Below is my column in the New York Post on the State of the Union and how it played to the politics of division. It was about disunion and the need to demonize those with whom we disagree. The speech thrilled many in the media, but it captured how much we have lost in the traditions of this event from civility to unity.
Here is the column:
President Biden gave what could be his final State of the Union address Thursday.
While many presidents have used such moments to focus on the “union” of all Americans in our shared values and interests, Biden spoke to our disunion and seemed, again, to push the nation further apart.
Much of the rhetoric was familiar, if delivered as in a higher volume.
Biden raised the same demons he’s raised before, as he painted his opponents as threatening democracy itself.
As with the speech in Philadelphia and Valley Forge, Biden selected a backdrop of unity to highlight and play on our divisions. And many in the media were thrilled by the display.
The president attacked Trump and the Supreme Court, and compared political opponents to those presenting the same threat as Hitler in World War II.
After the speech, MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace gushed that it “was like a punch in the face to every Republican in the room.”
After repeating again that it “was a punch in the nose,” she added, “everybody knows this is a great speech.”
I beg to differ.
It was certainly a powerful delivery for Biden, but it was a rather poor State of the Union speech because there was little unifying in it.
Biden attacked his political opponents over a dozen times and even seemed to lash out at the Supreme Court justices sitting before him.
He returned to the themes of his infamous Philadelphia speech with the portrayal of his opponents (including millions of Americans) as representing an existential threat to the nation, like the Nazis or the Confederacy.
The hellish red backdrop was gone but in some ways it was more chilling precisely because this was a different setting.
This was supposed to be the State of the Union, where a president lays out what he views as the national interest, not just his political interests.
There is a difference.
Some Republicans showed the same lack of appreciation for this moment in heckling and shouting at the president.
I have written that such conduct should not be tolerated at the SOTU.
We’ve forgotten civility
While a guest was removed from the chamber and arrested for yelling at the president, some members continued to treat the SOTU like a cathartic primal-scream session.
The media also showed the ecstatic response to the rage and recriminations.
They praised Biden’s speech while largely ignoring the over-the-top partisanship and dubious factual claims.
What was lost is what we once had in these moments.
I can remember as a young page standing in awe of this chamber and its occupants.
Presidents and the members were every bit as partisan and bitterly divided.
However, at the SOTU they could still transcend the politics.
It was a moment that reminded the nation that we are still capable of reaching these moments of civility and decorum.
In some ways, the SOTU may have died when former Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up the address of former President Donald Trump.
Her drop-the-mic moment will have a lasting impact on the House.
While many in the media celebrated her lack of decorum and respect, she tore up something far more important than a speech.
She shredded decades of tradition of civility and any remaining residue of restraint in our politics.
Now media figures like Wallace are praising a president for giving a speech that is “a punch in the face to every Republican in the room . . . a punch in the nose . . . Everybody knows this is the message going into the next eight months, but the polls will soon reflect that, in this will be a real fight.”
It does not matter that Wallace has spent the last three years joining figures like Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) in condemning “Donald Trump’s speech inciting the crowd to go ‘fight like hell, or you won’t have a country anymore.’ ”
I condemned that speech on Jan. 6 when it was still being given.
However, for some, the rhetoric of division appears thrilling rather than threatening when delivered by the right party.
Now it is a matter of pride to see a president use the same rhetoric to “punch Republicans in the nose” and call on citizens to fight against tens of millions supporting his opponent.
I find no sense of joy or comfort in Biden’s State of the Union.
It remains the same politics of division.
It is not that Biden did not hear the call of history to unify a nation.
He just chose to ignore it.
Instead, the public was given scripted rage and choreographed demonstrations.
The question is what the public will now demand.
We can seek candidates who reach for something greater than we are at this moment . . . Or we can all just punch each other in the nose until the whole country is left bloody and broken.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
As they say, “One picture is worth a thousand words.”
Vitriolic speech is a game-stopper for anyone who should hope to calm a fragmented and uptight nation. Indeed, the state of the Union is not good.
https://external-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/emg1/v/t13/8485222000860644869?url=https%3A%2F%2Fa57.foxnews.com%2Fstatic.foxnews.com%2Ffoxnews.com%2Fcontent%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F03%2F720%2F405%2FBidenSOTU.jpg%3Fve%3D1%26tl%3D1&fb_obo=1&utld=foxnews.com&stp=dst-emg0_q75_s584x328&ccb=13-1&oh=06_AbEJ_l6ZWRbnsDXzcC9gbAKBvLcpZVm1dvh2cpX6aKfcYg&oe=65EDFB18&_nc_sid=e17101
Ron. Everything after the question mark is not needed for the link. (or so I’ve been told);)
Strange but often when men (and occasionally women) get older and dementia starts to set in, they get angrier and far more unpleasant. Especially those that were unpleasant before. I never thought Biden was pleasant and that it was always a facade. The cover of that facade was ripped off during the SOTU address. He is a mean, unpleasant, entitled, not very bright person who has grown up in politics and does not have people skills of someone brought up in the real world. It might be the skills of a gutter rat since he has lived in congress since election at the age of 29.
We need a higher age limit of 35 for congressmen (or women) 40 for senators and 45 for Presidents. It seems the people that have had a business, or started one, or worked at a profession or skill for a significant period of time usually have had time to develop people skills and real leadership and often seem to be the more civil people in politics and more respectful of the Constitution, Governmental procedures and precedent. Not always.
The skills this president has would not have allowed him to survive in the private sector without family intervention and pull. Maybe the same for Trump but frankly I think Trump is smarter. And Trump did build a world class company but he did not start at the bottom either.
Frankly I can’t see any recent president in my lifetime since 1948, republican or democrat, who would have given that speech at the SOTU.
Now I say this applies to the US.
If you ever watch sessions of Parliament in the UK, it seems like a free for all, especially during the Question Hour. The only time it seems really respectful is when the King or Queen visits.
Geb, not sure if you saw Argentine pres Milei’s speech at Cpac, but in it he said something related to your point: free markets tend to prevent wars and violence generally because, while A may hate B, A needs B in the market. So A’s hatred won’t be acted on because primarily A is looking out for his own economic interests first.
OldManFromKS,
Well said.
I saw it in Afghanistan. Rival tribes who hated each other, would still conduct business together. If there was a war between them, no one makes money.
And with us there, all the money coming from USAID, they formed some very unusual alliances. With all that money flowing, they would of been stupid not to.
Good analysis, now apply same principle to Government employees voting against their own paychecks and benefits packages.
The same is true of ACTUAL free speech which whether Milei mentioned or not are self evident from the fact of his speech itself.
You can not have free markets without free speech.
You can not have a free society without free speech.
You can not have a decent and rising standard of living without free speech.
When people can not voice their differences through speech – they do so through violence.
Finally when the level of acrimony in speech is high, you know that the divides have become large and bitter.
free markets tend to prevent wars and violence generally because, while A may hate B, A needs B in the market. So A’s hatred won’t be acted on because primarily A is looking out for his own economic interests first.
This is Trumps foundation of foreign policy
The Abrahams accords is exactly that. Proven effective. So effective, Jew’s and Muslims were becoming trading partners. The odd entity (cant say nation) out was quickly becoming Hamas. One motivating factor in October 7th
GEB said: “We need a higher age limit of 35 for congressmen (or women) 40 for senators and 45 for Presidents.”
Nonsense. At this time, that would do nothing but further alienate younger voters. I do not believe that there is any viable short term solution. The long term solution (feasible or not) is to repair the education system (and I think the only effective repair to that would be to rip nearly all of it out and build over from scratch). A responsibly brought up and educated electorate could be trusted to choose good representatives. An electorate brought up and raised like the vast majority of current voters cannot be trusted to select a good local dogcatcher, let alone officials who canare capable of running a nation, and that problem will persist no matter how you try to rig the qualifications for candidates for office.
A responsibly brought up and educated electorate could be trusted to choose good representatives.
I believe it is the power of the Federal Govt.
The Federal Govt really needs to be confined to enumerated constitutional power. Stripping federal power will make seving in the legislature much less attractive.
At the State level we do not see the same age rot. But their power is severely limited by not being able to spend more than they have. Hence hanging on into their 80 far less prevalent.
Iowan2 said: “The Federal Govt really needs to be confined to enumerated constitutional power. ”
Exactly. The Constitution does not contain any of these words: “school”; “educate”; “education”; “student”
So why in Hell has there been a Federal Department of Education since 1960? To usurp, by means of coercion, bribery, and other dishonorable methods, the authority of the States (and consequently of parents) to determine what and how their children should be taught. Disbanding that Department, and entirely removing that authority from FedGov, would, over time, contribute greatly to restoring a Republic that embraces and celebrates Liberty.
GEB,
I would only add presidential candidates have had to serve in the military. Then, knowing what it really means to have to face the possibility of going into harms way, they are much more reluctant to send others in harms way.
Career politicians dont have that issue with wasting lives as long as it is someone else or their children doing the dying.
@GEB
Very much agreed on raising the age limits. Even the best of most of our younger demographic are nowhere near being fully-actualized adults at 30 these days. Perhaps we should revert voting age to 21, too, with the draft gone.
Have seen friends post that they LOVED the speech, and that he was like a ‘rock star’.
But they’ve just been conditioned to see it like that, because most people didn’t.
(Best Adderall taxpayer money can buy. But by the next day, already worn off again……)
When you love something that is hate filled, bitter, and packed with lies – that speaks poorly of you.
Vote for RFK, Jr.
Manny said: “Vote for RFK, Jr.”
I will probably vote for Trump just to try to throw a road block of some kind in the path of the destructive path we are on now. I will say that I could be tempted to vote for RFK. Jr. for the same reason, if I thought he had a chance of winning. I have some serious philosophical differences with him, but I am about halfway through reading “The Wuhan Cover-Up”, and the man definitely has some serious credentials in terms of knowledge, integrity, and analytical capability.
Number 6,
I agree.
I would gladly vote for a third or Independent candidate if I thought they had a real chance at winning.
But here we are.
I am not voting for Trump per say, but against DEI, wokeism, and the crazy leftists of the Democrat party.
John Howard Wilhelm, Ph.D., Economics Univ. of MI @JohnHowadWilh1 Dec. 14, 2023
The Trouble with Polling Third-Parties
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/12/11/the-trouble-with-polling-third-parties/ is a good
read, but one that ignores the actual realities on election day see: WHY INDEPENDENTS
ARE UNLIKELY TO VOTE FOR THIRD PARTIES IN ACTUAL ELECTIONS in:
http://www.nationalrenewal.org/node/49 .
I’m going to be very positive here this a.m.
1. Bravo to House Speaker Mike Johnson, who remained professional and reserved behind Biden, (vis-a-vis Nancy Pelosi, who made ugly faces behind Trump’s back, in addition to waiting for a full camera shot, in front of millions of viewers, to rip up his speech, as noted by Professor Turley).
2. Bravo to SCOTUS members, sitting quietly and expressionless as Biden discredited their value in adjudicating and interpreting the Constitution, as, after all, Biden knows more than they do, having plagiarized himself through his higher education).
3. Bravo to the MSM, who, with their insider information, declared that Biden would not call out Trump by name. They were correct. How clever, as Biden instead, campaign-style, caustically referred to his “predecessor,” to raucous applause.
4. Bravo to the few media sites that bothered to “correct” Biden’s misleading and/or false “facts” in his speech, e.g., that most of the good economy is RECOVERY from the pandemic; that our inflation number is not even close to the “lowest in the world;” that much of the jobs were merely RE-establishment of jobs lost during the pandemic; that the WH quietly and 4-weeks retroactively reduced/revised the reported (and “lauded”) jobs growth by 125,000 jobs for January, as well as December; that the US-China reduced trade deficit is due to Trump’s imposition of higher tariffs on China, not Biden (who continued Trump’s policy); that while the trade deficit has dropped, it was still $1.7 trillion in 2023, compared to $984 billion before the pandemic. (some statistics from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/03/08/joe-biden-state-of-the-union-fact-check/72843176007/
5. Bravo to those fellow commenters here, who have remained civil and reserved in their responses to some of the hateful nonsense and attempts to discredit the good professor Turley on a daily basis, while freeloading on his blog site. Thank you. yours truly, lin
“plagiarized his way,’ Not “plagiarized himself.” sorry
Lin,
As always, a classy lady, a classy comment!
I toast you with cup of coffee in hand!
This was a floured up version of his Philadelphia speech without the red lights and U.S. Marines. His inner circle see the abysmal poll numbers and probably realize that it is 4th and long for Old Yeller so they ratcheted up the volume and the “saving democracy” theme. Hell, he couldn’t even read a button he was holding and say Laken Riley’s name correctly, let alone take any responsibility for letting in the 29-year-old Venezuelan thug who murdered her in Georgia.
Excess murder and rape through immigration reform.
Were you really better off 4 years ago? We were headed into the worst of Covid. Had Trump handled Covid well, he would have easily been reelected. But instead he handled it poorly, lying over and over that Covid would just go away:
“when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero” (Feb 26, 2020)
“It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear” (Feb 27, 2020)
“It’ll go away” (March 6, 2020)
“it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away” (March 10, 2020)
“It’s going to go away” (March 12, 2020)
“It will go away. You know it — you know it is going away, and it will go away” (March 30, 2020)
“It’s going to go away” (March 31, 2020)
“It is going to go away. It is going away” (April 3, 2020)
“It did go — it will go away.” (April 7, 2020)
etc.
In private calls to Bob Woodward, Trump admitted “I wanted to always play it down” “This is deadly stuff” “It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu.”
But publicly he lied “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.” “This is a flu. This is like a flu.”
Hundreds of thousands of Americans died of Covid in 2020.
Four Years Ago Today:
March 9, 2020, a Monday.
Stung by headlines already questioning the administration’s response to the looming Covid threat, Trump spends the day tweeting defensively.
The Dow plunges 8%.
https://bsky.app/profile/fouryearsagotoday.bsky.social/post/3knahjbw5ej2p
Planned Parent/hood, for one.
Nome one thing that Trump should have done.
One caveat. Name One thing recommended by the CDC or any Fed. agency that did not get done.
One thing Trump should have done: Quarantining everyone who was arriving back in the US from China.
One thing recommended by the CDC that didn’t get done: public briefings from the CDC — “the White House took over the pandemic response, including all public communication, and forbade the CDC from doing its own briefings” (https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/581322-documents-reveal-new-details-of-trump-political-interference-in-covid/)
Want some more? Read: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/10/06/trump-covid-19-24-times-trump-administration-violated-cdc-guidelines/3636834001/
He stopped travel from China and you people called him racist and xenophobic.
Get real, bro
He did not quarantine AMERICANS returning from China.
Want to read more about how he failed to follow CDC guidance?
Here you go — https://coronavirus-democrats-oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.coronavirus.house.gov/files/2022.12.09%20Preparing%20for%20and%20Preventing%20the%20Next%20Public%20Health%20Emergency.pdf
Don’t like reports from Democrats?
Try this, “Four ways Trump has meddled in pandemic science” — https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03035-4
ATS – an effective quarantine would have required shutting down US boarders to EVERYONE starting in November – before anyone knew this was arround. and sustaining that total isolation possibly forever – without any mistakes ever.
Biden can not even stop illegal immigrants at our southern border
You are all wet. The Democrats tried to stop any Trump success in fighting the vaccine. That is not to say that what Trump wanted to do would have helped. Most of it wouldn’t help, but the Democrats are lying. Trump wanted to stop the Chinese from entering the country, and the Democrats called him xenophobic. Now, they claim he should have even kept Americans from returning home. Democrats are duplicitous. Trump produced a vaccine in record time, something laughed at by Democrats, but Trump succeeded. Democrats delayed its use. Again, the Democrats were duplicitous. The vaccine was mishandled, not by Trump but by Democrats who wanted it given to children who weren’t at significant risk from the disease.
There were more deaths from Covid under Biden than Trump, yet Biden was pushing vaccines onto people who already had the disease and then moved the vaccine on children. Biden said the vaccine would prevent transmission of Covid, which is another lie.
Covid was an impossible virus for any President to manage. Trump didn’t do the best job possible but did a better job than most American politicians could do. The Democrats failed and destroyed families with their policies.
We listen to the idiot above who can’t even post with an alias. He is as duplicitous as the Democrats but far more stupid.
S. Meyer, that is false:
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-have-more-americans-died-covid-under-joe-biden-donald-trump-1661528
David, the quality of your research stinks.
“There were more deaths from Covid under Biden than Trump”
My comment is 100% true. Your link doesn’t demonstrate critical thinking skills. How can you fail so badly?
S. Meyer, your comment is your unsubstantiated opinion. My link provides are careful analysis.
Quit just Making Stuff Up.
David, reread my quote. “There were more deaths from Covid under Biden than Trump.”
Now, use your critical thinking skills to determine what is being said.
Next, go to your link and read carefully. Using your critical thinking skills, you will see why you are wrong and that you are an easy mark to be duped.
My comment was 100% correct. Your comment needs correction.
S. Meyer, right.
David, your comment came in as a reply under your name rather than mine. You said, “S. Meyer, right.”
If you said S. Meyer is correct, I would be assured of your meaning. Can you clarify?
“One thing Trump should have done: Quarantining everyone who was arriving back in the US from China.”
He did. It was already too late.
We know that Covid was in the US by very early january 2020 – while democrats were salivating over faux impeachment 1.
It is likely that Covid reached the US in November.
Regardless, it was way before anyone took notice, and by the time they did it was too late.
“One thing recommended by the CDC that didn’t get done: public briefings from the CDC”
Because words have magical disinfecting properties ?
You do not seem to grasp that those CDC “policies”
Made this WORSE.
The idiotic “flattening the curve” nonsense, is why Covid is still with us today.
Everyone poo pooed herd immunity for the first year plus.
But the fact is that nothing else worked.
Vaccine immunity to covid has a half life of 6-8 months.
Immunity from infection lasts about double that long.
If you want to stop Covid you must create immunity in more than 95% of the world in less than half of the half life.
That was impossible via vaccination.
Every other measure to thwart covid merely prolonged the inevitable – if you were lucky.
Anyone still trying to defend public health experts today is a certifiable moron.
John Say said: “Anyone still trying to defend public health experts today is a certifiable moron.”
Anyone who even questions whether US “public health” experts and/or officials are operating in the true interests of the public, or in the interests of the Deep State and its sponsors, would be well advised to take the time to read Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s book “The Wuhan Cover-up”. Caveats: I am not finished reading the book, and I may or may not agree with all of his conclusions by the time I am done (I have already identified differences with several elements of his philosophy), but the scope of the book goes far beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is relentlessly referenced and foot-noted – it is anything but a conspiracy theorist just winging his opinion. I am about as far from being a fan of the Kennedy family as it is possible to be, but, so far, I am very impressed with the scholarship, integrity, and courage displayed in the book.
Name one thing that was done that did not actually make this worse.
The core thesis – “flatten the curve” is why covid is now endemic.
Flatten the curve was propaganda. It was pointed out the day it was announce. Flattening the curve, had exactly the same number of deaths. The area under the line was exactly the same.
He did not advise anyone to drink bleach. He pointed out that a promising treatment involved “bleaching your blood”
As you do not know what that means – it means hyper oxygenating it.
We call certain chemicals “bleach” because those chemicals release oxygen, which then bleaches whatever is exposed to that oxygen.
Bleaching means cleaning/disinfecting with oxygen.
And contra morons on the left – there was a real promissing treatment that was properly called bleaching, that did not involve drinking clorox.
But left wing nut morons like you use words to lie and distort rather than to actual learn, inform and enlighten.
“lying over and over that Covid would just go away:”
To the extent that it has, that’s exactly what happened.
Way more lives lost under Biden than Trump, despite vaccines and therapeutics,
You lose. Nice try though.
No, it has NOT gone away. It’s become endemic. Do you understand the difference?
And of course there were more deaths under Biden (in office for more than 3 years, where there were already many people infected when he took office) than under Trump (where Covid started in his last year of office and no one was initially infected). The rate of increase was much greater under Trump.
Correct – covid has become endemic.
That MIGHT have happened anyway.
But we assured that outcome with our “flatten the curve policies.
As to your rate of increase argument – that is mostly true – and will nearly always be true at the start of anything.
However later variants of Covid were far more infections that the original Wuhan version, and Biden had FAR steeper spikes that killed far more people in shorter time frames and then burned out quickly, only to be follwed by a new even more contagious variant.
The best chance for “beating” covid was actually under Trump. But it would have required all nations in the world doing the opposite of what was done. Ignoring Covid and letting it burn itself out.
It is likely that would not have succeeded. But efforts to slow covid down ASSURED that herd immunity could never be reached.
This is all basic math. You can simulate it on your computer.
Tr
Jeff: “Way more lives lost under Biden than Trump, despite vaccines and therapeutics,”
+++
Please allow a slight correction. “Way more lives lost under Biden than Trump, BECAUSE OF vaccines and therapeutics,”
Typical of those on the left.
Biden took every oportunity to weaponize Covid – how well did that work ?
The FACT is that the policy choices regarding Covid – both under Trump and Biden – as werll as in the rest of the world are why it has NOT gone away.
The core thesis – from some teenagers science fair project in the Bush administration of “flattening the curve”
Is actually BAD SCIENCE and a mistake as any sane epidemiologist knows, as well as any mathemitician worth the name.
We have NEVER succeeded in making a respiratory virus “go away”.
Covid – and myriads of other diseases are proof that man is not god, that we are puny and powerless compared to the universe.
Had the world avoided efforts to play god, and instead focused on what was to atleast a small extent possible – protecting those most vulnerable – even that something we were NOT going to be able to do well, then it is likely that Covid would have burned out – and be gone by now.
Instead our efforts to thwart it have created the conditions necescary for it to stay arround forever.
The only good news is that nature – not man, punishes predators that wipe out their prey, while rewarding the evolution from predation to symbiosis. Covid has become less deadly – because the laws of nature drive that.
You seem to beleive that different words would have magically made everything better.
I would bet that 4 years later you still hold to the delusions that
Covid did not come from a bio lab in China
Covid came from wet markets.
Masks work
Lockdowns work
social distancing work
That the vaccine worked
That if we had all just followed fauxi’s advice like lemmings no one would have died
and that it is all Trump’s fault.
A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”
It was a nothingburger.
Average age of death, including the overwhelming frauds, was 82 years old.
IT WAS NOTHING BUT A FLU.
Fauci murdered most of them with remdesivir and ramming their lungs. The others are LIES, died from motorcycle crash, test for covid covid killed him !
The covid tests are TOTAL FRAUD, ALL OF THEM.
Wake up you moron, Trump was correct. Too bad no one listened, except those of us who do listen, and can think for themselves.
This was a Democrat party version of a Trump rally.
With a captive audience of both houses of congress. That’s so bicameral.
People voluntarily attend Trump rallies, they are not constitutionally mandated.
For a lot of people in the Democrat Base, particularly the college-educated white folks, anger can be a defense mechanism to cognitive dissonance. The same way that an alcoholic gets mad when you point out that the problems he is having at work are because of his alcoholism, not because his boss is just picking on him. The drunk wants to keep on being a drunk, and he has been telling himself that he is just a fun-loving person, and he isn’t hurting anybody.
Similarly, many in the Democrat base have an inner need to be “good people”, and when it has become pretty obvious that so many things they sincerely believe in are actually harmful to themselves and others, anybody pointing that out to them, is subject to their anger. For example, the Legacy Press – Trump calls them “fake news”, and they are. But that really stings their pride, because they have been pretending that they are merely honest purveyors of the Truth. So, they get mad at Trump, and then they go out and lie some more. And that goes for anybody who disagrees with their World View, so MAGA Republicans are characterized as racists and white Christian nationalists, and whatever, to not have to face the fact that half the nation, or more, think they are nuts.
“To maintain the belief system AFTER disconfirmation. with even more fervor-
“5. The individual believer must have social support.” While an individual might be unable to resist the pressure to abandon their belief in the face of disconfirming facts, a group might be able to support each other to maintain the belief.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Prophecy_Fails
The problem is, that the Democrat “social support” group is so large – in the tens of millions or even more, and the people who should be providing information about disconfirming facts, like the Legacy Press, are either well-paid misinformers, or true believers themselves. It will be very difficult to change their minds from the outside. Something has to happen on a personal level to affect them. All the rest of us can do, is to continue to present disconfirming facts for them, hoping that a few may become disgusted enough with themselves to wake up.
That is one source of the anger, but not the only source. Some anger is simply fear that a new regime will cost them money, power and influence. Some anger is because a lot of people on the Democrat side are just angry, hateful people to begin with. Anger is how they drive their car, how they interact with others, how they do their jobs, how they deal with stress- they are just miserable people, in general. Finally, there are some of the higher-ups, who use anger the way that Big Brother used Two Minutes Hate, in 1984. As a political tool. To wit:
The political purpose of the Two Minutes Hate is to allow the citizens of Oceania to vent their existential anguish and personal hatred toward politically expedient enemies: Goldstein and the enemy super-state of the moment. In re-directing the members’ subconscious feelings away from the Party’s governance of Oceania and toward non-existent external enemies, the Party minimizes thought crime and the consequent subversive behaviors of thoughtcriminals.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Minutes_Hate
1984 was intended as a warning, not a howto manual
You read my mind on that one! I have been intending to write, “For Democrats, 1984 is not a dystopian novel, but a playbook!” I just kept forgetting! But yes, I think you are right. Orwell was a very practical person, and he had good common sense. How Big Brother stayed in power, as fiction, would work well in non-fiction, too. To make it worse, the Two Minutes Hate has become 24 Hours Hate, with CNN, MSNBC, The NYTs, etc.
Here in the “New United States” we have outrage, absolute outrage, that Biden dared to call a MURDERER illegal. We had a Reuters “reporter” ask Biden if he regrets using the term illegal to describe the guy that MURDERED Laken Riley. Please note that she didn’t ask Biden if he regrets his policy that allowed, no, encouraged, the MURDERER to enter the country, supported the sanctuary movement that allowed the MURDERER to stay here after being arrested TWICE.
Illegal immigrants are involved in criminal activity less than native born.
Perhaps we should switch policies. Round up all native born people and ship them out, allow all illegal aliens to stay. Crime would go way down.
Illegal immigrants are involved in criminal activity less than native born.
I live in a city with a packing plant.
Hispanics never get charged with crimes.
No charges no statistics.
Pull on the other one, it has bells.
Illegal aliens are responsible for the commission of excess murder and rape. Some, Select [Black] Lines Matter
“Illegal immigrants are involved in criminal activity less than native born.”
I’m sure that’s a lot of solace to the loved ones of Laken Riley.
That is not the point. What happened to Laken Riley is a travesty. But to that say we should restrict immigrants because of what this one person did is to not recognize that native born commit way more crimes than immigrants.
Crime is not a justification for immigration policies.
But that does not change the FACT that you are WRONG about the facts.
Most of us understand as an example that the porus border has resulted in an explosion of drug use – which increases crime.
But what you do not grasp is that cartels push not merely drugs but foot soldiers through the border.
The claim that you made – that illegal immigrants commit less crimes is actually true – under a narrow set of conditions that we have not had for 20 years.
That is not the point. What happened to Laken Riley is a travesty. But to that say we should restrict immigrants because of what this one person did
F U
10 million illegals allowed into the Nation is NOT IMMIGRATION.
Immigration is a process.
JUST FU
Everything you post is a lie.
What we are experiencing is not immigration
Is this a lie
trump has been found legally liable for sexual assault on one person.
trump’s company has been found to have committed fraud.
trump said “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
illegal aliens commits crime at a lower rate than native born citizens.
Should our immigration policy be overhauled? Absolutely. But it won’t be because the cult leader trump wants them to defer making any changes so Biden can have no success. Yea, that makes sense.
Prove that illegals commit less crimes per person than citizens. What are the stats? Not to mention that inner city DAs, where the most people and the most crimes are, won’t charge an illegal as a way to keep the guy off of the radar of a potential (and accidental) ICE detainer.
Of course when a gun crime occurs one death is too many, even though guns are a right granted in our founding documents, but 1000 deaths committed by ILLEGALS is not something to drive a policy?
Hey Anonymous, why the need to defend illegals? Why the desire to have 10 million illegals cross our border? Why the wish that 10, 20 or 30 million uneducated, untrained, non-English speaking people come here? Please explain this leftist insanity to the rest of us.
Now Anonymous, what if 40 million Chinese arrive, 10 million from Brazil, 20 million from India, 10 million from the ME, 10 million from Europe, 20 million from Africa for a total of 110 million? Would you then secure the border? Or is 10 million ok but 100 million is too much? If 100 million is too many then please tell us what your cut off number is.
THEY WANT TO DESTROY AMERICA, the left, China, Iran and Russia, but especially China and our own leftists, want to destroy America.
HullBobby,
Well said.
And that is why our enemies like Russia, China, Iran, the drug cartels, Hamas all want another weak, Biden admin.
It benefits them the most.
That was once true under very specific conditions that do not exist and have not for a long time.
Pretty much everywhere in the world significant illegal immigration correlates strongly to significant rises in violent crime.
In the EU even increases in legal immigration have seen violent crime spike.
Does it really need to be explained to you that when violent drug cartels are running the border, that the incentives will change ?
John Say,
In regards to legal immigration, Sweden used to be one of the safest EU nations.
Now, it is one of the most dangerous.
They have go and no-go areas. The no-go areas are of course where the legal immigants are.
No surprise there.
I remember reading Atlas Shrugged back in the 70’s and there was this one scene, where a train goes into a tunnel, when it should not have, I think it was a coal-burner, and the whole train full of passengers got asphyxiated. Ayn Rand went thru the list of passengers, and described how each of them was in some way responsible for the conditions which led to the disaster.
I can not help but think of that when I read things like –
“The researchers found that, within that time-frame, a total of 3,039 offenders were convicted of rape+ against a woman in Sweden — nearly all of whom (99.7%) were men. According to the researchers, Swedish-born offenders with Swedish-born parents accounted for 40.8% of the offenders. But, strikingly, almost half of the offenders were born outside of Sweden (47.7%). Of those foreign-born offenders, 34.5% were from the Middle East/North Africa, with 19.1% hailing from the rest of Africa. As a percentage of all convicted perpetrators, therefore, 16.4% were foreign-born individuals from the Middle East/North Africa, and 9.1% were foreign-born individuals from Africa (excluding North Africa).
How far does this signify over-representation? On the basis of population records kept by the official agency Statistics Sweden (SCB), approximately 20% (19.7%) of the Swedish population are foreign-born individuals. Among those convicted of rape and perpetrated rape, the foreign-born account for 47.7% of those convicted — so they are over-represented by a factor of 2.4.
https://unherd.com/2021/04/swedens-migrant-rape-crisis/
=====
Well, women tend to vote liberal/left, so guess what? Looks like some chickens have come home to roost. Or more appropriately, some roosters has come home to get their rooster groove on.
“The president attacked Trump and the Supreme Court, and compared political opponents to those presenting the same threat as Hitler in World War II.”
JT, Thin skin much. When faced with the truth of what the trump party (formerly known as the Republican Party) has become you lay blame at the person telling you truths you don’t like to hear.
No Anonymous, the speech was ugly, lie filled, slurred and nothing but confrontational. You can crow because you think it was well received, but all people saw was an angry old man yelling at all of us to do his bidding.
Biden has no charm, no charisma, has no political skills ala Reagan, Bill Clinton or Obama and the old man will not sway anyone other than those in his 37% that were starting to waver. He can’t walk, can’t talk, has hair plugs and an awful haircut, old man eyes and teeth and an ugly persona. He is toast.
Just pointing out some truths that you are obviously immune to. Did you love that trump speech were he said…
“Nobody can explain to me how allowing millions of people from places unknown, from countries unknown, who don’t speak languages,”
“We have languages coming into our country. We have nobody that even speaks those languages. They’re truly foreign languages. Nobody speaks them, and they’re pouring into our country, and they’re bringing with them tremendous problems, including medical problems, as you know.”
The guy doesn’t know about Spanish? A language used by hundreds of millions of people? Yea, that’s who I want as president, the knowledge of a pre schooler at best.
Not even the diverse languages from Central and South America that are spoken by native peoples and few others.
I think we at over 140 nations we are escorting into the US. Living in an area with lots of illegals, I know teachers that say the language barrier is huge. not just Spanish. Spanish? First they have to teach the Hispanics Spanish, before the can teach English.
“The guy doesn’t know about Spanish? A language used by hundreds of millions of people? Yea, that’s who I want as president, the knowledge of a pre schooler at best.”
I have no problem with the use of Spanish or any other language. My problem is with the ignorant who know no history and lack understanding of culture yet speak with their mouths full, not knowing what they are talking about.
For a quick history lesson, look at Canada and the two official language problems it had, then move your eyes to Ukraine and the Russian-speaking areas. I have nothing against any other language, but we need not import the problem of multiple official languages when one already exists.
He said they were unknown languages. Sheeeeeeesh. The guy is a blabbering idiot and you defend him.
If someone is not stopped at the border, and manages to enter the US illegally – do you KNOW what language they speak ?
Keep flogging that straw man to death.
If you weren’t so stupid, you would know what Trump said. You don’t. We understand. You are an idiot and not worthwhile responding to, but I do.
I will paraphrase what Trump said to ensure you understand who and what he is talking about.
‘The illegal immigrants have languages from all over the world and some of those languages are unknown to many Americans.’
Bug, you are worthless like the refuge in the street.
Wow you’re a real moron, you think only spanish speakers have illegally crossed the border. Are you near brain dead and also ignorant like biden ? I’d say so.
Thanks idiot. For being so stupid you can’t see Trump is 100% correct.
20 years ago DEMOCRATS supported ENGLISH and a secure border, now we have fools like this guy saying we are bad for wanting a main language and a secure border.
As Turley pointed out – this is a campaign speech – not a SOTU.
Democrats have ceased to govern. Everything has become about capturing and holding power, and exercising it for personal and political benefit.
This is an argument ?
If the greatest sin of Trump’s presidency was failure to accurately state that the majority of illegal immigrants speak spanish
Trump still wins hands down over Biden.
But that is not what Trump said.
Trump speaks for hours at a time extemporaneously – while democrats and the MSM are breating a giant sigh of relief because Biden managed a lied filled and hate filled 1hr speech without falling off stage.
Regardless read your own quote.
Where did Trump say that no illegals spoke spanish, or that he did not know about spanish ?
If your going to microparse someone else’s words – you attacks should atleast be consistant with what you quote.
Even a preschooler could figure out that all illegal immigrants do not speak spanish.
Beat that straw man to death
HullBobby,
Without a doubt, it was a vile speech. His yelling only made him seem not only like the “Get off my lawn!” old man, but weak.
It is the only thing they have. They have to use the FUD narrative to get their base angry to have any chance to win. And it is going to be this way from now until Nov.
They certainly not run on his policies.
Yesterday’s jobs report was a awake up to Biden and the DNC. Or it should of been if they knew how to read it.
I do not know that Vile is the correct description.
Calling it a campaign stump speech is accurate.
What matters is that it was highly inappropriate to the SOTU.
I am guessing. but I suspect that was calculated.
Biden LOTS of rest and prep for this.
We know that those with diminished mental capacity get angry.
And the ability to articulate anger is among the last to go.
I am GUESSING that enromous effort was put into preparing Biden for the SOTU.
That the focus of that effort was NOT giving a great SOTU speech.
But getting Biden to be able to give a speech behind a podium for an hour without having a brain fart.
I suspect schedule shifting, drugs, and even writing a speech that Biden stood a chance of delivering without faux paux
Many people noted that the speech was a pack of lies.
But there are other characteristics of the speech – Biden did NOT list much in the way of specific facts, he did not use names.
There are a long list of gaffes Biden has made, and the speech seemed tailored to work arround or avoid things Biden gets wrong.
If you do not name someone – you can not get the name wrong and conjure up ghosts.
The speech was an angry rant with pretty much nothing in the way of specific, nothing to Trip Biden up.
What have they become ?
The party that is not completely nuts ?
The party that does not want to trans the kids ?
That does not want porus borders and massive drug problems ?
That does not want endless wars ?
That does not want high taxes ?
“They praised Biden’s speech while largely ignoring the over-the-top partisanship and dubious factual claims.”
Wait, I thought this was about Biden. Wasn’t it trump that lost 60+ court cases because of a lack of facts? or more precisely, evidence?
Ah, the old 60+ court cases cliche. There were no cases that adjudicated anything. Not one true, independent audit.
Trump and his ilk brought cases to the court. They were tossed. Why? Lack of evidence. I’m not a lawyer so I’m not positive about this, but if you bring a case and allege certain facts, don’t you have to present evidence to support your facts? 3 years on and the evidence for fraud is?
How many trump lawyers faced discipline for their actions in court? I think it is something like 17 and counting.
Trump did bring cases. You can not toss a case for lack of evidence until a hearing – trial has taken place, after discovery, after witnesses testify.
In all your claims – that did not occur. So the FACTS refute your own argument.
Many hear including myself have presented a long long long list of evidence of Fraud.
None of that was ever allowed to be presented in court.
Contra your claim – cases were not dismissed for lack of evidence.
They were dismissed for mootness, laches, standing, ripeness.
Theses are all legal doctrines that have nothing to do with facts or evidence.
They are important legal doctrines, but they are also easily abused.
You can tell when they have been abused when out of 60 cases NONE got to trial.
That’s false. Multiple cases adjudicated the facts.
“Nearly all the suits were dismissed or dropped due to lack of evidence or lack of standing, including 30 lawsuits that were dismissed by the judge after a hearing on the merits”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-election_lawsuits_related_to_the_2020_U.S._presidential_election
ATS already knows all of this.
But it is a great example of how ATS is forced to lie, because actual facts don’t exist to support his fever dream.
Think about that. FORCED to lie.
That’s why Obama/Biden, enlisted our allies 5 eyes spy agencies to spy on 36 Trump campaign workers. The use paid informers to “bump” Campaingn staff. Making contact to provide the illusion of foreign contact.
Trump is the cleanest, most honest President we have had in a long time. That’s why the Swamp is trying to get rid of him
Trump’s a pathological liar:
https://projects.thestar.com/donald-trump-fact-check/index.html
“That’s false. Multiple cases adjudicated the facts.”
That is false and wikipedia is false.
Judges can not dismiss cases prior to a hearing where witnesses are called, evidence is presented and examnined and cross examined on the basis of “facts”.
All forms of summary judgement against the plaintif require assuming that all facts in dispute are as the plantiff claims they are.
That is the basic requirement for summary judgement.
Summary judgement is the court determining that even if all of your allegations are true, the LAW does not give you the right to proceed.
The total absence of evidentiary hearings – of witnesses, testimony, exhibits means that the case was decided on based on interpretation of the LAW, not the evidence.
You can spin this all you want – but it is becoming an increasingly common left wing lawfare tactic.
Alex Jones, Gulliani, Both the Trump civil cases were characterized by the courts elmination of a hearing on the merits.
That is one of the more powerful reasons they will likely get tossed.
Lack of standing. That is to say, that courts denied Americans’ civil rights to present evidence of probable cause to justify a democratic audit. Demos-cracy us aborted in darkness.
Trump has lost court cases because of misapplication of the law – NOT the facts, not evidence.
In courts evidence is presented and weighed at hearings and trials. The cases you reference did not get to trial.
Without a trial claims regarding evidence are just that – claims.
Increasingly we are seeing the same tactics used more broadly.
Defamation claims – where the defendant is denied the oportunity to present evidence that what they said was true.
Fraud cases where the judge finds fraud without a hearing on the evidence.
WHAT ABOUT THE -10%- ???
What a contrast to the promises of unity in “Biden’s” inaugural speech, promises which were so moving to Professor Turley and others. They weren’t moving to me because I knew at the time that they were lies. And although I appreciate, and agree with, Professor Turley’s assessment, written in a far more stark style than his usual which, to me, indicates the profound negative impact of the address, let’s not act like this is a “both sides” thing. President Trump delivered SOTU’s that were unifying. It wasn’t his fault that Nancy ripped up his speech. Trump has a rough and ready way of talking but he did genuinely work to better the country FOR American citizens.
I agree that the GOP should have shown more decorum. Sinking to Nancy Pelosi’s level is not a W.
But I object to the statement that the solution is “seeking better candidates.” Trump proved himself in the face of relentless opposition. We had four years of peace and prosperity. His record is hard to top. Instead, people need to grow up and face the fact that we have two candidates. RFK, Jill Stein, and Nikki Haley are just distractions. They are not real candidates because they have zero chance of winning. All they can do is sap votes from Biden and Trump and assuage the ego’s of those who know how terrible “Biden” is but can’t bring themselves to vote for someone they see as a cartoon character. Neither Trump nor Biden will live forever or be president forever, although Biden has a better chance of doing so since his vim and vigor seem to be renewed every time his earlobes switch from attached to unattached and back again as they do on the daily, an unprecedented feat in human history. But people need to think, not of the candidate, but of the America they want beyond 2028. Both “Biden” and Trump represent a kind of birth canal for our country. It is a dark, tight, unpleasant space we will have to move through to begin our Renaissance. We are in the unusual and perhaps unprecedented place of having two presidential candidates with proven track records. Which America do you want? The one where our rights and freedoms are treated as privileges to be doled out with an eye dropper to those favored by the regime, a place where political opponents are persecuted and jailed, a place where illegal immigrants enjoy the fat of the land while American citizens are neglected? Or a place where everybody enjoys the freedoms GUARANTEED to them in the Constitution?
It is pointless to lament our poor choice of candidates when we have, after all, chosen them. I remember when Berlusconi won in Italy, someone wrote “every country has the candidates it deserves.” America hasn’t sunk into the mire because of Trump or “Biden.” We chose Trump and Biden because we have sunk into the mire. We are poorly educated and proud of it. Our solution to everything is brute force, whether in word or deed. Now the choice is simply between the guy who believes in America and the guy who wants to destroy America. That’s it.
Then charge him! If he has the “mental state of willfulness” to deliver that speech, he should be charged. The DOJ can’t have it both ways.
There isn’t sufficient evidence to charge him. Unlike Trump, he didn’t obstruct the investigation. Unlike Trump, he didn’t refuse to return documents when asked for them. Unlike Trump, it didn’t require a warrant and a search to get the documents back. Hur was wrong in his description, but that doesn’t create new evidence out of thin air.
Those are all lies.
nancy and the uniparty politburo had one tense troubling moment during the SOTU when joe momentarily slipped into reality and told the actual truth.
Thankfully their fears were assuaged when emperor joe quickly recovered, slipped back into his usual delusional state, and continued with his usual raging mansonesque style of dictatorial hubris declaring that all is well with America as he expedites the unicommie party’s fundamental transformation of The Constitutional Republic into old soviet stalinist style communism and anyone that doesn’t believe that or even worse, refuses to capitulate and subject themselves to this current state of The Union is an enemy of the state and should suffer the consequences.
Once again our beloved leader proved that in spite of doubts about his mental state, joe biden has all the mental acuity of a 25 year-old corpse and is the only politician in America who has the understanding and foresight to be worthy enough to hold the nuclear codes.
Immediately after king joe’s slip, nancy was seen on her phone scheduling media time with the propaganda ministry to tamp down any prohibited thought crimes like seeing the reality of beloved leader joe’s regime for what it really is that might arise from his dangerous unapproved telling of actual truth.
real president jill also took measures to make sure an incident like joe’s truth telling indiscretion never happens again by sending our fearless leader to bed without his nightly beddy-bye ice cream cone.
The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they’re lying, they know we know they’re lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them.
– Elena Gorokhova
“The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they’re lying, they know we know they’re lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them” describes Trump and the GOP.
Oh I beg to differ, if having an opinion contrary to the state mandated opinion under the new stalinist soviet constitution, (formerly known known as The United States Constitution) is:
1. even still allowed
2. won’t get you arrested, and
3. won’t trigger malicious death cult persecution prosecutions.
Trump is eons away from being able to lie like liar in chief rain man, (formerly known as joseph robbingus biden.)
Exhibit A
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
“In some ways, the SOTU may have died when former Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up the address of former President Donald Trump.”
Any time a libtard tries to take the high road on anything, I bring this up.
We are involved in a civil war. Those want a strong leader with a love of the United Stares vs. those who seek to change the basic foundations of our country. Those who want a statue with moving parts, governed by them, to spew their pernicious and divisive doctrine.
And what a choice in November. God save the Republic
That shrill, jacked-up campaign speech was like a garishly dressed, hideously ugly prostitute. You know its phony. You know its repulsive. And you can’t understand why anyone buys it.
P.S. Whoever jacks up JB needs to lower the dose. The contrast to addled JB was too stark.
I know a woman who was a nurse for 41 years. She says the same thing. Definitely on something.
Also a lot of makeup, covering wrinkles.
Russ
Luminess Airbrush Spray-On Silk Foundation – He looked like a Powdered Doughnut