Trump Admin Should Be Call to Arms for Decent Americans

Another perceptive commentary on Trump and the Nuremberg-lite State of the Union comes from Roger Cohen in a New York Times op-ed column.

The piece entitled, Trump’s Volk und Vaterland, explains and denounces the mocking, racist call for nationalism, more walls, prisons, police, military against the dark enemies within and without our glorious borders.

Cohen's use of the German words Volk and Vatherland refers to mythical and virtuous German people, the Volk, propagandized as beset by foreign, Jewish, Communist and other unclean agents of evil despoiling the fatherland, Vaterland.

Writes Cohen:

President Trump declared in his State of the Union speech. 'There has never been a better time to start living the American Dream.'

But which American Dream? Trump portrayed a dark and menacing world in which immigrants, who stand at the heart of the American idea, were equated with gangs, murderous criminals and 'horrible people.'

In his 80-minute speech, the word 'woman' did not come up once. Other words or phrases never mentioned included 'peace,' 'human rights,' 'equality,' 'Europe,' 'multilateral,' 'civil rights' and 'alliance.' The Constitution flitted onto Trump’s radar chiefly in the context of appointing his kind of judges.

If there was a theme, it was the demonization of immigrants and of the rest of the world, combined with an exaltation of American might. ...

He spoke of building a 'Great Wall' on the Mexican border, but it may as well have been against the rest of humanity. Trump once again put the world on notice that the rules-based, post-1945 world order founded on alliances like NATO and American-backed multilateral organizations is one he would rather shred than bolster. ...

Trump spoke of American grit, of 'total American resolve,' of American heart and American hands, whipping his audience into chants of 'USA! USA! USA!' Trump’s America is, in the end, a reflection of himself: male, militaristic, white, mean and macho. ...

This was 'Volk und Vaterland' in American guise, stamped with his speechwriter’s clunky and cliché-ridden prose. ...

In the place of hope, Trump needs fear, a lot of it, to build the cult of his personality. His so-called American Dream is made up of the nightmares he imagines and that now hang over the world.

Like all dictators, Trump remains a frightened, immature child, not capable of perceiving humanity in other people.

Classical liberal values were never learned, so Trump concluded his address with his partisan slogan:

[I]t is the people who are making America great again.

As long as we are proud of who we are, and what we are fighting for, there is nothing we cannot achieve.

As long as we have confidence in our values, faith in our citizens, and trust in our God, we will not fail.

Our families will thrive.

Our people will prosper.

And our Nation will forever be safe and strong and proud and mighty and free.

Thank you, and God bless America.

Fuck Trump, this white supremacist human garbage is an continuing assault.

Any member of Congress who legitimized this crap by attendance owes his or her constituency a long list of explanations why.

Only 12 members of Congress boycotted the State of the Union.

None were from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

David Duke: Thank you President Trump. Americans are "Dreamers" too

America's first white supremacist president* hit his applause lines well last night.

Fascist overtones, explicit demonizing of immigrants, calls for increased militarization and policing of our country, this repulsive display by Trump continues.

David Duke, Stormfront and myriad other white supremacists were listening.

The reviews are in:

Thank you President Trump. Americans are "Dreamers" too.

— David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) January 31, 2018

Charlie Pierce in Esquire offers words of sanity, commentary that is succor roughly one year before we declare war with Iran.

It was the most elaborate of charades, the most sophisticated of masquerades, that played itself out in the chamber of the House of Representatives on Tuesday night. The amount of pretense required to keep all sensible people—which is to say, any person who was not a Republican—in their chairs must have been heroic.

All involved had to pretend that Donald Trump makes sense as a president, that his administration makes sense as a government, and that his first State of the Union address made sense as either a description of national policy, or as a rhetorical summons to national unity. All involved had to pretend that his thoughts were coherent, that his words made sense, and that the complete and universal collapse of civic responsibility that propelled him onto the podium was not the most singularly destructive event in the history of American democracy since the Civil War. Everyone had to pretend that a freak show was Shakespeare, and that a rumbling, stumbling geek was Lincoln, and that the whole tableau unfolding before the Congress was somehow made noble despite the obvious fact that the whole event was an endless procession of lies and half-truths, and that the only truly remarkable thing about the speech was that it was such a perfectly round and complete crock of shit.

I don’t know how long the institutions of the republic can sustain this much pretense. Over my lifetime, the American presidency has tested what were believed to be the outer limits of counterfeit grandeur, but now we see that there is a vast universe of untruth and malignant fantasy of which we were painfully unaware. It is a burden to maintain the masquerade. It is beyond the strength even of the sturdiest democracy to be led by such a vanguard of unreality. Why anyone showed up on Tuesday night is a mystery to me.

Yes, Trump is happening, right now. Norman Cohn would have been impressed.

Trump Was Detached from Reality, then Let Loose with Vindictive Shot at Children

Bernie Sanders delivered multiple responses to the fear-
mongering Trump in SOTU address, (Twitter)

The only serious question in President* Trump's first State of the Union address was whether the smirking psychopath was going to reveal himself amid the unity rhetoric and his basking in the valor of Americans receiving SOTU nods.

Following Trump's hollow assurance that he would "protect our citizens of every background, color, religion, and creed," the racist garbage promptly took a shot at the children and young adults who were protected by President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order, the Dreamers.

"My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans -- to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream. Because Americans are dreamers too," said Trump, (CNN).

Not just those immigrants, but Americans too.

The address was predictable, including near-constant fear mongering and race-baiting from this white supremacist garbage,

Fuck you, Trump.

President Trump: “African American unemployment lowest ever recorded....”

CBC members: A picture is worth a thousand words. 👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/b2Hp96C4J9

— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) January 31, 2018

Kudos to Joe Kennedy and Bernie Sanders, needed tonic after the lunatic:

“Bullies may land a punch. They might leave a mark. But they have never, not once, in the history of our United States, managed to match the strength and spirit of a people united in defense of their future.” #SOTUResponse

— Rep. Joe Kennedy III (@RepJoeKennedy) January 31, 2018

President Trump’s State of the Union needs a response. Here’s mine. https://t.co/8YZW8JCl2V

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 31, 2018

The GOP: Vandalism and Sabotage

An anti-social movement in American politics does not get acknowledged enough: the Republican Party.

Last night was an opportunity for Republicans to tell the American people what they want to do in public policy.

Instead, the GOP response to the State of the Union Address ranged from vacuous to Rand Paul, a man who as judged by his ruminations on government ought to be an an also-ran for a Village Board member.

Paul is arguably the leading candidate for the nominee for the U.S. presidency of a major political party. Perfect for the Republicans.

The plain truth is the Koch brothers-fueled GOP continues its assault on the USA that is nothing short of vandalism and economic sabotage, en effort protected by obstructing the American people from voting.

This anti-American attack did not merit inclusion last night by the president speaking to the state of the union.

Bush Is a Sad Joke

Update: Barack Obama's video response to Bush.

No one expected George W. Bush to burst forth with a candid speech last night.

And Bush met these low expectations well.

From the Times:

Monday night, after six years of promises unkept or insincerely made and blunders of historic proportions, the United States is now fighting two wars, the economy is veering toward recession and the civilized world still faces horrifying dangers — and it has far less sympathy and respect for the United States. …

Monday night’s address made us think what a different speech it might have been if Mr. Bush had capitalized on the unity that followed the 9/11 attacks to draw the nation together, rather than to arrogate ever more power and launch his misadventure in Iraq. How different it might have been if Mr. Bush meant what he said about compassionate conservatism or even followed the fiscal discipline of old-fashioned conservatism. How different if he had made a real effort to reach for the bipartisanship he promised in 2002 and so many times since.

Then he could have used last night’s speech to celebrate a balanced budget, one in which taxes produce enough money to pay for the nation’s genuine needs, including health care for poor children and a rebuilt New Orleans. Instead, Mr. Bush called — again — for his tax cuts to be permanent and threatened to veto bills that contained excessive pork-barrel spending, an idea absent from his agenda when Republicans held Congress.

Had Mr. Bush been doing his job right just in the last few weeks, he could have used this speech to celebrate a genuinely bipartisan agreement on a sound economic stimulus plan. In addition to the tax rebates agreed on already between the White House and the House, Mr. Bush could have announced sensible proposals for extending unemployment benefits and a temporary increase in food stamps for the most vulnerable citizens. …

If Mr. Bush had let compassion and good sense trump ideology, he would have been able to use last night’s speech to celebrate the expansion of health insurance to tens of millions of children with working parents. Mr. Bush vetoed an expansion of the S-chip program, and he did not even agree to pay for all of the existing coverage because he thought a relative handful of parents might switch from private to public insurance if they were offered government assistance to buy it. …

In the end, when it comes to Iraq, Mr. Bush’s annual addresses will be remembered most for his false claims — the fictitious “axis of evil,” nonexistent aluminum tubes and African uranium, dangerous weapons that did not exist. No president can want that as his legacy.

See also ThinkProgress for more analysis and fact checking.

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State of the Union Tripe

Tonight's final State of the Union address by George W. Bush can be expected to be revealing not of Bush, but of the corporate media.

How credulous is the media?

Will the media greet each assertion and rhetorical flash skeptically, to be put in the context of the lies and broken promises of the most dishonest and political administration in American history?

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