07 February 2019

Arrogance

Donald Trump gave his second State of the Union speech Tuesday night before a joint session of Congress. The oration was trademark Trump, full of lies and distortions, preening, and self-congratulations.

One passage in particular, however, will go down in history as one of the most arrogant and dishonest ever uttered by a President while delivering the annual speech:

"An economic miracle is taking place in the United States — and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations," he said. "If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation.... We must choose between greatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or vengeance, incredible progress or pointless destruction."

Well fuck you pal -- it's not an either/or situation.

Calling the present economy miraculous is an exercise in hubris. It's a good economy but not a great one right now. And the Trump investigations -- specifically the one conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who happens to be a Republican -- are not partisan. Mueller's was brought into being by Trump's own deputy attorney general.

As the Washington Post notes in an article about the State of the Union (link here), the 1990s saw a robust economy and intense investigations of the sitting President.

But that was when the President was a Democrat named Bill Clinton, so in Trump supporters' mind, that would be okay.

Armchair historians were quick to find something else curious about Trump's call to stop investigating him. Richard Nixon said much the same in his final State of the Union in 1974. Seven months later, he resigned in disgrace.

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