Pirate's Cove

I did not see the State of the Union address, as I got home very late from working with a client. I do see that he called for bipartisanship

President Trump appealed for unity in his first State of the Union speech, declaring a “new American moment” even as many glum Democrats in the audience sat on their hands and refused to acknowledge economic gains or calls to honor veterans.

While Trump held firm on his demands for border security and used the grand setting to tout his first-year accomplishments, his call for bipartisanship on the thorny immigration debate met with stonefaced stares from top Democrats such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Democrats mostly sat on their hands, refusing to stand for the man who escaped from North Korea, a boy who planted flags on veteran’s graves, for the National Anthem, economic successes for Blacks and Latinos, or anything else. There were even some boos. Remember when Democrats and their pet media castigated Joe Wilson for yelling “you lie”? (and he was correct). Anyhow, here’s the unhinged NY Times Editorial Board take, for which they softened the web version of the sub head from “the reaction against his authoritarian impulses, assault on truth and cruelties great and petty has revealed abiding American strengths” to “The reaction against his presidency has revealed abiding American strengths.”

What the President Doesn’t Get About the State of the Union

There’s a level at which — when you consider that the president of the United States has cozied up to a foreign power that tampered with an American election, has repeatedly assaulted the country’s courts and its law enforcement and intelligence agencies, has defended neo-Nazis, has cried “fake news” while provably lying, and has been revealed so credibly to have paid off a porn star that it made news when his own wife chose to attend his biggest speech of the year — it’s hard to believe that the state of the union is strong.

Remember when Obama was caught on hot mike telling Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev to tell Putin that he’d have more flexibility after the election? Remember when Obama blasted the Supreme Court during a SOTU when they were sitting in front of him? When he said the police “acted stupidly?” Perhaps the Times’ board members missed that Stormy Daniels denied the affair. Let’s continue the fun

Yet Mr. Trump was correct to take note of the continued strength of the American economic recovery. He was right to note that the unemployment rate has continued to drop, and that some big employers have been raising wages. That’s all good. It means that Mr. Trump has done nothing so far to derail the slow, steady recovery that began under Barack Obama nine years ago. If growth continues or accelerates under this president, he will eventually, like Mr. Obama and the Federal Reserve, deserve a lot of credit.

You have to know that if the economy was down, they’d be blaming Trump, not Obama. Since Trump took office, the economy has started roaring, where it was just meandering on during Obama’s years, the worst post-recession recovery since the Great Depression. The Times is so #resist that they can’t even give Trump a bit of credit.

Mr. Trump deserved to take a bow for the degradation of the Islamic State — again, a result of wise continuity with the policy of the previous administration — and for tightening sanctions on North Korea. That’s progress, much as we might wish he’d refrain from bragging about the size of his nuclear button.

That’s about as much of throwing a bone as they can offer, a backhanded compliment.

Mr. Trump can’t be blamed for all the country’s woes. Yet after a year in office, he can now fairly be held accountable, together with the feckless and cynical congressional leadership, for making many of them worse.

Interesting. During Obama’s first term, all bad things were the fault of George Bush. They then go on a five paragraph rant about everything they hate about Trump, too much too excerpt. It’s the kind of unhinged one would witness more at Salon or MSNBC, particularly Excitable Joe Scarborough or Mika, than one would expect from the editorial board of one of the world’s leading newspapers.

How, then, can we say with Donald Trump as president that the state of the union is strong? Here, Mr. Trump deserves much of the credit: So far, the reaction against his authoritarian impulses, assault on truth and cruelties great and petty has revealed abiding American strengths. Despite the strong economy, Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of this presidency. Most Americans say immigrants strengthen the country, according to the Pew Research Center. A profound national reckoning is underway over the status and treatment of women. Voters have streamed to the polls in off-year elections, defying suppression efforts even in Alabama to register their revulsion at Trumpian politics.

What, exactly, does that national reckoning have to do with Trump? The majority of those caught up in sexual harassment and worse have been Democratic Party voters in industries that tend to lean Democrat.

If not exactly “woke,” this country might certainly be described as awakening, with a shot at shedding the civic apathy that has afflicted it for far too long. It is with backhanded gratitude that we might all thank President Trump for that.