So called President Donald Trump gave a speech on Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference or CPAC in which he once again came across as authoritarian, isolationist, and self serving. Here are some of the highlights:
Early on he insisted that his audience sit down. He joked that the “dishonest” media would report that his audience never gave him a standing ovation during the speech but would leave out the part that the audience “never sat down.”
He defended his statement that the “fake news” is the enemy of the people. He blamed the media for changing the story to take out the word “fake”claiming Trump is against the media in general. He insisted he is only against the “fake” media not the media in general. He initially didn’t identify a specific media outlet that he claimed was fake other than “Clinton News Network,” refraining from referring specifically to CNN. Later he added ABC, CBS, and NBC news claiming they reported “fake” polling regarding the election. He blamed the fake news media for creating a narrative that dissuaded people from voting for him because the media made it sound like he had no chance of winning.
Trump called for an elimination of confidential sources used by media for reporting. If someone wants to say horrible things about President Trump, they should say them to his face, he said. (Likely a call to whomever within the intelligence community is revealing his ties to Russia through leaks of information to the media.) He acknowledged and seemed to welcome that the required revelation of sources by the media would effectively shut down the news, leaving nothing to report.
Trump actually aligned himself with extremely liberal democrat Senator Bernie Sanders. He pointed out that Senator Sanders is correct on trade, that the U.S. is being burned on bad trade deals. He said that he and Sanders agree on trade and that he actually likes Bernie.
Trump exclaimed that America under his rule will put its own citizens first. For too long, he said, America has traded away its jobs to other countries, and defended other nations’ borders while leaving U.S. borders open. In response to shouts from the crowd he promised again to build the wall on the Mexican border. But he emphasized that the first goal is to get the criminal illegals out of the country.
Trump claimed that 6 trillion dollars has been spent in the middle east implying that money should have been spent on Americans in the U.S. He said that if presidents of the past 15 years had laid on the beach for their entire terms, the country would be better off.
Trump renewed his promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, citing millions of people who were happy with the plans before the legislation was passed. (I was one of those people but I never lost my plan under Obamacare.)
Trump promised to lift restrictions on shale oil, natural gas, and “clean” coal. He insisted miners would be going back to work. He said on the one hand that he would put the regulation business out of work. But on the other hand, he claimed we need regulation for environment and safety. Trump said the Dakota Access pipeline would be built with American steele (neglecting to mention that his daughter’s clothing line is made in China).
He claimed that major corporations like Ford, Sprint and Intel are already adding jobs locally in places like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina due to Trump’s anticipated policies. He said it is time for people to get off welfare and get back to work. He said, “you’re gonna love it!”
He plans to substantially upgrade the military more than ever before, but insisted we would never have to use it because “no one is going to mess with us.” He believes in “peace through strength.” In his very next sentence, in an obvious contradiction, he said he has asked the defense community to develop a plan to totally obliterate ISIS. He said he would never apologize for keeping our people safe.
He promised to reduce taxes, reduce regulations, support police, defend our flag, rebuild the military, take care of veterans, fix trade deals, cut spending, promote values, rebuild inner cities, bring back jobs and dreams, and protect the second amendment.
While he acknowledged that we need to get along with other countries he said that there is no global anthem or global flag, and he his not President of the Globe, but of the United States.
What's the Premise? 