently applied to the board since its founding, across administrations.”
“The American Egg Board flyer’s standard non-discrimination language requesting artwork has been used for the last 45 years, across all Dem & Republican Admins—for all WH Easter Egg Rolls”
Doug, both of those statements are false.
If Trump soiled himself at a rally he’d simply claim he was demonstrating the importance of good bowel health. And his adoring crowd would cheer with excitement and many would likely follow his example. As for Paul’s claim that up to 25% of voters are undecided. I’m skeptical its that high. Perhaps 5% seems about right to me. What matters more is voter turnout. Biden is increasingly facing various erstwhile loyal factions that may not vote at all. That includes Muslims and male black voters. But I’m starting to see a glimmer of hope. People are finally seeing that the economy really is doing pretty good. Will this impact the level of voter turnout necessary for a Biden victory? Time will tell.
Trump and “WWE” founder Vince McMahon are friends and use “over the top” public approaches. My guess is many Trump supporters watch or have children watching WWE.
Google Trump and Adult ADHD. It seems highly probable Trump uses his stimulant medication inconsistently or inappropriately. People that could explain best are restricted by the Goldwater Rule, which restrains psychiatrics from speculating about the mental health of public figures.
2 weeks in the Philippines is helping me separate a bit from American Politics. West to East jet lag later this week. Perhaps I’ll sleep through the jet lag and frustration of current American Politics. Rif on American Idiot by Green Day: Wake me up when NOVEMBER ends!
Sleep well America. Happy Easter and Namaste!
I think it’s clear Trump uses medication of some type that impacts him negatively. He stays up to 2-3am posting on his social media platform and often is posting numerous times before 6am.
He slurs his words a lot too. The lip smacking he gets into is odd.
I found it interesting that instead of being in church on Easter Sunday, the great Christian Trump was posting angry screeds on social media all morning.
I wonder how many “Good Christians” were sitting at church looking at their phones keeping up with his posts themselves.
I think Joe Biden is on Aricept and Namenda to alleviate his dementia. Prove that he isn’t. See how easy that is? Brad will approve any random, baseless comment as long as it is against Trump.
“Prove that he isn’t?”
Well, I’ll try to get to it once I’m done proving that he’s not really D.B. Cooper.
Guilty until proven innocent, right?
He might be on a lot of medication- even medication regarding dementia. I don’t know – and I certainly can’t prove something like that
But Trump is just as likely to be taking it too and you can’t prove he isn’t.
He sure proves he needs it often enough- not to mention antipsychotic medication.
Doug, please respond to my comment and call it baseless. I could say more but I’m really trying to be nice. Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer?
Which part of the SOTU was most impressive?
The Pavlovian standing ovations by Democrat hacks and dimbulb Kamala following every sentence Biden was able to read correctly?
The lies, half truths, and exaggerated “accomplishments” Joe took credit for while blaming every failure on Republicans?
The dog and pony show of pointing to the identity politics hero of the moment in the balcony?
The pie in the sky objectives Joe put out there AGAIN saying all the magical things he’ll accomplish next time for sure if you put him back in office? You remember, all the time he said he’d do 4 years ago and never bothered to attempt?
The neocon promises of spending more billions on Ukraine and Israel to keep his defense contractor buddies rolling in dough. Nevermind all the senseless deaths that are a direct result of that funding due to Joe being Zelensky and Netenahu’s sugar daddy…
Joe botching Laken Riley’s name when trying to pretend he could muster even an ounce of concern over a girl killed by an illegal immigrant. Ok, it was another stutter, right?
Really, if this is what you comsider impressive, you’ve got a bar so low, even Joe could step over it without tripping.
Also shout out to phony Bernie Sanders who was laughing and joking while maskless before the speech and then put the mask on when the speech started so he could look like he was concerned about COVID. Another elderly phony who hasn’t done anything of significance in decades as the house faux socialist (to be replaced by AOC when he kicks the bucket)
I’ll let Paul answer all that, if he so chooses.
Doug just discovered that all state of the union events are political shows with flubs, lies, misstatements, odd moments, hypocrisy on display, and thanks to a few republicans- screaming at the President which is the norm now
welcome to politics 101 Doug. Glad to have you on the train. Dinner is an extra $3.75. Coffee is still a dime.
I expect a similar speech next year when Trump gives it.. except Nancy Pelosi won’t be there to do her staged tearing-up-the-speech act. They’re all performers getting rich (especially Nancy) by duping stupid voters.
That “state of the union events are political shows with flubs, lies, misstatements, odd moments, hypocrisy on display?”
I called out Trump’s flubs, lies, misstatements, odd moments, hypocrisy many times when he was President. After all, he lied numerous times every single day. Many folks like you ignored it or said you didn’t care.
Not sure why you seem to suddenly care about it now than another President does it. Seems odd. Hmm….
Pre-requisite for Political Science 101 is certainly a dose of reality. Mine was Boy’s State, and there is an interesting documentary about it; called Boy’s State (of course). Run by the American Legion, boys and girls (there is a Girl’s State, too) participate in structured mock systems of government, and it varies from state to state as to what the program is but it includes military training, electing government officials, passing bills, and mock trials.
President Clinton went to the Arkansas Boy’s State in 1963 and had the political “chops” at 16 to become the “governor” of Arkansas. There is a “famous” photograph of the future President Clinton meeting President Kennedy.
Sigh. The experience was great for my resume. I learned the dark nature of politics at 16 and still l don’t like it. RIP Tom Turnipseed, Lee Atwater and jumper cables! Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.
He became ACTUAL governor when he wasn’t much older. I have picture I took of him at the 1978 Mid-Term Democratic Convention in Memphis around here somewhere…
Dang. I thought I had posted that picture on the blog once, and it looks like I DID, but I cropped Clinton out of it. After all, when I made the print, nobody was very interested in him. Anyway, behind Ted Kennedy (who was the featured speaker of the program, and the reason we were there — I got a front-page story out of his speech) was a panel of several other people, including the extremely young-looking Clinton. If I run across the uncropped picture, I’ll post it…