{"id":2735,"date":"2020-02-05T08:50:38","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T13:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2735"},"modified":"2020-02-05T09:21:04","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T14:21:04","slug":"not-when-youre-angry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/05\/not-when-youre-angry\/","title":{"rendered":"Not When You\u2019re Angry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The \u201cSend\u201d Button<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a wise saying, never write a letter when you\u2019re angry.\u00a0\u00a0In the modern age it\u2019s been translated to \u201cdon\u2019t push the send button\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0So I\u2019m writing today\u2019s essay under duress, it\u2019s been burning in my head since somewhere in the middle of the State of the Union address last night.\u00a0\u00a0The speech made me more than angry: listening to it was like having surgery under local anesthesia; you know you have to do it, but you so much want to get up and leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help me stay seated through the Presidential fiction I tried looking at Facebook.  That didn’t help, my Trumpian friends were so excited they couldn\u2019t contain themselves.  \u201cI guess Democrats don’t want a good economy,\u201d one said, while others were overjoyed at the shocked expressions of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  I\u2019m a thumb typist on my phone, and my thumbs hovered over four-letters.  Don\u2019t push \u201csend\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Fictional Economy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It started with Trump\u2019s economic claims.  The lies came fast and furious; so quickly you couldn\u2019t fact check one before three more were spouted.  But the overall impact was to somehow paint a picture of an America where everyone had wonderful jobs, were paid living wages, and doing better than they ever had.  That vision is just not true, and the multiple fact-checking news services list one false claim after another (NYT<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One real Trump truth was that unemployment is very low.  Sure there are lots of jobs, and it\u2019s a damn good thing.  Many of those jobs aren\u2019t paying a living wage; it takes a couple to even keep up.  Here\u2019s a fact that the President didn\u2019t tell you:  40% of Americans can\u2019t handle a $400 emergency bill; the car breaking down, an uncovered medical expense, or a hot water heater going bad (CNBC<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My only guess is that either my Trumpian friends are \u201camong the blessed\u201d doing well, or they so hope to be, that they are willing to throw everyone else under the bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Health Care Program?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There were lies about a non-existent Republican health care program, lies about protecting pre-existing conditions from a President in Court right now trying to rip it away, lies about cutting pharmaceutical costs.  Lies easily refuted, but lies that many Americans will say:  \u201cif the President says it, it must be true\u201d.  It\u2019s not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t blame Democrats for their incredulity.  The President claimed credit for prison reform, family leave, and reduced drug prices; all bills generated from the Democratic House majority, with some still sitting on Mitch McConnell\u2019s desk waiting for Senate action.  At first I thought the \u201cwomen in white\u201d were giving the President the universal hand signal of disrespect, instead they were giving him a three-fingered salute for House Resolution Number 3, \u201cThe Elijah Cumming Reduce Drug Costs Now Act\u201d to reduce drug costs.  It\u2019s there on Mitch\u2019s desk too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeding the Sharks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Then there were the \u201cred meat\u201d parts of the speech.  I expected them: \u201cI will protect your right to have a gun\u201d and \u201cschool choice to free children from government-run schools\u201d.  The best one, \u201ca Constitutional Amendment so children can pray in school,\u201d which isn\u2019t even a thing.  Children can pray in school, but adults can\u2019t force their religion on kids in school, the real goal of the Christian right.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And \u201cI have brought peace to Israel and Palestine,\u201d a proposal brought to you by nepotism, as little Jared read books  \u201cfor three years\u201d and saved the world.  Even his buddy in Saudi Arabia isn\u2019t buying into it, much less the Palestinians and the other Arab states.  It was more red meat for the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Rush Limbaugh, one of the miserable founders of American divisiveness, gets the Presidential Medal of Freedom?  And Melania hangs it on his neck, right there in the House of Representatives?  Who gets the award, I guess, is the President\u2019s prerogative, but to do it in the House chamber is Trump \u201cpissing in the corner\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Uncle Don Show<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And then there was State of the Union \u201cGame Show\u201d.  It was perhaps the lighter aspect of the hour:  what will be the next unexpected gift?  Check under your seat, maybe there\u2019s a car key.  First, a thirteen year old gets to look forward to the Space Force, and we find his one hundred year old grandfather, a Tuskegee Airman and career Air Force veteran, gets a retirement promotion to Brigadier General.  Then, a thirteen-year-old girl gets a scholarship to a private school.  A border guard gets promoted to a supervisory position, and a mother of a premature baby gets funding for her pre-natal care program. Finally, the climax, the President brings a soldier back from war to reunite with his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would have a lot more impact if he were bringing all the troops back from war to reunite all the families.  He\u2019s not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tearing it Up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Some Congressmen got up and left.  I can\u2019t blame them.  Speaker Pelosi was caught, she couldn\u2019t leave, and she couldn\u2019t stand the constant barrage of falsehoods.  \u201cThat\u2019s not true\u201d and \u201cthat\u2019s our program\u201d came out of her mouth: she was skewered by lie after lie with no way to respond.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The speech wasn\u2019t worth the parchment it was printed on.  The Speaker demonstrated what the President did to truth:  she tore it into pieces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The \u201cSend\u201d Button There\u2019s a wise saying, never write a letter when you\u2019re angry.\u00a0\u00a0In the modern age it\u2019s been translated to \u201cdon\u2019t push the send button\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0So I\u2019m writing today\u2019s essay under duress, it\u2019s been burning in my head since somewhere in the middle of the State of the Union address last night.\u00a0\u00a0The speech made me … Continue reading “Not When You\u2019re Angry”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNot When You\u2019re Angry : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The "Age of Trump" reached a new low last night. 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