In many people's eyes, Trump's Fourth of July speech in front of Mount Rushmore was a colossal flop. Instead of bringing Americans together by reminding us of our collective stake in this country, Trump chose to play culture war "whack-a-mole." However, don't tell that to religious right hate group the Family Research Council nor its president, Tony Perkins. To hear them talk, Trump's speech was a wonderful revelation (which of course would reduce the requirements for wonderful revelations):
Given by any other man, it would have been considered one of the greatest speeches of our time. A triumph of American exceptionalism. But it was not any other man standing under the granite faces of Mount Rushmore on the night before July 4th. It was Donald Trump. . . .
What happened Friday night, under the red, white, and blue bunting of a Fourth of July weekend, was defining -- not just for this president, but for a hurting country. The scars of 2020 already run deep, with the last several weeks splitting wider old wounds. For most of us, it's a time of uncertainty we've never experienced, a fear for our nation that's never felt more real. It was with that backdrop that President Trump flew to South Dakota and spoke from the heart.
He reminded us about the miraculous story of America, about the men and women of every race who bled and fought to make us the brightest light the world had ever seen. "No nation," he said, "has done more to advance the human condition than the United States of America, and no people have done more to promote human progress than the citizens of our great nation."
. . . Passionate at times, eloquent at others, it was the speech of a man who realized it wasn't just his presidency at stake -- but his country. And yet, the same hypocritical voices who demand the very leadership President Trump displayed eviscerated him for it afterward. "Dark," "divisive," "traitorous," and "combative," the media's reaction was full of this ridiculous insistence that patriotism isn't just partisan -- it's racist.
Trump did no such thing.
It's obvious that whoever wrote this hot mess for Perkins must have taken some wonderful narcotics while watching Trump's speech. And then doubled down on the same narcotics while writing the summary of Trump's speech
It would have been lovely had Trump's speech been what the Family Research described it to be. But it wasn't. Instead, it turned out to be the personification of Trump's presidency and, if Stormy Daniels is to be believed, his sex life - overhyped, overblown, petty, divisive. at times highly sluggish, then too rapid, and so completely unsatisfactory that it brings to mind the commercial with the tagline of "I could have had a V8."
If we overlooked the fact that Trump ignored healthcare advice - there were 7500 people in attendance with no social distancing and very few masks (something the Family Research Council omitted). there were so many other things wrong with his his speech. To begin with, it contained more dog-whistles than a kennel.
From Time Magazine:
At the foot of Mount Rushmore and on the eve of Independence Day, President Donald Trump dug deeper into America’s divisions by accusing protesters who have pushed for racial justice of engaging in a “merciless campaign to wipe out our history.”
The president, in remarks Friday night at the South Dakota landmark, offered a discordant tone to an electorate battered by a pandemic and seared by the recent high-profile killings of Black people. He zeroed in on the desecration by some demonstrators of monuments and statues across the country that honor those who have benefited from slavery, including some past presidents.
Four months from Election Day, his comments amounted to a direct appeal to the political base, including many disaffected white votes, that carried him to the White House in 2016. . . .The speech and fireworks at Mount Rushmore came against the backdrop of a pandemic that has killed over 125,000 Americans. The president flew across the nation to gather a big crowd of supporters, most of them maskless and all of them flouting public health guidelines that recommend not gathering in large groups.
And speaking of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump barely mentioned it, except for to say that the country was its way to a tremendous victory. He said this with full knowledge that cases were alarmingly rising in several states. (Editor's note - NOW we are presently at three million cases in the country)
Lastly - yes I am being petty - Trump's delivery was hideous. He sounded as if he wanted to be somewhere else, reading the speech on the teleprompter with a mentally vacant monotone and then at other times rapidly slurring his words. It all led this moment in which people thought he said Operation Desert Storm took place in Vietnam.
No, Trump didn’t say Desert Storm was in Vietnam, but that doesn’t change the fact that he mumbled and stumbled in talking about a “swift and sweeping” victory. It’s obvious that his cognitive ability is faltering. pic.twitter.com/QpfsfahM2t— Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) July 5, 2020
Maybe it's just me, but I think that America's in serious danger if our criteria of great speeches have moved from The Gettysburg Address or I Have a Dream to red meat ramblings by a guy with a bad spray tan whose tone shifts between mellowly high to "I gotta get through this before I piss my pants" hyper.
Contrary to what Perkins and FRC claimed, this wasn't a great speech. It wasn't a good speech. Even calling it mediocre is too polite. It was a speech by a man who is scared because for three years he has been coasting on the work of the Administration before his. And now when he is facing a true test of his presidency, he's failing big time in front of the nation and the world.
As well he should.
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