Editor’s note: Walt Amses is a writer and former educator who lives in North Calais.
[W]hile awaiting trickles of carefully spun news from the Vietnam summit between North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and our own Donald J. Trump, a deluge of tasty tidbits from Michael Cohen’s three days of congressional testimony, and some signs that spring is actually down the road somewhere, I’ve examined the president’s recent White House Rose Garden party to see if I’ve judged him unfairly. Spoiler alert: I haven’t.
For the better part of two years, journalists, comedians, late-night TV hosts and even scribblers such as myself have plundered the veritable treasure trove of material provided by the Trump presidency, often mining whatever humor we could from the chaos. But personally, I was beginning to feel that the chaos is profoundly less funny and the longer it goes on, the more apparent it becomes that we are quickly heading toward a dangerous tipping point from which it will be difficult to recover if we’re able to recover at all.
Case in point: I’m in the car half listening to NPR’s “On Point” when we segue to the White House Rose Garden for a presidential address, essentially designed to ease an anxious nation’s fears over an “invasion” of brown-skinned poor people desperately seeking a better life, even though the nation fears no such thing. In an extraordinary, rambling, often incoherent hour, Trump cited numerous reasons — many of them completely false — that billions of taxpayer dollars should be earmarked for his monument to self absorption along the southern border.
Although the stated purpose of the speech was to announce the president’s declaration of a national emergency to circumvent Congress and build his coveted border wall, his remarks ranged far and wide — touting his own accomplishments, often against all odds: “They” said it couldn’t be done; exaggerating the immigration “crisis” that he alone sees; and demeaning reporters asking questions he doesn’t like: “Sit down, you have an agenda, you’re fake news.” While none of this is necessarily new, it nonetheless felt more malevolent than previous, similar enunciations.
Perhaps the difference was that I listened to POTUS’ pronouncements in their entirety, a chilling departure from the limited sound bites and excerpts provided by our media venues. In fact, I found the whole affair so alarming that I wondered if my own, decidedly lefty bias was driving an out of proportion, disquieting response. My effort to check myself and unpack whatever prejudice I harbored for all things Trump found me giving him (some) benefit of the doubt, taking a second look at the speech, this time on YouTube, where I could both watch and listen; perhaps reevaluate my initial response.
So I viewed the entire hour again, stopping and rewinding in several places, determined to temper my subjectivity and if not change my mind, at least have my ultimate reaction based on an accurate assessment of what I saw and heard. I wanted my evaluation to reflect the factual observation of the address: precisely what the president said and how he said it, not necessarily if his statements were accurate, although I would eventually consider that as well.
My second first impression was if anything, more dire than the first. Frankly, it was and is difficult for me to understand how anyone could come away from watching the president’s performance believing the country is in steady, capable hands. No longer funny, his self-congratulatory impressions of his administration’s “accomplishments,” embellished by innumerable obstacles, were at once silly and scary, illuminating again his desperate need for validation and the bracing reality that he will relentlessly seek that validation at the country’s expense. I wondered if Kim was watching too.
Where he finds validation is even more troubling. After demonizing objective journalism, the president went on to praise Sean Hannity — “A terrific support of what I do”; Rush Limbaugh — “A great guy … can speak for three hours without a phone call”; as well as Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter, who recently said, “The only national emergency is that our president is an idiot.” Coulter remains in Trump’s good graces largely based on her 2016 prediction that he would win the election.
Whether he believes it or not is anyone’s guess, but Trump routinely chooses to cite anecdotal information, above any accurate statistics or scientifically compiled research if it suits his objective of the moment. Confronted by a question regarding the numbers of immigrants crossing the border, certified as the lowest in decades by his own Homeland Security Department, he claimed to have his own “stats” before telling the reporter “That’s because of us,” oblivious to the fact that immigration had been dropping years before his election.
Reminded that his characterization of El Paso, Texas, as one of the most dangerous cities in America when it has for years been one of the safest, his response was that it was “lies, all lies,” again resorting to his mantra of “fake news” for anything contradicting his own fictional narrative of an all-out invasion.
As difficult as it is digest all this objectively, especially given my instinct toward Trump, it is still impossible for me to imagine anyone believing he is not in completely over his head. Aside from blatant and constant fabrications, a pathological and petty need for reinforcement, and his utter disregard for governmental norms, he remains supported by a GOP apparently willing to ignore their own constitutional responsibilities and misguidedly, again placing party over country.
