SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
A supporter sits alone in the top sections of seating as Vice President Mike Pence speaks before President Donald J. Trump arrives for a "Make America Great Again!" rally at the BOK Center on Saturday, June 20, 2020 in Tulsa, OK.
I watched President Donald Trump's speech in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday evening for an hour and a half. I don't think I've ever watched one of his speeches live from the beginning to almost the end, but I did Saturday night.
The stakes are high, and it felt like I should see for myself how this miserable excuse for a human being was going to make his re-election argument.
A huge part of his plan, of course, was to pack the Tulsa arena to overflowing, 22,000 inside and 40,000 in an overflow area. That part failed miserably. No overflow crowd, and no packed arena. Trump was reduced to pretending, lying, that "bad guy" protesters outside had prevented people from coming in.
It was a big come-down for Dastardly Don.
But he soldiered on. And by "soldiered" I mean that he spent a quarter or more of his speech ad-libbing--forgetting the teleprompter--about his Commander-in-Chief speech at West Point a week or so ago. But even there, what did he talk about? Not the content of his speech, which he claimed went over spectacularly with the troops, of course, but instead, amazingly, astoundingly, a presentation about all that he had to endure up there with the West Point generals: the sun in his eyes, the heat, having to salute "600 times," but most of all, the way in which the "fake news media" fixated on how weak he looked walking down a short ramp from the stage to the ground. Trump went on and on about how, because he had "leather shoes," and because the ramp was like "an ice skating rink," he had to be very careful, with little steps, telling the general next to him who had the right kind of shoes that he should be ready in case Trump slipped.
If Trump was a stand-up comic instead of a President, this trivial, self-pitying story might become known as one of the best, long, stand-up comic routines of the year.
For much of the rest of his speech it was the usual racism, lies, distortions of the truth, attacking AOC and Ilhan Omar, calling out "Sleepy Joe Biden" as a tool of the "radical left," claiming that he has been the best President ever, promising that next year the economy will come roaring back and be the best ever, etc., etc., etc.
He also called for a decrease in testing for COVID-19, no lie, implying that the relentless, agonizing growth of new cases made him look bad.
I'll be surprised if Trump gets much of a boost in the polls after this speech. If he does, it'll be a bad sign. If he doesn't, we can expect him and the Republicans to become more desperate and more ridiculous with their lies and distractions, and maybe with more repressive actions to justify his militaristic, macho, law-and-order rhetoric.
Ridicule and satire. That's a key part of how we should take down this dangerous, pathologically-lying jerk. Donald Trump is a hideous clown.
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
I watched President Donald Trump's speech in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday evening for an hour and a half. I don't think I've ever watched one of his speeches live from the beginning to almost the end, but I did Saturday night.
The stakes are high, and it felt like I should see for myself how this miserable excuse for a human being was going to make his re-election argument.
A huge part of his plan, of course, was to pack the Tulsa arena to overflowing, 22,000 inside and 40,000 in an overflow area. That part failed miserably. No overflow crowd, and no packed arena. Trump was reduced to pretending, lying, that "bad guy" protesters outside had prevented people from coming in.
It was a big come-down for Dastardly Don.
But he soldiered on. And by "soldiered" I mean that he spent a quarter or more of his speech ad-libbing--forgetting the teleprompter--about his Commander-in-Chief speech at West Point a week or so ago. But even there, what did he talk about? Not the content of his speech, which he claimed went over spectacularly with the troops, of course, but instead, amazingly, astoundingly, a presentation about all that he had to endure up there with the West Point generals: the sun in his eyes, the heat, having to salute "600 times," but most of all, the way in which the "fake news media" fixated on how weak he looked walking down a short ramp from the stage to the ground. Trump went on and on about how, because he had "leather shoes," and because the ramp was like "an ice skating rink," he had to be very careful, with little steps, telling the general next to him who had the right kind of shoes that he should be ready in case Trump slipped.
If Trump was a stand-up comic instead of a President, this trivial, self-pitying story might become known as one of the best, long, stand-up comic routines of the year.
For much of the rest of his speech it was the usual racism, lies, distortions of the truth, attacking AOC and Ilhan Omar, calling out "Sleepy Joe Biden" as a tool of the "radical left," claiming that he has been the best President ever, promising that next year the economy will come roaring back and be the best ever, etc., etc., etc.
He also called for a decrease in testing for COVID-19, no lie, implying that the relentless, agonizing growth of new cases made him look bad.
I'll be surprised if Trump gets much of a boost in the polls after this speech. If he does, it'll be a bad sign. If he doesn't, we can expect him and the Republicans to become more desperate and more ridiculous with their lies and distractions, and maybe with more repressive actions to justify his militaristic, macho, law-and-order rhetoric.
Ridicule and satire. That's a key part of how we should take down this dangerous, pathologically-lying jerk. Donald Trump is a hideous clown.
I watched President Donald Trump's speech in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Saturday evening for an hour and a half. I don't think I've ever watched one of his speeches live from the beginning to almost the end, but I did Saturday night.
The stakes are high, and it felt like I should see for myself how this miserable excuse for a human being was going to make his re-election argument.
A huge part of his plan, of course, was to pack the Tulsa arena to overflowing, 22,000 inside and 40,000 in an overflow area. That part failed miserably. No overflow crowd, and no packed arena. Trump was reduced to pretending, lying, that "bad guy" protesters outside had prevented people from coming in.
It was a big come-down for Dastardly Don.
But he soldiered on. And by "soldiered" I mean that he spent a quarter or more of his speech ad-libbing--forgetting the teleprompter--about his Commander-in-Chief speech at West Point a week or so ago. But even there, what did he talk about? Not the content of his speech, which he claimed went over spectacularly with the troops, of course, but instead, amazingly, astoundingly, a presentation about all that he had to endure up there with the West Point generals: the sun in his eyes, the heat, having to salute "600 times," but most of all, the way in which the "fake news media" fixated on how weak he looked walking down a short ramp from the stage to the ground. Trump went on and on about how, because he had "leather shoes," and because the ramp was like "an ice skating rink," he had to be very careful, with little steps, telling the general next to him who had the right kind of shoes that he should be ready in case Trump slipped.
If Trump was a stand-up comic instead of a President, this trivial, self-pitying story might become known as one of the best, long, stand-up comic routines of the year.
For much of the rest of his speech it was the usual racism, lies, distortions of the truth, attacking AOC and Ilhan Omar, calling out "Sleepy Joe Biden" as a tool of the "radical left," claiming that he has been the best President ever, promising that next year the economy will come roaring back and be the best ever, etc., etc., etc.
He also called for a decrease in testing for COVID-19, no lie, implying that the relentless, agonizing growth of new cases made him look bad.
I'll be surprised if Trump gets much of a boost in the polls after this speech. If he does, it'll be a bad sign. If he doesn't, we can expect him and the Republicans to become more desperate and more ridiculous with their lies and distractions, and maybe with more repressive actions to justify his militaristic, macho, law-and-order rhetoric.
Ridicule and satire. That's a key part of how we should take down this dangerous, pathologically-lying jerk. Donald Trump is a hideous clown.