Yeah, let\u2019s play this game: what will Trump say tonight?<\/p>\n
In fact, let\u2019s do this in two parts, though it might be a bit too late. \u00a0Anyone who reads this before Trump\u2019s address, give us your best guesses about what he\u2019ll say. \u00a0Then, afterwards, I invite readers to collectively score the guesses and see who wins.<\/p>\n
Wins what? \u00a0Don\u2019t know. \u00a0Don\u2019t have many prizes to give away. \u00a0The satisfaction of being correct, mostly.<\/p>\n
Update:<\/p>\n
Yeah, don\u2019t you want to ask the man who spoke tonight, \u201cwho are you and what have you done with the president?\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s tried to sound \u201cpresidential\u201d in the past, but this was the first time that he made it past the first couple sentences. \u00a0To be sure, it was a low bar (and I kept wondering if someone spiked his drink, to keep him subdued), but he cleared it in a way I\u2019d never seen before. \u00a0Yes, he (presumably) didn\u2019t write his own speech, but it sounded as if he engaged a professional speechwriter and, well, his willingness to deliver these particular words, in this particular fashion, matters.<\/p>\n
To be sure, he didn\u2019t\u00a0look<\/em> presidential. \u00a0He deviated from his blue suit & red tie, but the dark suit and blue striped tie, paired with a too-tight collar on the shirt, just made his head look, well, neckless, and huuuge, and more like a photoshopped head in a silly GIF than his actual head. \u00a0But anyway, if you looked away periodically, you could almost<\/em> believe you aren\u2019t living in a reality TV show.<\/p>\n He started with a condemnation of the JCC threats, the cemetery vandalism, and the KC shooting. \u00a0He talked about unity, and \u201crenewal of the American spirit\u201d and more unity. \u00a0He talked about immigration enforcement, and a merit-based immigration system, and removing criminals, but did imply that \u201cimmigration reform\u201d would mean something more than just<\/em> enforcement. \u00a0He listed companies that have announced new investments, he promised a new infrastructure program. \u00a0He pledged to protect the country from Radical Islamic Terrorism (pronounced deliberately) but then threw in comments that ISIS is killing Moozlims (how he pronounced the word) and Christians, and that we\u2019ll partner with Muslims. \u00a0He promised a \u201crepeal and replace\u201d but with specific pledges: \u00a0pre-existing condition protection, stable transition for exchange users, help with purchasing, provide money for Medicaid, and a pledge to \u201cbring down the artificially high cost of drugs.\u201d \u00a0For good measure, he promised affordable child care, paid family leave, school choice, breaking the cycle of violence in cities, an end to the defense sequester, and threw in that NATO and other allies were beginning to meet their obligations. \u00a0And he defended the raid in Yemen and praised the Marine who lost his life with applause so long I started to wonder if it would end.<\/p>\n So, yes, at times the speech wandered into that sort of annoying laundry-list sort of SOTU. \u00a0And there wasn\u2019t one single big surprise, or new proposal. \u00a0The surprise was just the continuous normality<\/em> of the thing.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yeah, let\u2019s play this game: what will Trump say tonight? In fact, let\u2019s do this in two parts, though it might be a bit too late. \u00a0Anyone who reads this before Trump\u2019s address, give us your best guesses about what he\u2019ll say. \u00a0Then, afterwards, I invite readers to collectively score the guesses and see who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":5932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[325],"class_list":["post-6144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\n