A good night’s sleep has a way of giving us perspective on bad experiences.
Donald Trump spoke to a joint session of Congress last night, his first. I didn’t listen, but I read every word he said.
As I did I was reminded of a quip attributed to Mark Twain in response to his wife repeating back to him a line of profanity he had just let fly: “Honey, you know the words, but you don’t know the tune.”
Trump seemed to know the words last night: “We are one people,” he said, “with one destiny…We all bleed the same blood…We all salute the same flag…And we are all made by the same God.”
Those words could make you think he is ready to be a president who wants to overcome the bitter divisions in the nation he has helped to create.
But don’t look for people like me to fall over ourselves reaching out to take his hand.
Sound harsh? Perhaps, until you listen carefully to what he said in its entirety and then you realize that he while he knew some new words to say, he still doesn’t know the tune to go with them that is necessary to bring us together as a people.
Consider the following.
Facts Still Don’t Matter To Him
According to Trump: “We’ve defended the borders of other nations, while leaving our own borders wide open, for anyone to cross — and for drugs to pour in at a now unprecedented rate.”
The real facts are that figures for illegal immigration across the Southern border for fiscal 2015 were the lowest levels since 1972, according to Customs and Border Patrol Data.
What is more, the amount of marijuana seized by Border Patrol last year was the lowest since 2009.
He also said: “As we speak, we are removing gang members, drug dealers and criminals that threaten our communities and prey on our citizens. Bad ones are going out as I speak tonight and as I have promised.”
Sorry, but President Obama did that for eight years in record numbers.
“We have cleared the way for the construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines — thereby creating tens of thousands of jobs.”
Those numbers were debunked when the Pipeline was first proposed. They are temporary construction jobs and a few hundred at best.
There were several other points where he ignored facts, or simply contradicted them. Until such time that he begins to believe facts matter, disunity in the country will continue be a fact of life.
The continued Demonizing of Muslims
“We are also taking strong measures to protect our Nation from Radical Islamic Terrorism.”
Trump was urged by his new national security advisor not to use that phrase because it suggests ISIS is a legitimate part of Islam when it is clear to the world that it is not, and in fact has been condemned by Muslim leaders around the world. He refused.
He chose, instead, to do politically pandering to his most radical, right wing supporters, stirring fears and misunderstanding here at home and anger abroad about our Muslim neighbors.
Not a way to bring people together.
A Refusal to Compromise for the Good of the Nation
Trump: “Obamacare is collapsing — and we must act decisively to protect all Americans. Action is not a choice — it is a necessity.”
What he didn’t say is that Obamacare is not a disaster and could have been fixed a long time ago.
This is precisely what former GOP Speaker of the House, John Boehner, recently said, and also underscored the fact that Republican obstructionism on healthcare has stood in the way of improving it.
“They’ll fix Obamacare,” he said, “I shouldn’t have called it repeal and replace because that’s not what’s going to happen. They’re basically going to fix the flaws and put a more conservative box around it.”
Why did he predict this is what would happen: Because “in the 25 years that I served in the United States Congress, Republicans never, ever one time agreed on what a healthcare proposal should look like. Not once.”
It’s disingenuous to rant about the problems with Obamacare when you don’t have a better plan to replace, especially when you could fix it if you had the will to do so.
Had Trump said that last night, we might have hope that words and tune were beginning to fit together.
Attacking the News Media
Did he think we wouldn’t remember that he has been attacking the news media as “the enemy of the American people,” and that in the view of many this is an irresponsible claim for a president to make that could doing lasting damage to our democracy?
He, of course, chose to ignore any of that, and the fact that he persists in erroneously calling any story he doesn’t like “fake news.” That, too, is an irresponsible thing for a president to do.
“Fake News” is propaganda, not points of view you don’t like. Once again, using the phrase the way he does serves to undermine the credibility of the press.
Too bad he didn’t use the occasion to say to his supporters that even when they hate the media, they should remember that it plays an indispensable role in maintaining our democracy.
Overall, then, in several instances Trump used words that, taken at face value, seemed to suggest he was sounding a new note in his presidency, only to have any hopes of that dashed by the rest of what he said being the lyrics of the same old song he’s been singing since he took office.
So we come back to where we started.
Trump may describe us as “one people, with one destiny,” but unless and until he takes his own words to heart and experiences a sincere change of heart, he will continue to preside over “a house divided against itself” and will continue to exacerbate its divisions.
That is a fact to lament, but a fact nonetheless.
linnposts.com 
I watched the speech ad found it refreshing to hear him use a more positive tone. The speech, however, was the same speech in content as he has been enunciating throughout the campaign and in the first mont of his presidency. Just nicer window dressing.
The question going forward: which Trump will we see, th campaigner or the presidential Trump.
I am skeptical; I await the next iteration.
Cheerz!
Gene
Gene, I would say that he will be the same man he has always been because of his narcissism. He does not possess the emotional capacity to be less than self-centered.
I share your doubts about his ability to change, Jan. Just can’t believe a thing he says. And when he says something like “nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated,” as he recently did, I’m reminded that he has little awareness of the complex issues he has to deal with and that, just maybe, some of his supporters will see that they’ve been duped by a con artist.
Wilbur, I think you are exactly right about Trump, but I’m afraid wrong about his supporters. They hate the rest of us too much to change.
The street runs in both directions.
As long as we are in cliché land: One can put lipstick on a pig, but it will still be a pig. I don’t think this leopard will change his spots, only the way they are camouflaged. I remain a cynic on this one. I think DT’s ducking of his “commander-in-chief” role by blaming others for the Yemen raid was deplorable. Oh, Harry, where are you when we need someone that knows where the buck stops?
He didn’t write that speech. Anyone familiar with him would have recognized that immediately. He’s not exactly a “wordsmith”, and definitely lacks the self control and ability to put it together. We should thank whoever wrote it and I hope he was paid before he turned it over to #45.
Good point, Liza. What you said points to something no one seems willing to say, that Trump is not a very smart man. No one could say the things he says and be smart. Intelligent people don’t embarrass themselves the way he does, and certainly care more about having credibility than he seems to. Thanks.