Wow, I knew it would be bad, but not this bad!
Bile anyone?
Put on warm socks, drink cocoa, close your eyes and rest certain that the worst of Trump remains the very worst of Trump.
What were you expecting? The Gettysburg address?
Typically, when the White House asks for network time for a presidential address, it’s to announce something important. Maybe a new jobs program, a big investment in infrastructure, better surfacing for the nation’s highways.
Now add to that list bitching at an ungrateful nation that just doesn’t want to recognize the brilliance of the man who sits in the White House. How dare we not affirm a guy who has gone a long way toward solving…and so on and so on.
We have known for quite some time that President Trump is unhinged. Now we know that he is clearly unraveling like a roll of paper that needs gum bands to contain it.
He lied and lied and lied about everything from inflation to job growth to the auto industry and to whatever the hell else he was talking about. And he sounded desperate, trying to squeeze too much bile into too small a container.
He did not say, “Oh, yeah, well who says I’m not doing well?” But that was the message, president as troubled, failing bully. He cannot resist shifting all blame to Joe Biden, who actually solved a lot of problems because he was a traditionalist, which in this case, means smart and sane.
Trump is hurting his standing beyond measure. If this address had been limited to the fawning toadies who love his every word on Fox news it would be one thing.
But this was a network address that played out before an audience of average Americans. I think they will conclude the president would not talk like that if he had had better parents and a happier childhood.
What made this different from the standard Trump campaign rant was it had Christmas decorations as a backdrop. Given the content, it’s surprising they didn’t wilt and fall to the floor from the toxic atmosphere in the room.
Hopefully, someone normal will show up to counter the president’s pathetic rant. We have years of this ahead of us. Someone has to find a muzzle.
Congress? Nope. Not this Congress, a cowering collection of fawning clowns on the Republican side and Democrats who are too disfunctional to take the reins and pull this runaway wagon of a president into a ditch.
Okay, not the best metaphor, but you know what I mean.
Charlie Madigan was a reporter and columnist for 40 years at UPI and The Chicago Tribune. He writes a column called “Lightningwriter.” Find him at charlesmadigan.com.