Did you watch Trump’s address? Oh, it was magnificent—remember how you felt watching the producers of La La Land nobly hand Moonlight the Oscars they had rightfully won? This was twice as inspiring. Perhaps three times as much. Trump was kinder. Gentler. He wore a new tie. He read the words drafted by committee and placed in front of him well. And they were good words. “The challenges we face as a Nation are great. But our people are even greater.” Marvelous. “We must build bridges of cooperation and trust—not drive the wedge of disunity and division.” Wonderful. “I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American victims. The office is called VOICE—Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement.” A bit odd, this, in its implication that immigrant crime is a menace. The fact-checkers will investigate. But what an acronym! What a speech! There was even a widow—one made fresh by a botched SEAL raid that our president said Monday* his generals, not he, had just “wanted to do.” “They lost Ryan,” he said presidentially. The tears of Ryan’s wife, the president’s smile—this, we are told by those paid well to tell us such things, was the best part.
The Washington Post’s Robert Costa reports Wednesday morning that the White House is shocked the con was this easy.
Establishment pundits and the television press, winded by the new strain of covering political lies and the impact of policy as though they substantively matter, have again sent Trump a message they delivered during the more polished moments of his campaign: Walk and talk like other ordinary politicians, and we’ll hand you one of the passes we give them so freely. And the media’s generosity has not gone unappreciated.
*Correction, March 1, 2017: This post originally misstated that Trump made his comments about the SEAL raid on Tuesday. He made them in a Monday interview that aired Tuesday.
