He will go down in history as “Bah! Bullshit!” address.
Surrounded by Christmas trees and wreaths in front of a fireplace, Donald Trump on Wednesday put on a convincing rendition of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who despises Christmas and blames everyone but himself.
The US President appeared to be a desperate man, pointing the finger at Joe Biden, spreading the opposite of charitable works and cheering on issues such as immigration. So much for this season to be fun.
Like Biden, Trump has abandoned the traditional end-of-year presidential news conference. He preferred to give a 20-minute speech. If he were sitting in the Oval Office, he might have felt sleepy; Instead he stood in the diplomatic room and shouted in a monotonous rage.
Trump, dressed in a blue suit, white shirt and red tie, unleashed a raucous stream of consciousness without pause or punctuation. His chief of staff, Susie Wiles, recently noted that he had an “alcoholic personality,” but that was clearly the result of a drunken high: Just before the remarks began, according to a White House report, an informant brought three Diet Coke and ice.
“Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I’m working to fix it,” Trump said, beginning as he intended to continue the lie: he claimed that inflation was the worst in 48 years when he took office, when in fact it was back down to 3%.
He went on to blame Biden, previous trade agreements, immigrants, and what he described as a corrupt system. As in his campaign rallies, Trump painted a horrific picture of Biden forcing “transgender people on everyone” and opening the borders to criminals from mental institutions. He claimed to have “broken the grip of evil extremists on our schools.”
The president has repeatedly referred to “affordability” as a Democratic hoax. He acknowledged on Wednesday that prices were still high while saying the country was “ready” for an economic boom. He added: “I will bring these high prices down very quickly.” For example, he claimed a sharp drop in gasoline prices, even though the White House chart shown by Fox News while he spoke only showed… Slight decrease On national average.
Trump also announced that he would send a “warrior dividend” worth $1,776 to 1.45 million US service members next week. He said that this was made possible thanks to revenues from customs tariffs, but not mentioning those same tariffs led to higher prices.
Trump delivered his usual boast about resolving eight wars and bringing peace to the Middle East “for the first time in 3,000 years.” He repeated ugly statements that distort the image of Somali Americans, and echoed European right-wing extremists by saying: “We are now witnessing reverse migration as migrants return to their homes, leaving more housing and more job opportunities for Americans.”
But this was not a speech from a confident man handing out Christmas presents to the nation. A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed it reflects desperation from someone who could feel the chill of the polls in December. Only 33% of adults in the United States approve of the way Trump has handled the economy — dissent among his Republican ranks and the Jeffrey Epstein files looming on Friday.
The speech also revealed Trump’s need for reliable chips. Over the years, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris have served as useful adversaries to a man and a movement that is defined less by what they stand than by what they oppose.
That point was made clear earlier Wednesday when Trump’s White House presidential walk of fame unveiled plaques reading “Barack Hussein Obama…one of the most divisive political figures in American history” and saying: “Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst president in American history.”
Good luck with that. In fact, Biden has been gone for 11 months and people don’t think much about him anymore. Trump needs a new punching bag, but Democrats don’t have a clear leader to target.
When the remarks concluded and the matter was made clear to the president, the pool report said, he turned to the press and said, “Do you think it’s easy?” Then I took a large dose of Diet Coke. He noted that Wells asked him to give the speech and asked, “How did you do?” “I told you 20 minutes and you were 20 minutes away,” Wells assured him.
But there was little news of relief or joy. We’re still in the story arc where Scrooge, the Grinch, and Mr. Potter are at their unrepentant worst, determined to crush the Christmas spirit. But Friday casts a long shadow: Beware Epstein, the Ghost of Christmas Past.