The LuLac Edition #3412, January 20th, 2017
TRUMP’S “PEGGY LEE” INAUGURAL ADDRESS
(Photo: CNN)
Today Donald Trump gave his Inaugural address in Washington, D.C. I was hoping that the new President would reprise his election night/morning victory speech. That talk was full of inclusion and unity. Today’s was different in the sense that while his message was typical Trump, bombastic, to the point with short phrases not terribly nuanced, it was an address that sent many messages. If you were a Trump supporter, this was brilliant.
It was nirvana.
Flawless.
Perfect.
If you were a foreign country or ally and heard “America First”, you wondered about the commitment to your country. Remember U.S bases are in those lands and those countries have to wonder if “America First” means “America goodbye”. Economies of those countries rely on the military for more than guns. There are reasons why foreign countries get foreign aid. As a deal maker, Trump should know this!
If you are a person on the margins cheering on your man, you have to wonder about his statement that America needs to get rich again. Some people in this new century have not aspired to be rich. Trump’s people are rich. They have done fine. They will always do fine. Rich to folks I know is being able to buy cereal on sale when it’s 2 for $5 at Wegmans.
If you are a person who is a policy wonk, you have to wonder where the money is going to come for all those things he wants to do.
If you are a member of Congress or a former President, you have to wonder just what you have done to make this country so bad. Plus if you are a member of the incoming House and Senate, you have to wonder about his rhetoric toward do nothing politicians. One of these days it might dawn on the GOP members of both the Senate and House that they won their districts and status very well without Trump. Senators like Toomey of our state, Portman of Ohio and Speaker Ryan of Wisconsin, represent three states Trump won by a hair. They might finally realize that Trump may need THEM more than they need him.
If you are a company like Walmart, you have to wonder where your leverage will be on all those cheap goods that people love to buy. “American made”, “America First” sounds real good but sad to say we are a “Me First” culture. I wonder what Trump’s biggest supporters will say when they find out their flat screens are no longer $275 bucks but $1500 American made. We have become so used to cheaper goods because of our trade agreements that I find it hard to believe that Trumpites realize you can’t have both.
If you are one of the 675,000 Pennsylvanians on the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, you have to wonder why there was nary a word on health care which a few days ago was going to be for everybody according to Mr. Trump.
If you are an American like me, who loves our country you have to wonder about the words used. “Carnage” and “disarray”.
Those words are offensive to me because this nation has had smooth transition of power for over 240 years! No blood in the streets.
There are no food lines, no power outages and every convenience known to man. Plus there is no shortage of opportunity.
“Disarray?” That has come from a party that stopped any progress and got as its reward a person who speaks in generalities when it comes to policies. Trump’s words, basic and simple but passionate destroy any nuances whatsoever in complex problems. Carnage is an insult to the Presidents of the past sitting behind him. Radio’s Michael Smerconish said it best when he opined that indeed Trump wrote this address himself. For himself and those he already won over.
However for those who wonder what vision there is for immigration, for health care, for issues facing this country that need more than a pithy word salad to wrap them in, this address evoked the memory of that great Peggy Lee song.
“Is That All There Is?”
posted by David Yonki @ 9:19 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
After 16 years of Bush and Obama I hope this is better. The past two presidents have squandered so much US blood and treasure in the almost forgotten quagmires of Afghanistan and Iraq.
I hope Trump finally destroys as many of the terrorists as possible and brings our young men and women home. I am not counting on it, but it would be nice. All of our service people dead, and the terrorist are as strong, if not stronger, than they were on 9/11.
Bin Laden may have risen under HW Bush/Clinton, attacked under W Bush and fallen under Obama, but the movement and group he founded has split and become larger, stronger and more ruthless than ever. And, sadly, that will be Obama's legacy.
Did you really expect Trump to be any different from how he is? That's why I love the guy. He is natural, RAW, and to the point, like a good Ramones song.
11:15pm
In Yonk's world, whenever a democrat is vanquished, if the victor doesn't act like, reach out to or grovel to a democrat, he or she is in the wrong.
One line from Peggy Noonan's column says it best about Trump.
"He is a destabilizer; he shifts the tectonic plates; in the chaos that results, breakthroughs are possible."
Whether anyone likes it or not, this is why he was elected.
He was not elected to be the same old same old. He was not elected to be a Rockefeller Republican that many democrats like so much, which were basically democrats who registered republican. He is not a conservative ideologue, willing to play the game to achieve legislative compromises like President Reagan. He can't be folded into some ideological definition because he, like many of us, is not an ideologue, he is a pragmatist. He does not cling to "The Conscious of a Conservative," to define his life, he does what is necessary to achieve his goals, just as many of us do what is necessary to get by in life.
The new President IS chaos incarnate. For the most part, it has served him, and his business interests, well. Perhaps the biggest reason for his victories, is the hope and perception that his chaos will result in a new type of executive branch.
We may or may not like it, some can protest it, some can yell and cry about it, some can claim to resist it, but, until such time he either acts differently, or is no longer president, we must accept that this is the present reality, and no matter how vehemently some tilt at windmills, their perception will not change this reality.
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