TRUMP WATCH #19: Watch what he does not what he Says

Because of Donald Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress, we interrupt the recently launched issues-based posts of MORNING PETE to return temporarily to TRUMP WATCH I didn’t watch his speech. I knew it would be a distraction from the issues. What I didn’t quite expect, however, were three things: That his handlers would be able to craft a speech that would “sound” conciliatory, even presidential, while at the same time would let his base know that he was not, in fact, abandoning his promises to them That he would be able to remain pretty much on script throughout this hour-long speech, the second-longest first speech by a new President to a joint session of Congress That online commentators for NPR* (and others) would (initially, at least) be taken in by the tone and critique it as if he were a “normal” president. This last point is the most troubling to me: the media that we depend on to hold Trump’s feet to the fire simply cannot fall into the trap of “normalizing” him. On this, I am in total agreement with Charles Blow’s December 19, 2016 end-of-year NY Times Op-Ed piece “Donald Trump, This Is Not Normal!” It was thus encouraging to read in today’s NYTimes a much more skeptical analysis of Trump’s speech, which I recommend that you read and then join me in getting past this temporary distraction and back to the issues. (Stay tuned!)  * CORRECTION: In my initial post of TRUMP WATCH #19, I inadvertently erred in stating that the online commentators on this speech to the joint session of Congress were from the NY Times rather than NPR. The link I provided was also incorrect; it was to the NY Times annotation of Trump's inaugural speech, not  to his speech to the joint session of Congress.