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The post-speech people are talking to Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) from the Finger Lakes region, which I call something close to home. Asked about how Trump can restart industry and create all the new jobs we need, and the $1 trillion infrastructure bit, Rep. Collins was stuck with tariffs and maybe repatriating profits from corporations. Nothing, in other words. The commentators noted that Trump didn’t...

It’s hard to know how the speech worked.  It’ll probably be well received by his base, since he didn’t trip over his tongue, and even waxed poetic at the end. At least as poetic as you can be talking about immigrants as “vicious, murdering criminals”, as Rachael Maddow characterized it. Rachael, Brian Williams, et al, comment about Owens’ widow being a high point. I was...

Trump Talks about strongly supporting NATO.  And then swears that money is starting to pour in from our partners. He conflates that money with respect from our partners, as if they are the same thing. He talks about respect as measured by the money our partners provide. NATO payments have been a perennial problem, but making money into respect is so telling, chilling, and sad....

Oh, Jeez. He introduces a widow of “a warrior and a hero, battling against terrorism, and securing our nation.” It’s Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens, the Special  Forces guy who died on the Seal Team 6 raid in Yemen. You remember? That raid that Trump authorized over dinner, and where Trump went to bed as the operation went pear-shaped? The raid where everything that...

“We must break the cycle of violence.”  The murder rate is growing, he almost says. “This is not acceptable.” Every American child should be able to grow up in a safe community, to attend a safe school, and to have access to a high paying job. But to create this future, we must work with — and not against; not against — the men and...

He hits his infrastructure bill. One Trillion Dollars! So Doctor Evil. Then he moved one. “I call on our people to repeal and replace Obamacare!” So much for being hard to do.  It’ll all be better, cheaper, faster, without inconveniencing anyone.  Good luck there. But it’s not like he’ll be inconvenienced. “Must protect all Americans,” is the applause line. “Save Americans from this imploding Obamacare...

Not quite live-streaming here, but I’ve got a DVR, I’ve got a really strong drink, and I’m watching damn Trump. First, he’s reading from the teleprompter, not off the cuff.  Not yet.  Is it wrong to be disappointed? Trump started with a pretty good unity message. I’m sure someone wrote it for him. He seemed unsure about many of the phrases, and he went back...

I know it’s hard to get upset with Republican hypocrisy, but why is it, I wonder, that the GOP is so set against free trade, almost across the board? If a question comes up, they dependably support monopolies, oligopolies, and any carefully protected and entrenched industry. There’s no industrial protection they won’t defend. Sure, they’re responding to their corporate overlords. Citizens’ United has corrupted the...