as expected, a load of old tosh
expect a colossal october surprise
"...He was alert at times, working the room like a borscht belt comic, calling out friends, delivering jabs to enemies – the menacing Jerry Lewis of The King of Comedy. But for long stretches, he read robotically from the teleprompter, as if tired by the ordeal of going up to Capitol Hill.
To be sure, he had his work cut out. This was a major opportunity for a reset, a little more than half a year before the midterms. He needed one. Trump’s approval ratings have cratered in recent weeks, due to outrage over killings of American citizens by federal immigration agents, and an incoherent foreign policy that has confused his Maga base and alienated most of our traditional allies.
A president who once swore to avoid forever wars is now deeply enmeshed in Iran, where a US flotilla is prepared to launch airstrikes, and in the Caribbean. His “Board of Peace” has failed to win over America’s closest allies, and threatens to degrade the United Nations and an international Pax Americana once created by Americans.
Why the longest-ever State of the Union address was the most inconsequential
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His tariff policy is deeply unpopular, among Republicans as well as Democrats, and there are signs of a “Trump slump” coming in, dragging down the economy. A recent report stated that the US has lost 108,000 manufacturing jobs in the last year, despite Trump’s promises that his tariffs would bring factories “roaring back”.
In short, reality bites. Trump continues to lash out at enemies, and the previous administration, but it has been a year of Republican control and the American people can see clearly that he is not delivering. More than two-thirds of Americans – 68% – say that he hasn’t paid attention to important problems, and he is hemorrhaging independent voters. More than half of voters – 57 % – disapprove of his handling of the economy. He tried to claim that he inherited a bad economy, but that is easily disproven (the Economist called the US economy “the envy of the world” in October 2024).
Trump came into the Capitol hoping to distract from these problems, and to an extent, he did. There were the usual cultural attacks, and more than a few “Lenny Skutniks”, the name given to an outside hero figure (after a precedent created by Ronald Reagan in 1982, honoring a civilian who jumped into a frozen Potomac to rescue a plane crash survivor). In this case, the members of the US men’s hockey team, who were cheered lustily, were the marquee attraction. Trump also talked about American history, including the 250th anniversary celebration beginning this year, and the second world war (several veterans were in the chamber).
The State of the Union address has been in decline for decade as a TV spectacle, and Trump probably hastened that trend
www.theguardian.com
comrade stalin
moscow
