Tag: Speech

Trump’s 2020 Labor Day Speech

Yesterday was Labor Day and the election is only 60 days from reality so naturally Donald had to try and take a victory lap (he failed)…….

The US president began by boasting of what he called the “spectacular” performance of the American economy, which he claimed was outperforming that of every other nation. “We are rebounding much more quickly from the pandemic,” he said. “We have added a record-setting 10.6 million jobs since May.”

Since the US economy lost 21.2 million jobs officially in March and April—plus another 10 million or more when contractors, the self-employed and other contingent workers are included—this Trump claim merely demonstrates the gulf between the real conditions of life for working people and the fortunes of the superrich, which have fully recovered and in some cases risen sharply because of the pandemic.

Hailing the creation of one-half or one-third the number of jobs wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic is like cheering the dispersion of flood waters after Hurricane Katrina: The damage has been done, and the wreckage stretches as far as the eye can see.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/08/trmp-s08.html

Before you ask…NO I did not watch it but I did read about it…..and for those interested I have the transcript of the speech.

Donald Trump: (00:00)
We called some people, wished them a very happy Labor Day and they told us how they’re doing. And we really celebrate the American worker. We are in the midst of the fastest economic recovery in US history. So we have a lot to be thankful for including this really beautiful day. So I thought we’d do this outside as opposed to your more normal place. The United States experience the smallest contraction of any major Western nation. You probably know that you look around and see how we’re doing compared to every other nation. And our rise is spectacular and we’re rebounding much more quickly from the pandemic. The US economy added 1.4 million jobs last month. We’ve added a record setting 10.6 million jobs since May… 10.6 million jobs since May, that’s a record that is not even close as second place it’s a long ways away. In July the congressional budget office was projecting unemployment over 10.5% through the end of 2020. So they thought 2020, and maybe it would be a lot longer than that. Some projections where you go through the entire year, and that includes a lot of months in the following year, 2021.

https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-labor-day-press-conference-transcript-criticizes-pentagon-leaders-for-accommodating-arms-makers

But for those that are too lazy to read then listen for yourself…..

A typical rambling Hodge-podge of lies, exaggerations and bulshit…..I still just shake my head at the lengths this toad will go to appear as if he knows what he does.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Date For Acceptance

Since Trump has tuck tail and ran from North Carolina for the GOP convention…..a city has won the sweepstakes to be the place for his, Trump, acceptance speech and the place for more virus….Jacksonville, Florida…..

Jacksonville, Florida, has been selected to host the celebration marking President Trump’s acceptance of his party’s nomination for reelection, the Republican National Committee chairwoman said Thursday. Ronna McDaniel made the announcement a day after saying that Jacksonville was a front-runner to hold the event. The governor of North Carolina, the official host of this summer’s Republican National Convention, had balked at promising Trump a full-blown convention in Charlotte free from social distancing measures during the coronavirus pandemic. “We are thrilled to celebrate this momentous occasion in the great city of Jacksonville,” McDaniel said, per the AP. “Not only does Florida hold a special place in President Trump’s heart as his home state, but it is crucial in the path to victory in 2020. We look forward to bringing this great celebration and economic boon to the Sunshine State in just a few short months.”

McDaniel said the event would be held at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, which holds 15,000 people. She said more details would be released in the coming weeks. The party’s more mundane business, including discussions over the platform, will still be held in Charlotte because of contractual obligations. The RNC had spent the last week scouting locations after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper rejected Trump’s demand that the convention be allowed to take place Aug. 24-27 without social distancing measures. “Florida is honored to host this special event where we will celebrate the re-nomination of President Donald J. Trump,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “Jacksonville is a great city that will showcase Florida’s energy, facilities, entrepreneurship and commitment to bring together the delegates of the Republican Party at a historic time in our nation’s history.”

Trump’s speech should be on 27August and yet that date in Jacksonville is nothing to be proud of…..violence in 1960…….ever heard of “Axe Handle Saturday”?

On a sweltering summer day 50 years ago, the street outside was shattered with screams and spattered with blood.

Black youth, attempting to sit down at a whites-only lunch counter for hamburgers and egg salad sandwiches, were accosted by an angry mob wielding ax handles.

And suddenly, all of downtown became a melee, leaving dozens of bystanders wounded – and giving Jacksonville a national reputation for violence.

Aug. 27, 1960, now known as Ax Handle Saturday, became a turning point in the city’s race relations. Half a century later, some are hoping it again will be a rallying cry.

https://www.jacksonville.com/article/20100822/NEWS/801246165

(More on this historic event on the day…stay tuned)

The lack of empathy by Trump and the governor is illustrates and strengthen the narrative that the GOP is a racist group that holds NO care for the black population.

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“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–12Mar20

Trump went on the air to address the nation about the efforts of the US to curb the spread of this fast moving virus…..plus he was trying to halt the markets free fall….

President Trump said Wednesday he is suspending all travel from Europe to the US for 30 days beginning Friday as a measure to combat the novel coronavirus. Trump made the announcement in an Oval Office address to the nation, blaming the European Union for not acting quickly enough to address the “foreign virus” and saying US clusters were “seeded” by European travelers. “We made a lifesaving move with early action on China,” Trump said. “Now we must take the same action with Europe.” Trump said the restrictions won’t apply to the United Kingdom and the US would monitor the situation to determine if travel could be reopened earlier, reports the AP. The BBC reports the rules take effect at midnight Friday.

Trump said he was also directing agencies to provide unspecified financial relief for “for workers who are ill, quarantined or caring for others due to coronavirus,” and asked Congress to take action to extend it. Trump said the US will will defer tax payments for some individual and business filers for three months to lessen the impacts of the virus outbreak. He said the Small Business Administration will also make low-interest loans available to businesses to help them weather the storm. “This is not a financial crisis,” he said. “This just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world.” Trump also reiterated his call on Congress to pass a cut to the federal payroll tax in order to stimulate the economy.

Sorry but this damn silly tax relief is NOTHING but an attack on the Social Security system….something the GOP has been trying to destroy since the 1940s….

Plus how will that go about solving the virus problem we are having?  Markets are not the cure!

Then there is the travel ban which does not include places that have Trump golf courses…..

Hours after the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic, President Donald Trump on Wednesday night announced a 30-day travel ban on most of Europe. But among the countries he excluded were two where he has hotels and golf courses that have been struggling financially: the UK and Ireland.

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-trump-europe-travel-ban-exclude-uk-ireland-golf-courses-2020-3

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Did Trump Have An Antiwar Moment?

Trump’s speech about the pulling of US troops out of Syria has been met with condemnation especially by the MSM……Maj. Sjursen has written about how Trump’s “antiwar” speech was met…..

That’s right, sandwiched between Trump’s standard braggadocio about how he single-handedly secured “a better future for Syria and for the Middle East,” and his cynical pivot to decry his opponents’ supposed desire to accept “unlimited migration from war-torn regions” across the U.S. border, was one of the strongest blasts of antiwar rhetoric delivered by a sitting U.S. president since Dwight Eisenhower.

If any other president—think Obama—or major liberal political figure had spoken so clearly against endless war and so poignantly diagnosed the current American disease of military hyper-interventionism, CNN and MSNBC would’ve gushed about Nobel Peace Prizes. It must be said, of course, that Trump has hardly governed according to these peacenik proclamations—he has, after all added more troops in the region, especially in Saudi Arabia, and merely reshuffled the soldiers from Syria across the border to Iraq. Nevertheless, even if the president’s actions don’t match his words, the words themselves remain important, especially from a 21st century, post-9/11 commander in chief.

Trump’s Antiwar Speech Deserved a Better Reception

As a person who is antiwar I like hearing that anyone especially a president that talks like there is an end to our countless endless wars…..but then I see Trump making a conflicting and contradictory statement about war…..

President Donald Trump on Monday offered a confusing description of his foreign policy priorities as commander in chief — insisting that he is working to bring home American soldiers, while warning the U.S. may soon enter into new military conflicts.

“I’m trying to get out of wars. We may have to get in wars, too. OK? We may have to get in wars,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

“We’re better prepared than we’ve ever been,” he continued. “If Iran does something, they’ll be hit like they’ve never been hit before. I mean, we have things that we’re looking at.”

The remarks from the president come as his administration confronts escalating tensions across the Middle East and navigates new troop movements in the region.

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/21/trump-united-states-wars-iran-053341

As usual a president talks but does NOT deliver and it is not just Trump….they all promise then back away….and soldiers die….and for what?

I will believe the president, whoever that may be, on ending these wars when I see the troops returning home and not to some location for easy access.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Closing Thought–08Jul19

The speech of speeches given on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in the shadow of tanks and fly overs out Dear Beloved Supreme Leader (you people do realize when I type that I am being as damn sarcastic as I can without being vulgar, right?)

President Donald Trump read most of his Independence Day speech from a prepared text, but stumbled on his history at one point: He talked about airports during the American Revolution.

“Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports,” Trump said of the fighting force created by the Continental Congress in 1775.

There was no air travel in 18th Century America.

The full riff:

“In June of 1775, the Continental Congress created a unified Army out of the Revolutionary Forces encamped around Boston and New York, and named after the great George Washington, commander in chief. The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown.

“Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rocket’s red glare it had nothing but victory. And when dawn came, their star-spangled banner waved defiant.”

One other note: The battle at Fort McHenry that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner” took place during the War of 1812, not the American Revolution.

(USA Today)

Not to worry as usual it was someone or something else fault for the miscue….this time it was the teleprompter…..

President Trump took a lot of ribbing on Twitter Friday over a mistake in his Independence Day speech. When discussing the Revolutionary War, he said: “Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do …” Trump critics were thrilled to point out that air travel was still a long ways off in the 18th century, notes Business Insider. On Friday, Trump told reporters that his teleprompter went out right in the middle of that passage. “It just went out—it went kaput,” said Trump, reports USA Today.

A reporter asked if that might explain the airport mistake. “Yeah, the teleprompter went out,” said Trump. See his comments to the media here. “That’s not a good feeling,” said the president of the dark teleprompter. “You’re standing in front of millions of millions of people on television and I don’t know what the final count was but that (the crowd) went all the way back to the Washington Monument.”

This moron that YOU elected is so ignorant that he cannot ad lib on history…..yet another example of our fine education system….a moron can become president…then there is hope for Alfred E. Newman….we already have Dumb and Dumber.

Speech To End All Speeches!

That is our president since his dream of a military style parade (more later) was crapped on he will do something that has not been done in about 70 years….he will give a speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial…….

More details are emerging about President Trump’s Fourth of July event in Washington, which the New York Times describes as “the next best thing” to Trump’s axed military parade. As hundreds of thousands gather at the National Mall for the celebration, Trump will address the nation from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial; the last president to do anything similar was Harry Truman, who in 1951 spoke in front of the Washington Monument on the 4th. The US Park Police confirms Trump will speak at the memorial. “We continue to work with the White House on creating a Salute to America program that will bring Americans from all over the country together in [a] celebration of our great nation,” adds a National Park Service rep.

The Washington Post points out a slew of “new security and logistical challenges,” noting a second entertainment stage may be erected in addition to the one on the West Lawn of the Capitol. The fireworks display will be moved from the Washington Monument grounds to West Potomac Park, while the National Independence Day Parade will be held as usual, per WTOP. There’s been no comment from the White House, but some Democrats have piped up with the criticism that Trump’s speech will change the flavor of the staunchly nonpartisan event. “People are going to be angry,” says DC Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton. \

Seriously?

First, the security will be a nightmare but beyond that Trump has NOT paid the tab for his 4 day inaugural celebration….but that is to be expected unlike the rest of us Trump feels he is too good to pay his bills.

Secondly, it is a national holiday and I expect Trump will talk about himself and not the nation or how he will bring the people together in this time of massive division.

Third, he may not get his authoritarian military parade but he will get damn close……tanks and more tanks.

President Trump isn’t getting the full military parade he wanted in DC on the Fourth of July, but he is getting some mighty symbols of military power—tanks. It’s not clear how many or exactly where they’ll be, but the president said Monday that tanks will be stationed somewhere on the National Mall, reports the Hill. “We’re going to have some tanks stationed outside,” said Trump, who will speak from the Lincoln Memorial on the holiday. “You’ve got to be pretty careful with the tanks because the roads have a tendency not to like to carry heavy tanks. So we have to put them in certain areas.”

The AP, meanwhile, apparently got a peek: One of its photographers spotted two M1A1 Abrams tanks and two Bradley Fighting Vehicles on flatcars at a DC rail yard, and they were being guarded by military police. On Monday, the DC council said that it opposed tanks as part of a parade because of the potential damage to roads, tweeting, “Tanks, but no tanks.” The tanks won’t be the only military presence: The Navy’s Blue Angels will do a flyover, and the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines are expected to be on the podium with the president, reports the New York Times.

All in all…this will just be another Trump rally that will do nothing to help this country deal with the society we have now…..just pomp and ass kissing to celebrate Trump and not our country.

And how can this person talk about selfless sacrifice for he has never had to feel this…..

That is sad!

SOTU–2019

The president get to give his speech to the two Houses of Congress…and I have watched many of Trump’s speeches….I found them infantile, juvenile rhetoric so I will choose to not subject myself to the ramblings of a immature windbag….instead I shall just post the analysis of others that have a better stomach than me.

Sorry I wish I could do better but after two years I am weary with the antics of a windbag……just how many times will he go off script?

esident Trump’s State of the Union address “showed this president growing in this job,” an approving House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said after Trump’s address to Congress Tuesday night. Democrats, however, said Trump’s second SOTU address followed a now-familiar pattern: Soaring calls for bipartisanship coupled with digs at the Democrats and an unyielding stance on major issues. “We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution—and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good,” he said. Some key takeaways:

  • “Harsh lecture” on immigration. After saying Americans hoped “we would govern not as two parties but one nation,” Trump returned to the divisive issue of border security, delivering what the Wall Street Journal calls a “notably harsh lecture on the evils of illegal immigration.” He did not mention any deal involving legal status for Dreamers and did not, as some had expected, declare a national emergency in order to build a border wall, though he promised: “I will get it built.”
  • Possible areas of compromise. Trump highlighted two areas of possible compromise, calling for renewed efforts to fix “crumbling infrastructure” and to do something about prescription drug prices, the Washington Post reports. “It is unacceptable that Americans pay vastly more than people in other countries for the exact same drugs, often made in the exact same place,” he said. “This is wrong, unfair, and together we can stop it.”
  • An appeal to the base. The president gave his conservative Christian base something to cheer about with a call to limit late-term abortions, the AP reports. “These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world,” he said.
  • No more “endless wars.” Trump spoke of peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan and defended his decision to pull US troops from Syria, the Guardian reports. “As a candidate for president, I pledged a new approach,” he said. “Great nations do not fight endless wars.”
  • 2020 preview. In what the Guardian sees as a preview of 2020 election themes, Trump said Americans were “alarmed” by talk of socialism. “Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country,” he said. He also warned that “ridiculous partisan investigations” could hurt America’s prosperity.
  • Good behavior.There was plenty of sighing and eye-rolling among Democrats during some of Trump’s more controversial remarks, but no heckling, the AP reports. Lawmakers from both parties sang “Happy Birthday” to an 82-year-old man who survived both the Holocaust and last year’s mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue. In another light moment, newly elected female House Democrats, dressed in white to honor suffragettes, stood up and cheered when Trump spoke of having created jobs for women. “You weren’t supposed to do that,” the president said.
  • Democrats were not impressed. Democrats slammed the address as very far from bipartisan, Politico reports. “I heard no unity tonight. Even the issues on which I think there should be a bipartisan basis, taking on the high cost of drugs, doing a significant investment in infrastructure, we heard no details and no plan,” said Oregon’s Sen. Jeff Merkley. “We heard the same empty campaign style rhetoric we’ve heard before.” Hawaii’s Sen. Mazie Horono simply said: “WTF.”
  • Neither was Ann Coulter. Ann Coulter, who has recently stepped up her criticism of Trump, slammed the “Oprah-like” speech in numerous scathing tweets, Mediaite reports.”This was the lamest, sappiest, most intentionally tear-jerking SOTU ever,” she tweeted. “Please fire your speechwriter.” She also slammed Trump for not devoting enough time to the border wall, saying he “had better be breaking ground tomorrow.”

(Read more State of the Union Address stories.)

All in all a good example of how to spread fear….other than that I will take vanilla.

SOTU-2019

As we approach the day that the president would stroll over to the Capital and give his SOTU speech before Congress has been “postponed”…..

You see Pelosi sent a letter to Trump about the SOTU……

On Jan. 3 she formally invited him to deliver the State of the Union address on Jan. 29; just shy of two weeks later, Nancy Pelosi wants it rescheduled until after the shutdown ends—or just delivered in writing. In a letter sent to President Trump, Pelosi cited security concerns, noting that in September Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen designated the address as a “National Special Security Event.” That puts it in a category that demands “weeks of detailed planning with dozens of agencies,” in an effort led by the Secret Service.

Except, she writes, the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security have gone 26 days without funding, creating the “security concerns” fueling her request. Barring an end to the shutdown this week, Pelosi asks that the president work with her “to determine another suitable date” to deliver it or just deliver it in writing, as was the practice during the 19th century and up until the presidency of Woodrow Wilson.

Trump got butt hurt and cancelled a scheduled trip by the Speaker to speak to our soldiers serving overseas…..

…Thursday letter announcing he’d cancelled a military flight meant to carry Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers to Brussels and Afghanistan, President Trump noted that the House Speaker was still free to fly commercial. But on Friday, Pelosi shot back that the White House made that impossible, too. “We had the prerogative to travel commercially, and we made plans to do that until the administration then leaked that we were traveling commercially,” Pelosi said, per the Washington Post. “You never give advance notice of going into a battle area—you just never do it,” she said. The White House, however, denied that it leaked any information about a potential commercial flight and called Pelosi’s accusation a “flat-out lie,” reports the Hill. The president, meanwhile, doubled down on his move to cancel the military flight in a Friday morning tweet

What a juvenile bunch of manure!

Trump has threatened to take his SOTU on the road and give it to his supporters in a campaign-esque setting…..

The last time one of his speeches were televised it was a racist rant about the border and not enough people condemned the MSM for carrying it…

After President Donald Trump exploited the enormous free platform he was needlessly granted by America’s major television networks Tuesday night to deliver an immigration address replete with the same disinformation and dehumanizing rhetoric he has deployed since stepping foot on the campaign trail, critics denounced the corporate media’s continued role in amplifying Trump’s speeches despite knowing they will be full of harmful lies.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/09/corporate-media-condemned-handing-trump-megaphone-spout-racist-stream-lies

Hopefully the MSM will not make that mistake again!

I am a political wonk so I will keep an eye on the SOTU if he indeed takes it on the road……but that would just be another rally and would not hold the prestige of an actual SOTU.

For now the rest of the SOTU story…..

Sources say Trump is currently planning to be at the Capitol on the 29th to give the speech. However, contingency plans (including other venues, possibly even outside Washington) and alternatives (a rally, for instance) are also being considered, and all the details remain unclear at this point. “We are still in a holding pattern,” one senior source says. In fact, ABC’s sources say Trump is preparing two different speeches: One for members of Congress, as originally planned, if the speech is given in DC; the other for a rally audience if the speech is given outside DC. White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said Tuesday during an appearance on Fox that if Pelosi ultimately blocks Trump from delivering the address on the House floor, “there are many ways he can” still deliver it.

Breaking News:  After I wrote this draft post word has come out the Pelosi has won the war of wills…..

Unless lawmakers strike a deal to reopen the government by next Tuesday, President Trump’s second State of the Union address will be the first in history to be delayed by a shutdown. The president was the first to blink in his SOTU standoff with Nancy Pelosi Wednesday, the BBC reports. After the House speaker told Trump that he would not be invited to deliver the address in the House chamber until the shutdown was resolved, he announced late Wednesday that he would postpone the speech. “As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address. I agreed,” Trump tweeted. “She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative – I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over.”

Turn The Page!

US–A Force For Good?

Most know that my little expertise is in the Middle East and in foreign policy….so when I cannot get a speak by the SecState I go to friends in the Middle East and get the speech that way.

I was sent a video from Egypt of Pompeo’s speech….okay after I listened I sat there and had to listen again….what a pile of manure from an official of the US…..first he said that the US was a force for good…that when the US retreats chaos reigns….(think about that for a moment)…..

I had begun a draft in analysis of this piece of manure speech by an amateur diplomat….and I was notified that I had a piece in waiting……

“An arrogant tirade extolling the U.S. as a liberator not an occupier, a defender not an aggressor—a depiction that runs totally counter to the sordid U.S. history of invasions and occupations all over the world.”

A speech delivered by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Cairo, Egypt on Thursday was immediately chided by critics as bellicose and ahistorical “hogwash” that did more to reveal the incoherence and dangers of the Trump administration’s foreign policy than anything else.

Pompeo’s speech is voodoo diplomacy and not very damn accurate but I would expect such LIES from a Neocon lackey…..but please read the speech for yourself and you decide what part of it is true…..if you can…..

Thank you, Frank. Thank you to Frank Ricciardone. Thank you for your service to America as well, in addition to the duties that you perform here.

I’ve had the good fortune to be a frequent visitor here to Egypt and the Middle East as Secretary of State. In my prior role as CIA director, I was here with some frequency, and I came here too as a member of Congress. Every time I come, I get to see something new, something wonderful.

This trip is especially meaningful for me as an evangelical Christian, coming so soon after the Coptic Church’s Christmas celebrations. This is an important time. We’re all children of Abraham: Christians, Muslims, Jews. In my office, I keep a Bible open on my desk to remind me of God and His Word, and The Truth.

https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2019/01/288410.htm

This was a typical Neocon blathering…..anti-Iran, anti-Obama…..their policies are such crap that all they have is to blast Iran and Obama….garbage foreign policy…….https://lobelog.com/pompeo-in-cairo-anti-obama-anti-iran-and-little-else/

This speech was so much bullsh*t that it made for painful watching….sorry but anyone listening to that speech that was not a Neocon is laughing hysterically under his/her breath.

Thusly, He Spake!

FLASH!

Big Yawn!

Last night, just mere hours ago, our Dear Supreme Leader went before the people of the “boob tube” from the Oval Office (a first, btw) and told us all about the “crisis” on the border.

To begin with there is NO “crisis” on the border…..As usual he made little sense and spouted his usual LIES and bullsh*t……

President Trump called the situation at the US-Mexico border a “humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul” in a national address Tuesday night—but he stopped short of declaring a formal emergency in order to get a border wall built. In his brief speech, the president again called for $5.7 billion to build a wall, which he said would actually be a “steel barrier,” reports Politico. In a quick rebuttal, Nancy Pelosi accused Trump of “manufacturing a crisis” at the border, per the AP, and she and Chuck Schumer reiterated that Democrats would not pay for any such barrier. The president, meanwhile, maintained that the wall “would quickly pay for itself,” arguing that its cost would “indirectly” be covered by savings from the new trade pact with Mexico.

Trump also said that “our Southern border is a vast pipeline for illegal drugs,” and he again asserted that criminals crossing the border were endangering American lives. The impasse over funding for the proposed wall is at the center of the partial government shutdown, now in its 18th day. The president said the government “remains shut down for one reason and one reason only: because Democrats will not fund border security,” per the Washington Post. Countered Pelosi: “The fact is: President Trump must stop holding the American people hostage, must stop manufacturing a crisis, and must reopen the government.” The White House has been considering the possibility of Trump declaring a national emergency, a controversial move through which he would divert military money and resources to build a barrier without congressional approval.

Like I said…the usual BS…..a “crisis” of his tiny brain….but the analysis…..at least that darn “caravan” crisis has been averted (another of those things from a tiny mind).  Nothing new in his rhetoric…..same crap he spread 2 years ago….why was an Oval Office speech necessary?

President Trump delivered an address on the “crisis” at the US-Mexico border Tuesday night—and fact-checkers started work as soon as he got to the word “crisis.” The Washington Post, which calls Trump’s description of the situation “misleading and bleak,” reports that the president said there is a “growing humanitarian and security crisis” at the border, but there is no new security crisis at the border and apprehensions of people trying to cross illegally have fallen from a peak of around 1.6 million in 2000 to 400,000 in fiscal 2018. The Post notes, however, that there is indeed a growing humanitarian crisis caused by the increasing number of families with children attempting to cross the border. More:

  • “The federal government remains shut down for one reason and one reason only: because Democrats will not fund border security.” The New York Times call this remark false, noting that while Democrats are refusing to give Trump $5.7 billion for a border wall, they have offered $1.3 billion for other border security measures.
  • “Our southern border is a pipeline for vast quantities of illegal drugs, including meth, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl.” Politico calls this statement “misleading,” noting that most fentanyl sold in the US comes from China, and while most heroin in the US does come from Mexico, the vast majority of it is smuggled through existing border crossings, so a wall would not significantly improve the situation.
  • “The wall will also be paid for indirectly by the great new trade deal we have made with Mexico.” The Post awards this claim Four Pinocchios on a scale of one to four and accuses Trump of misunderstanding the economics. of trade deficits. “Congress must still appropriate the money, and the trade agreement has not been ratified,” the Post adds.
  • “America proudly welcomes millions of lawful immigrants who enrich our society and contribute to our nation but all Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal migration. It strains public resources and drives down jobs and wages.” The AP considers this claim dubious. Researchers have found that immigration both legal and illegal ends up delivering a boost to the economy, though Americans without high school degrees don’t tend to benefit.
  • Senator Chuck Schumer, who you will be hearing from later tonight, has repeatedly supported a physical barrier in the past, along with many other Democrats.” Schumer and other Democrats did indeed vote for a fence along 700 miles of border in 2006, though it was far less substantial than the barrier proposed by Trump, who has called the 2006 version a “nothing wall,” the Post reports.
  • “At the request of Democrats, it will be a steel barrier rather than a concrete wall.” Politico reports that congressional Democrats have not requested a steel barrier—and have said the material used in the barrier does not affect the shutdown debate.
  • The AP notes that in their rebuttal, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi accused Trump of shutting down the government and “holding workers hostage”—but “it takes two sides to shut down the government.”

Kinda reminds me of the word ‘bullsh*t’ hidden under a fake sneeze……

I tried something different…..I took a sip of bourbon every time Trump used the word “Crisis”……and by 10 minutes into the speech (wait that was the length of the whole thing) I was already feeling tipsy….

This is a “crisis” that was generated in Trump’s tiny mind…there is NO crisis on the Southern border…

There was nothing substantive about the speech…..not even the opening was genuine……my analysis…..”Begging For Bucks”, the new Trump reality show in the making.

Down here, Gulf Coast, there is a fish that will bite on anything even an empty hook….we call them “Croakers” because of the sound they make when caught……these fish  remind me of the Trump supporters….they will bite on anything Trump feeds them….accurate info or a lie…..matters not to them.

Finally, the rebuttal delivered by Schumer/Pelsoi…..these two looked stiff and phony….they stood there making themselves appear like a famous painting, American Gothic”….I could not listen to their meanderings through the English language…..the Dems would have been better using AOC  for the rebuttal, the Left loves her and would be listening.

All in all another waste of time….but the bourbon was soothing…..