On 2 April, Trump surpassed himself in a little noted tweet about his hosting the Annual White House Easter Egg Roll. In the welcome speech he gave on the Truman balcony, addressing some 21,000 guests to the beloved event, a hallowed tradition since it was instituted 140 years ago and an occasion for family activities, he nicknamed the White House “tip tap shape” (or was it “tip top shape”? Hard to say). Seriously.
An honor to host the Annual @WhiteHouse Easter Egg Roll! pic.twitter.com/bOMJRK8FyK
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018
Take a minute to watch it. Note how he refers to the White House as “an incredible house, or a building, or whatever you want to call it, there really is no name for it”. No name for it? That’s weird, I thought it was called the White House. Then he concludes his thought: “it’s special, and we keep it in tip top shape. We call it sometimes ‘tip tap shape'”.
But wait, the speech gets weirder. He is telling kids and their parents that “we’ve never had an economy like we have now, we’re going to make it bigger and better and stronger” and to help MAGA, “our military will be at a level where it has never been before” with the $700 billion it just got from Congress.
That’s true of course, and no question, the rise of American military might coupled with the appointment of super hawks as advisers, like John Bolton who hates Iran and North Korea or David Navarro, the guy behind the trade war with China, is creating waves around the world. And fear, including among allies in Europe. But is it the sort of thing you say on a family occasion, when your speech ends with “Happy Easter”?
This apparently innocuous speech speaks volumes about the forma mentis of the US President. What a speech! It has to rank as the most un-presidential speech ever by a US President in the History of the United States.
Un-presidential and inappropriate to the occasion (an egg hunt on the White House grounds). Nicole Wallace, a writer and mom (who also happens to be a NBC TV anchor, obviously not someone Trump would like) tweeted that everyone should “re-watch Trump on the Truman balcony [of the White House] next to Melania and horror film bunny. He’s ‘out of control’ according to his own allies.”
Out of control? Yes, his tweets are accelerating, hitting on the usual suspects. In the last week, he’s taken repeated swipes at:
- Mexico, Honduras, immigrants (“caravans” about to break through “our WEAK BORDERS”; WE WILL PROTECT OUR SOUTHERN BORDER with the military); the Border Wall (needs to be built!), DACA (it’s the Dems’ fault), Republicans should use the “Nuclear Option” to pass “Border legislation”;
- the Department of Justice, the FBI for being slow in passing on documents to Republicans in Congress;
- Amazon (four times in a week, a record) and The Washington Post (not a newspaper, a “lobbying weapon”, it should “REGISTER as a lobbyist”); Amazon has been careful to stay mum – no response, very clever!
- the “Fake News Networks” CNN, NBC, ABC and CBS (“so much dishonest reporting that they should only be allowed to get awards for fiction!”
And of course, preening about his poll rating. 50%! 51%! Better than Obama!
Meanwhile, as noted by the UK Guardian, not a tweet about Stephen Hawking’s death (Obama in contrast, did) or for that matter, about the March for Our Lives. And nothing about embarrassing matters, like the scandal with the porn star Stormy Daniels or the shooting of Stephon Clark, a black unarmed man.
His silence speaks volumes! Ah yes, the White House and he are both in tip tap shape, sorry, I mean tip top shape…
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