There Ya Go
I’ve got to hand it to President Trump credit — he turned an historically yawnfest into entertainment Tuesday when he delivered his State of the Union address. I liked last week’s address, mostly because of the men’s USA hockey team being there, but also because Trump seized the moment in his own way. He knew he had the nation’s nearlyundivided attention Tuesday and surely made the most of it.
Besides his numerous first-person references, Trump did what every president does. He bragged about America. He touted the strength of our economy and other things he says he is responsible for. He singled out a veteran and a man who rescued more than 100 people from a devastating flood.
And he lied, fabricated and exaggerated his way for nearly two hours.
What? He lied (supporters might say he “stretched the truth.” Yes. Like I said, he did what every president does. And that’s why fact checkers bug the hell out of me.
The next day, no, that night actually, the Lefites were all over the president. They called him out on TV, on web sites and on social. My question is, why?
Every president does this. Nixon lied. Clinton lied. And those are just two of the most notorious examples that we all are all too well aware of. Those two lied to cover up their nefarious acts. Trump lied, not necessarily to cover up any transgressions he might have committed here and there — clear throat, Epstien — but to make us feel like everything in this country is absolutely copestic.
It’s not, and we all know it.
The act of fact checking is nothing more than the other side trying to act as the screen door in the other party’s submarine. The Dems rained all over Trump’s parade, just like GOPers rained on former President Obama so many years ago.
I don’t get it. It’s a total waste of time and just one more example of the incredible division in this country.
I get emails from a guy named Brad Thom pretty much every week. I don’t know him, but I’m pretty sure his roots are to the left. Last week, my inbox included another Thom diatribe. In it, he called Trump using fact checkers and news outlets that identified several claims from Trump’s speech that were described as false, exaggerated or misleading (those are nice words for lies).
Fact checkers, Thom wrote, challenged Trump’s words on everything from the economy and inflation, gas prices, violent crime claims, border crossings, energy and the environment and health care.
OK, but what is the purpose? Trump’s followers say they believe anything Trump says, and if they don’t, they’ll keep it to themselves. And it would the same if a Democrat held office. I mean, what did you expect? Did you think Trump was going to talk about all the bad things going in on this country? Did Obama or Clinton highlight the negatives? No. That’s not the way this works. But at the end of the day, fact checking isn’t going to get a president impeached. It isn’t going to make him look bad — presidents have a knack for doing that themselves.
I’m not a big fan of Trump the man. As president, he has done good things for this country; no one can argue that. However, man-to-man, I have zero respect for him — did you before he took office when he was just a businessman? I think he’s a misogynist (but not the first misogynist to grace the halls of the White House). I think he’s bigoted. I think he might be the most arrogant president this country has ever seen.
And he’s a liar — just like all presidents before him were.
You don’t have to fact check that. Going above and beyond …
This week, I’m giving a shout-out to Sue Schreier at the Tracy Post Office. According to Marlene Halffman, Schreier stepped up in a big way last Thursday before Halffman’s sister’s funeral, traveling to Mankato to pick up two urns containing the departed’s ashes. “This is what it means to live in a small town,” Halffman said. “It was really a miracle.”
