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[smjjames]

Also, something that came up on The Guardian liveblog, Ralph Northam is contemplating changing party to independent?

If he thinks that's going to get him out of the controversey or stop the calls to resign, it's not going to.

[Trekkin]

I guess Trump is worried that he doesn't get to shout enough? That seems to be part he's most into. Maybe someone is making him talk about the state of things in his state of the union address instead of just bashing Democrats straight through for for the duration.

I've been wondering about that, actually, going into the speech tonight. His latest addresses have been decidedly more muted than he was on the campaign; "the crisis ... at our ... southern ... border" apparently doesn't animate him much anymore. I wonder if he'll be like that tonight, and if so, whether the conservative commentariat will make more comparisons to Jeb.

[Dunamisdeos]

Speech time. Ready, set go!

[hector13]

I wonder why Trump doesn’t do this every week. There’s applause for every second sentence, a standing ovation for every third!

[Loud Whispers]

I wonder why Trump doesn’t do this every week. There’s applause for every second sentence, a standing ovation for every third!

On /int/ it's been a long standing stereotype that Americans never stop clapping for anything. I never believed it until I watched a 30 minute long video of a terribly bored Obama saying "thank you" because the crowd wouldn't stop clapping long enough for him to actually speak

[Folly]

Well, that speech was largely devoid of surprises or new information.

15 minutes of 'America is great!'.
15 minutes of 'Trump Economy is great!'.
15 minutes of 'South America is full of rapists and drug lords and they're marching across our southern border right now!'.
5 minutes of 'Women are great!'.
5 minutes of 'I fixed international trade!'
And then for some reason 15 minutes of 'Congress needs to pass a bill to cure cancer and AIDS, and make drugs cheap!'. Gee, I wonder why nobody ever thought of that before?
5 minutes of 'God hates abortions!'
5 minutes of 'INF is done. Let the arms race resume!'
15 minutes of 'I'm making the middle east better! Really!'. The military guys in the audience looked pretty pissed during this part.
5 minutes of talking about the Holocaust for some reason.

And after each line, half of the room stood and clapped while the other half sat and rolled their eyes.

[smjjames]

There was apparently an interesting ad-lib where he said he wanted legal immigration in the largest numbers ever. I bet the WH staff were going 'Wait, wtf did he just say?' on that one. Whether it'll get picked up on by conservatives and blasted with hot rocket exhaust or get lost among everything else remains to be seen.

[MrRoboto75]

Well, that speech was largely devoid of surprises or new information.

15 minutes of 'America is great!'.
15 minutes of 'Trump Economy is great!'.
15 minutes of 'South America is full of rapists and drug lords and they're marching across our southern border right now!'.
5 minutes of 'Women are great!'.
5 minutes of 'I fixed international trade!'
And then for some reason 15 minutes of 'Congress needs to pass a bill to cure cancer and AIDS, and make drugs cheap!'. Gee, I wonder why nobody ever thought of that before?
5 minutes of 'God hates abortions!'
5 minutes of 'INF is done. Let the arms race resume!'
15 minutes of 'I'm making the middle east better! Really!'. The military guys in the audience looked pretty pissed during this part.
5 minutes of talking about the Holocaust for some reason.

And after each line, half of the room stood and clapped while the other half sat and rolled their eyes.

Strange strategy to host SOTUA on opposite day.

[Trekkin]

There was apparently an interesting ad-lib where he said he wanted legal immigration in the largest numbers ever. I bet the WH staff were going 'Wait, wtf did he just say?' on that one. Whether it'll get picked up on by conservatives and blasted with hot rocket exhaust or get lost among everything else remains to be seen.

I think it will get lost in the general wave of "Meh" and analysis of what it means that Trump, for all his alleged media skills, can be handed the biggest platform the Presidency has and a generally favorable crowd (at least, cheers are more accepted than boos) and still turn out something this boring. I would expect at least a few "has Trump lost his ability to command attention" articles in the coming days. The only real sound byte is probably going to be the Nixonian call to cease the investigations into his campaign, administration, friends, family, business associates, foundation, and companies, and that's not a good look.

[Baffler]

15 minutes of 'I'm making the middle east better! Really!'. The military guys in the audience looked pretty pissed during this part.

What he actually said was "endless, unproductive wars in the middle east are fucking stupid," which is something I would expect most people on this board to agree with. You're right that the generals don't like it though. It's actually kind of hilarious - people have been saying for decades (almost) now that our middle eastern wars are pointless and dumb but now that finally leaving is actually on the table there's nothing but hemming and hawing about how le Drumpf is letting the Taliban/ISIS/Al-Qaeda/Iran win by doing so. Often while bearing no resemblance to the reality of the situation, or conspicuously silent on what we'd actually lose by leaving. We shouldn't be surprised that neocon types like top military brass and old guard Republicans are unhappy about this, leaving the middle east fucks with their careers and their friends, but even the loudest anti-war Democrats have at least shut up about the issue and a number (Chuck Shumer being one notable example) have seemingly reversed their positions outright. They have their friends and their loyalties too of course but you'd think they'd be a little bit less transparent.

[Loud Whispers]

What he actually said was "endless, unproductive wars in the middle east are fucking stupid," which is something I would expect most people on this board to agree with. You're right that the generals don't like it though. It's actually kind of hilarious - people have been saying for decades (almost) now that our middle eastern wars are pointless and dumb but now that finally leaving is actually on the table there's nothing but hemming and hawing about how le Drumpf is letting the Taliban/ISIS/Al-Qaeda/Iran win by doing so. Often while bearing no resemblance to the reality of the situation, or conspicuously silent on what we'd actually lose by leaving. We shouldn't be surprised that neocon types like top military brass and old guard Republicans are unhappy about this, leaving the middle east fucks with their careers and their friends, but even the loudest anti-war Democrats have at least shut up about the issue and a number (Chuck Shumer being one notable example) have seemingly reversed their positions outright. They have their friends and their loyalties too of course but you'd think they'd be a little bit less transparent.

It's just another iteration of "the trans-pacific partnership must be stopped" to "how can Trump stop the trans-pacific partnership," too much focus on the ideological battle & the public figure rather than the policy & nation

[smjjames]

And conservative reviews are pouring in, Ann Coulter calls it the 'lamest, sappiest SOTU speech. Ever.' Don't know why she picked out that specific line about California beaches or where that line was said, but Ann Coulter is Ann Coulter...

[Trekkin]

Don't know why she picked out that specific line about California beaches or where that line was said, but Ann Coulter is Ann Coulter...

At a guess, she picked that line because California is a conservative punchline, and it was in one of those much-celebrated calls for national unity in between the parts about how brown people are swarming over the border to kill us all with drugs.

[wierd]

Amusingly, its the white people in the executive suites that are killing more people with drugs right now...  But sure. The scary brown people, Gotta stop those first. Because, scary brown-ness and .. things... Yeah.


Anyway, This situation with Russia looks like exactly what ol' Pootie has been wanting for some time now.  He's had ambitions of restoring the Russian nuclear arsenal, but did not want to lose face by being the one to kill the treaty. (He likes playing both sides of the fence, or at least that seems to be what I have picked up listening to his rhetoric.) BUUUUT-- Since Orange Idiot killed the treaty FOR him, well----- "Such a shame that the US has shown itself to be a charlatan when it comes to nuclear disarmament-- In the face of such a two-faced and clearly adversarial nation, We just HAAVVEE to re-arm ourselves for our own protection!! (It has NOOOOTHING whatsoever with all the shit I have been stirring up in the Ukraine and surrounding regions for the past 10+ years, the directed civil engineering campaigns designed to foment unrest to create a paper-thin reasoning to justify my plans to  annex more territory, or to cement my power permanently as a dictator--- No no no, nothing with that whatsoever. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!  --- This is all about self preservation! )

[Dorsidwarf]

RE: Governor Northam

In an astonishing lack of media awareness, he has defended himself against the yearbook allegations by, in order

1) Claiming he was "one of" the people in the blackface/klan photo and that he was sorry
2) Claiming he was NOT actually in the blackface/klan photo and that he was not sorry
3) Completely out of the blue telling people that while he wasnt in the photo he did once wear blackface while cosplaying as Michael Jackson, who he idolises.


In unrelated news, ambigious BBC headline of the day award goes to....