Tanks but no tanks

[Joe Guy]

I’m pretty sure I heard Trump say that if George Washington was smart, he would have been King.

[Lord Jim]

If one knew nothing about Donald Trump, and just took this as a stand-alone performance, I wouldn't find a whole lot to criticize about it...

He didn't use it as an occasion to brag or self-aggrandize, or to attack his political opponents...

He didn't use it as an opportunity to whip up negative, toxic impulses in his audience, (as he always with his ego-trip rallies) and he didn't focus exclusively on the military...

And the sections of the speech that were devoted to the military branches seemed much more in the nature of a tribute to their historical accomplishments then bellicose saber-rattling...

I also didn't find the use of the aircraft to be anywhere near as garish or ostentatious as I had feared would be the case (three or four planes or helicopters flying overhead accompanied by a little history lesson about the branch of the armed services that they represent is really not analogous to a Soviet-style Red Square May Day parade of military might...)

All of that having been said, the problems with the speech arise when you place it in the context of Donald Trump and his words, deeds and overall record...

Viewed through that contextual lens, the speech was a breath-taking exercise in cynical hypocrisy:

The five-time draft dodger encouraging the youth of America to consider military service...

The man who repeatedly publicly attacked a Gold Star mother paying tribute to the sacrifices of Gold Star parents...

The draft dodging-President whose obsessive hatred of a genuine war hero has led him to repeatedly publicly attack him even months after his death, extolling the courage of war heroes...

The man who blatantly panders to racism as a matter of on-going political strategy singing the praises of participants in the Civil Rights struggle...

The President who systematically undermines the rule of law and shreds the Constitution (and demands the same of the senior members of his regime) praising the American tradition of opposing tyrants...

And so on and so on...

The speech is replete with examples that draw a glaring contrast between the message and the messenger...

[Bicycle Bill]

Was that a particularly warm rain in Washington DC yesterday?
Maybe it was God pissing on President Bone Spurs.

-"BB"-

[Crackpot]

It’s campaign season so it’s time for him to start looking more reasonable.

[Burning Petard]

Yes Scooter, he did. US Army also rammed the ramparts. For those who had better things to do, his speech was mostly a brief historical summary of the success of each US military branch (starting with the Coast Guard, ending with the Army) each segment concluded with a fly by of a few air craft from that branch. The part that dropped Scooter's jaw:

"In June of 1775, the Continental Congress created a unified Army out of the Revolutionary Forces encamped around Boston and New York, and named after the great George Washington, commander in chief. The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown.

"Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rocket’s red glare it had nothing but victory. And when dawn came, their star-spangled banner waved defiant."

That seems to be the one place his speech was consistent with the behavior we have come to expect as 'normal' from POTUS.

snailgate

[Lord Jim]

Here's what I find interesting about that water covered plexiglass...

I'm not surprised that after The Donald began speaking that no one on Team Trump ran out to clean it off...

They would have been much too terrified to do that; Trump doesn't encourage that kind of initiative...

But here's the thing...

Before Trump came out and began to speak, the pool coverage crew, (for an event like this, the stations don't all set up their own equipment; there's one single feed that they all share) must have tested the set up, (the camera shots, the, mike, the lighting) and had to know well in advance of Trump beginning his speech just how bad this was going to look...

That means that somebody in a position to do something to fix it knew well in advance about the problem and made the decision to do nothing about it...

That person could have been the director of the pool coverage... (who either didn't direct somebody on the production team to wipe it down, or told them not to wipe it down)

Or it could be that the coverage crew didn't have access to the plexiglass, (it was there for security, maybe they couldn't touch it) and the coverage director either didn't tell Team Trump about the problem so they would know to fix it, or the director did tell them and somebody in Trump's camp made the decision to let it go, knowing how bad it would make the boss look...

But the bottom line is, not matter which scenario you posit, somebody had to make the deliberate decision to let the broadcast begin knowing just how bad the situation with the glass was, and deciding to do nothing about it...

The way the logistics and protocols of something like this works, there is no way this took everybody by surprise, and nobody knew about it before Trump began his show...(The rain had stopped falling long before.)

Somebody, (either on the broadcast team, or even on his own staff) decided to give Trump a big "Fuck You"....

[ex-khobar Andy]

Yes Scooter, he did.

"Our Army manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do, and at Fort McHenry, under the rocket’s red glare it had nothing but victory. And when dawn came, their star-spangled banner waved defiant."


snailgate

There is a wonderful Twitter thread at https://twitter.com/hashtag/Revolutiona ... ve-updates

I don't follow Twitter and normally I think it's a waste of time. Every now and then, and this is one such time, something wonderful happens.

If that link doesn't work, go to the Guardian story and click on the link under the "Trump criticized over Fourth of July event" heading. #RevolutionaryWarAirportStories

[Crackpot]

Now someone just has to superimpose Ivanka flying an F-15 into Washington crossing the Delaware

[ex-khobar Andy]

Now he's blaming the teleprompter, which went out in the rain (seriously??? I know my cable goes out every time it rains but you'd think that USG had that one figured out) for the 1776 airports glitch. Of course he thinks we've all forgotten how much he derided Obama for using a teleprompter with major speeches.

But even though I only got 8/10 on the citizenship questions, I think, if I had to wing it in a speech, I'd stop short of mentioning the Revolutionary Air War because obviously it's still Top Secret.

[Econoline]

[MGMcAnick]

I'd stop short of mentioning the Revolutionary Air War because obviously it's still Top Secret.

It must be. I never heard about it before.

And to think, he's a stable genius. I wonder what stable he's been shoveling horse $hit in.

[Econoline]

And then there was the counter-offensive, when the Brits finally came for the airstrips on their way to conquer us...

[RayThom]

[Joe Guy]

A comment I came across under the YouTube video of Trump's airport blunder....

"One if by land, two if by sea, three if by British Airways"

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'm surprised he didn't mention the real reason for the victory over the British - I refer of course to the Franco-American concorde.

[Scooter]

Where is wes when you need him to explain why that all made perfect sense, and that the speech was a bigger hit than the Gettysburg Address?

[Lord Jim]

Where is wes when you need him to explain...

[Bicycle Bill]

According to this analysis from 'The Independent', this was just Trump's normal manner of covering up a verbal faux pas ....

Donald Trump's surprising claim that George Washington's revolutionary troops "took over the airports" during the War of Independence could be explained by his method of correcting himself when he misreads his autocue — doubling down and trying to incorporate the mistake into his speech.

His bizarre ad lib, suggesting there were airports to seize more than 100 years before the first successful flight, came moments after he seemed to stumble over a phrase in his speech.

Describing how Washington's patriots defeated the British between 1775 and 1783, the president told crowds gathered to hear his Fourth of July address: "Our army manned the air."  At that point he paused briefly, apparently realising he had misspoken, before continuing: "It rammed the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do …"

Seemingly thrown by the mistakes, he then alluded to Fort McHenry, a Maryland stronghold best known for its role in a completely different conflict — the 1812 war with Britain.

It's not clear exactly how the speech was meant to read.

However, it is not the first time that Mr Trump — who is more comfortable speaking off the cuff — has stumbled while reading an autocue, only to try to bluff his way out of it.

Read the rest here .... https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 90021.html

-"BB"-

[Scooter]

[Bicycle Bill]

Delightful, Scooter. Well played!

-"BB"-