President Donald Trump made a speech last night to a joint session of congress. During the preceding day, the usual suspects in print and broadcast media put out a narrative that Trump's s speech would 'tone down Trump' and show a new 'moderation.' There was talk about Trump compromising on his agenda and accommodating the Democrats (and certain Republicans) on key issues like amnesty for illegal migrants.
What they got was something entirely different.
The best way I can characterize President Trump's magnificent speech - and there is no other word for it-is is shock and awe. It was that rare thing,a speech not only of substance but of inspiration and hope. This one will go down in American political history.
The Left has never really understood Donald Trump, because outside their narrow bubble and identity politics, they don't really understand most Americans. Reassured by their trained seals in the media, it was enough for them to simply assume Trump was a buffoon, a fascist, a racist, what have you and to tune him out. What they expected was capitulation. What the president hit them with was so dynamic, so precise and so powerful that most of them literally didn't know how to process it. And still don't.
The first inkling of this was the 5 minute standing ovation that greeted President Trump as he was introduced and made his way to the podium. True, it was mainly Republicans, joined by the odd Democrat like West Virginia's Joe Manchin. But it was impressive just the same. Most of the Democrats stayed seated with their arms folded.
And then The Donald began to speak and what did he start with? A shout out to black history month, and revealing an agreement he and Canada's PM Justin Trudeau had made to promote and increase support for women entrepreneurs. When he announced that one, Fauxahontas and NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand didn't applaud, but looked at each other like someone had hit them both with a taser. Then they began hanging over each other, whispering together and scribbling notes.
It went on and on, with Trump reminding Americans of what he had promised when he ran and what progress had been made thus far. Without mentioning Obama's name, he didn't to gloss over the mess that had been inherited, but he also pointed out how many signs there were that the country was slowly but surely turning around - the 3 trillion increase in the stock market, and the companies already committed to building, investing and hiring in America. He eviscerated ObamaCare, and talked about what was necessary to replace it and what steps had already been taken. And he explained his positions on trade, tax reform, school choice, illegal migration,national defense and the travel ban in such common sense, effective terms that most Americans understood him immediately.
And most importantly, he threw the ball right at congress, calling for them to end the partisan nonsense and work for the American people to get things done. Or as Trump put it:
Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed. Every problem can be solved. And every hurting family can find healing, and hope.
Our citizens deserve this, and so much more –- so why not join forces to finally get it done? On this and so many other things, Democrats and Republicans should get together and unite for the good of our country, and for the good of the American people.
Needless to say,that got hisses and thumbs down from the Democrats.
You see, Donald Trump accomplished a number of objectives last night. Trump's speech reassured his base that this was not going to be another case of a Republican saying one thing on the campaign trail and another is Washington. And he gave the 20% or so who get their news and views from the likes of CNN, NBC and the Washington Post a chance to see who Donald Trump really is as opposed to the cartoon the Leftist media has created.
He also revealed, on national television exactly what most of the Democrat congress consists of - a bunch of nasty, dysfunctional spoiled children. A particular moment that stood out for me and I think a lot of other people was when President Trump honored the sacrifice of Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens in front of his widow, Caryn:
This was a moment when all real Americans were, or should have been one in honoring an American hero and his grieving widow. Yet many of the Democrats remained seated and did not join in the applause including Debbie Wasserman Schultz and new Assistant DNC head Keith Ellison:
A great many Americans saw this display of heartlessness and frankly, anti-American sentiment. And the story is already spreading about how Democrats have viciously attacked Carryn Owens in social media in the most disgusting terms for being 'a pawn of Trump.'
Odd, we never heard any of them complain about this.
Even Trump's mention of a special DHS group to highlight victims of illegal migrant violent crime and deal with the perpetrators got boos, groans and hisses from the Democrats.
All else aside, the Donald has just set a nasty trap for the Democrats. For six weeks now they have had a wonderful time exhibiting scorched earth politics and the resistance' which has absolutely delighted their base. They've done their best to obstruct Trump's cabinet picks in a way that's never been seen before.
During his speech Trump called for congress to work together for the good of the country. Every time he did that, most of the Democrats sat on their hands, hissed and gave thumbs down, showing how little they care about working together with the president or the Republicans. they even did that when he talked about destroying ISIS, believe it or not.
Democrat Minority leader Sen. Chuck Schumer has already stated that he sees no grounds to work with the Republicans or the president, which is hardly surprising. And Pelosi?
And that's the trap the Democrats now find themselves in, courtesy of Donald Trump. Their radical base loves that scorched earth kind of politics. They won't stand for any kind of cooperation with 'Trump/Hitler' or the Republicans, and they're all caught up in the faux-romance of 'the resistance.'
Meantime, America saw President Trump calling for congress to work together on the bread and butter issues.
Which leaves these swine with an unpleasant choice. They can continue to pander to their radical base and lose the more sane, more centrist part of the party, which might even include a few Senators who are currently Democrats the way the midterms are shaping up for them. A lot of those people saw a lot of common sense in what Trump had to say last night. Or, they can decide to cooperate with President Trump on things like ObamaCare, spending, jobs and infrastructure and alienate their radical base.
Based on how the party has behaved in the past and continued its leftist tilt, I think they'll choose option one.
As Spinal Tap's manager in the film of the same name told a reporter when he was asked whether bookings in smaller halls then before meant the band's audience was disappearing:
There were a few media people who said the Democrat Party 'died last night.'
I respectfully disagree. They still have access to lots of money. They still control pop culture, education, and most of the legacy media, and they have highly organized cadres prepared for riots and insurrection. But it's also obvious at this time they have lost a certain amount of political control over much of the country and the tide appears to be turning. If President Trump is able to keep the economy moving in the direction it's going and continues to keep his promises and communicate with the American people like this, that tide might become a tsunami.
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