Trump Speaks At White Men Gone Wild Conference

I, like most Black people, believe in order and decorum. I was raised by Black women who would willfully smack you in the back of the head at church for not paying attention. And I am not alone. There are thousands, if not millions of Black people just like me who know how to sit on their hands when they have something to say and the time is just not right.

But the time is not only right, now, it’s right now.

When you have a president who is an unscrupulous, two-time felon unfamiliar with the truth, who has been blatant about his disdain for Black folks, other people of color, and the LGBTQIA+ community, and who smugly hangs his mugshot right outside the Oval Office, and that president is holding the first State of the Union of his second term? It’s during these dark days that we should all defer to Compton, California, Rep. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth’s philosophy, “Sometimes you got to pop out and show bigots.”

Thank God for Texas Rep. Al Green (D) who, shortly after the president’s speech began, hopped out of his seat and started yelling, “You have no mandate.” Welding a cane, Green then turned to the Republican side of the aisle and yelled, “Shame on you!” Rep. Mike Johnson asked Green to take his seat, but Green ignored him and the sergeant of arms eventually escorted the fiery, elder statesman out—golden-tipped cane and all.

And, for once, since the president began hacking away at the federal government and signing all the executive orders his tiny, mysteriously bruised hands could muster, Democrats looked like they had a backbone.

Thus began the WWE’s “Smackdown of the Union” which included Democrats in protest colors and auction signs with words like, “False” and “Musk Steals.” Some Dems wore pink in defiance of the president’s hatred of women’s autonomy over their own bodies. Some wore yellow and blue pins or ties to show support with Ukraine after Trump’s disastrous meeting with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which included insulting his appearance and withholding aid after arguing with him about not being appreciative enough. And all of it created a haphazard, ham-fisted attempt at doing something like fighting back.

Because everything with Trump is about bending the knee. This is why he had to acknowledge that the Democrats who did attend the SOTU (many just didn’t even show up and who could blame them) weren’t going to stand or applaud during his speech and he was right. For the entirety of his speech, most Democrats sat in silent protest, holding up signs to acknowledge that another lie had been told.

And I wanted to yell at the screen, “Fam, they got a deadbeat dad running all through our Social Security and y’all got auction paddles?”

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-CONGRESS

Source: SAUL LOEB / Getty

In what can only be considered the most belligerent joint address of all time, there were no themes of togetherness or even attempting to try to unify the country, even though we all just recently banded together to collectively hate on the sudden reemergence of Casey Anthony. It was just another moment for Trump to hurt his shoulder patting himself on the back.

There was little mention of bringing down egg prices and a whole bit on dead people getting Social Security checks, which has already been explained and proven false, but when has the president ever let facts get in the way of a joke?

“One person is listed at 360 years of age,” Trump said. “More than 100 years. More than 100 years older than our country. But we’re going to find out where that money is going, and it’s not going to be pretty.”

There were no surprises. Just as expected, Trump’s joint address was shaped by distortions, riddled with lies, and punctuated with the fictional consequences that he’s going to prevent despite the issue never existing. He’s a magician with no real tricks—just jokes and tons of misdirection. As it stands, Trump has completely fixed all of the non-problems that he claimed were real. And, just like trained lap dogs, those in attendance—the blinding white side of the aisle and a ridiculously bronzed, glow-in-the-dark Robert Kennedy Jr.—all stood and cheered because the president can’t be corrected; he can only be congratulated. His ego, as big and omnipresent as the emperor’s new clothes, makes it that way.

Which is why tariffs, the cornerstone of the early part of his presidency, received some of the most raucous applause despite every news outlet (that’s not in on the scam) explaining that tariffs don’t build the economy, they actually punish the consumer. But Trump’s eyes and ears are closed to a reality not buttressed by commercials. He has no interest in appealing to the other side of the aisle, as his entire speech was just a double-down on the damage he’s already caused and a rabid desire to inflict more.

Donald Trump Delivers Joint Address To Congress

Source: Win McNamee / Getty

In 2018, when writing about the hatred and fear that still anchor the MAGA regime, author Adam Serwer made it clear: “The cruelty is the point.” Perhaps, that is what has always disturbed me most—with good reason as evidenced further by the Clown-in-Chief’s farcical State of the Union.

Because the most haunting words of Trump’s address, the words that stayed with me well after his speech was done, was when he proudly noted to the frenzied applause of his accomplices and sycophants, “We’re just getting started.”