Trump boldly asserts that he has learned nothing these past two years

[riversedge]

The ugly part was watching his fans cheer him on.





Trump boldly asserts that he has learned nothing these past two years

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-boldly-asserts-that-he-has-learned-nothing-these-past-two-years/2019/03/04/e85aa238-3eb8-11e9-922c-64d6b7840b82_story.html?utm_term=.392d3b01a254




March 4 at 5:38 PM

“A great empire and little minds go ill together,” said Edmund Burke.

The United States is not quite an empire, but one little mind was on full display during President Trump’s speech this past weekend to the Conservative Political Action Conference. It was two hours of Trump unplugged, unleashed, uncensored, unreconstructed and unhinged. It was a vivid reminder that the president of the United States, when he is most comfortable and authentic, is a rude, arrogant crank yelling profanities at the television. Correction: through the television.

Most Americans, I suspect, would judge the speech as bad and rambling. To a former speechwriter, it was like watching a wound drain; it was like eating toothpaste canapés, it was like holding centipedes on your tongue; it was like hearing a ringtone of “Macarena” during a funeral, and no one can find the phone.


As the organizing structure of the speech, Trump skipped from enemy to enemy — a taunt here, a mock there. Hillary Clinton made an appearance. As did Robert S. Mueller III and Jeff Sessions, and Central American refugees, and weak-kneed generals, and socialist Democrats, and university administrators, and those horrible people who miscount inaugural crowds.

This last point — that the size of his inaugural crowd was maliciously underestimated by evil forces — seems to be the Ur-myth of Trumpism. It was the subject of his first order as president compelling a minion (poor Sean Spicer) to utter an absurd falsehood on his behalf. Given the flood of lies that has followed, it must have felt darn good. Those who are willing to believe this original lie are the truest of believers — a core of supporters who will stomach absolutely anything.

Trump’s CPAC speech was a bold assertion that he has learned nothing — absolutely nothing — during his first two years in office. Not manners. Not economics. Not geopolitics. Not simple decency.

The speech seemed like the rhetorical spawn of Fidel Castro and George Wallace, combining demagoguery with bigotry in equal measure. And it confirmed Trump’s place as the worst speaker in presidential history............................





:large

President Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor on Saturday. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
By Michael Gerson

[Scurrilous]

1. K&R

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I love this:

"Most Americans, I suspect, would judge the speech as bad and rambling. To a former speechwriter, it was like watching a wound drain; it was like eating toothpaste canapés, it was like holding centipedes on your tongue; it was like hearing a ringtone of “Macarena” during a funeral, and no one can find the phone."

[PJMcK]

3. For a moment, forget about Trump

His followers haven't learned a thing in the past two years!

This is the bigger problem we face. Our fellow citizens are blinded by their prejudices and ignorance and they have no interest in improving themselves.