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Ever wondered what an authoritarian leader’s address to the nation sounds like? Look no further than President Donald Trump’s longest State of the Union address.
His speech on Tuesday flitted between fanciful and false boasts about the economy and promises of policies to lower prices that will never happen, to dire fear-mongering about unwanted and subversive minorities who commit fraud and murder, which Trump floridly described with titillating glee. And don’t forget the heroic guests, many of whom were awarded national medals during the live event, to serve as props.
This was a speech befitting who Trump ultimately is, an unpopular tyrant trying to sell the public on ignoring what’s right before their eyes with a mix of fear, positive thinking and Hollywood magic. But he brought to it a modern spin: Call it dread and circuses.
We are witnessing “a turnaround for the ages” as “factories, jobs, investment, and trillions of dollars will continue pouring into the United States of America,” Trump boasted. Prices are no longer rising but “plummeting downward” from the “worst inflation in the history of our country.” Meanwhile, “incomes are rising fast” and the “roaring economy is roaring like never before.” (Not that it needs to be said at this point, but none of this is true.)
