CSotD: The War Between the States of the Union
Skip to comments
President Donald Trump gives his State of the Union address tonight at 9 pm Eastern, one reason I miss living in Colorado, where news and sports came on at a decent hour.
Winslow is right: 57% of Americans responding to a NPR/PBS News/Marist poll rate the State of the Union as poor, with the 43% who rate it good including a large number of Republicans. And he’s also correct that it could get worse, assuming that being pessimistic is a bad thing.
Sometimes pessimism is a cool hand, if it inspires questions and demands, and it’s also possible to be an optimist because you expect things to improve.
But a pessimist with no faith in the potential for better times is as toxic as a Pollyanna who sees everything for the best in this best of all possible worlds.
As Confucius taught, criticizing and questioning are signs of loyalty:
The Master said, How can he be said truly to love, who exacts no effort from the objects of his love? How can he be said to be truly loyal, who refrains from admonishing the object of his loyalty?
Those in power — politicians, employers, parents — have an obligation to make demands, while those in their power — citizens, employees, children — have an equal obligation to speak up when they feel subject to injustice.
I’m more in line with Confucius than with Clay Bennett’s suggestion, and I hardly think a cartoonist who admonishes those in power so often and so sharply really believes this, though I’ll admit I’m sorely tempted to skip the Address and read the analysis the next day. And if that’s Bennett’s actual suggestion, I’ll withdraw my objection.
But putting Dear Leader on mute is one way to know when Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger starts delivering the Democratic Party’s response. It should be good, because, as that linked article says, she’s not known for deferring to her own party’s leadership, much less to the opposition, which is why the GOP pitbulls have been after her since she was elected.
As Deering points out, Spanberger will hardly be the only person in this deeply divided nation who will voice a response to Dear Leader’s SOTU speech.
One of those unofficial alternatives will be this on-line counterprogramming, which features a star-studded line-up of Trump critics. I don’t know how long Trump plans to speak, but it’s going to be hard for each of these activists to get time to say a lot. If I do watch it — and I haven’t decided — I hope Olivia Troye and Asha Rangappa get more mic time than Robert De Niro and Tom Arnold.
Though to guarantee hearing something in depth ahead of all of tonight’s opinionations, here’s Joyce Vance interviewing Stacy Abrams who explains why the Voter ID requirement of the SAVE act is so absolutely toxic — with facts rather than rhetoric. I’m sure this half hour is more substantive than anything anyone on either side will get to say tonight.
But there’s another bit of counterprogramming at Turner Classic, starting at 8 PM Eastern, as Charles Boyer gaslights Ingrid Bergman in the movie that inspired the term. Why settle for imitations?
Not all women are as readily victimized as poor Ingrid Bergman. Slyngstad points out how Dear Leader complimented the Gold Medal Olympic Men’s Hockey Team with a White House invitation, then threw some sexist mud at the Gold Medal Olympic Women’s Hockey Team with a snotty remark that he guessed he’d have to invite them, too.
Which he did, but they declined the offer, showing that their character is as sharp as their skates.
Though speaking of short-changed women, Goris wonders if maybe Nancy Guthrie got to see the head of the FBI desperately searching for her in a men’s locker room 6,000 miles from Tucson. His priorities involved swilling beer with the men’s hockey team, but if she’d been in there, too, he’d have found her.
Others, including Anderson, have wondered what the cost of his junket was to taxpayers, given that Patel has already been criticized for misusing government airplanes at taxpayer expense for personal trips with his girlfriend.
Though he’d have to fly around a lot to equal the $200 million that Kosplay Kristi spent outfitting her personal aircraft. We’ve paid so Kash could go see his girlfriend and cavort in that locker room, but Kristi’s Gulfstream has a double bed so she can fly around with her “assistant” Corey Lewandowski.
Good thing neither of them plays golf regularly.
Dear Leader will almost certainly talk about tariffs tonight, and he may complain about the people on the Supreme Court, but he won’t have to say anything about that stash of classified documents in his bathroom, since his favorite judge has decided Jack Smith’s evidence concerning them should remain undisclosed.
You may recall Judge Cannon from when she dismissed the charges concerning those alleged pieces of paper reported on by that alleged special counsel in 2024. She’s wonderfully consistent.
Another loyal Trump fan has just been appointed Ambassador to South Africa, which has aroused some emotions down there, since Leo Bozell believes, along with Trump and Elon Musk, that there is a campaign of genocide against white Afrikaners, which was the focus of a sharp disagreement in the White House when Dear Leader began explaining it to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa was at a disadvantage, since he lives in South Africa and knows that there is no such genocide happening. Facts can be annoying things when they contradict beliefs, but somehow Anderson Cooper’s report disproving the rumors was aired on 60 Minutes last night.
Perhaps finally putting it on the air was a parting gift to Cooper, who quit after 20 years as a correspondent on the show rather than re-upping with Bari Weis’s new, improved CBS news division.
But not to worry: The FCC Chairman is rewriting the Equal-Time Rule to include TV talk shows. He’s also telling broadcasters to come up with patriotic programming for America’s 250th anniversary, and his devotion to patriotism is likely why late night talk shows must include equal time, but talk radio does not.
When he’s done, our information systems will be perfect.
Comments 5