Weekend speeches: Competing visions of America

May 20, 2024

For those readers nervous about the presidential debates scheduled for June and September, speeches delivered by President Biden and Defendant Trump over the weekend should assuage your concerns. As always, Joe Biden rose to the occasion. In a commencement speech at Morehouse College in Georgia, Biden delivered appropriate remarks that focused on the graduates and their challenges. Although he recounted struggles and tragedies in his own life, it was by way of example and inspiration rather than self-absorbed narcissism.

It was courageous for Biden to deliver a commencement address when college campuses are roiled by protests over Gaza. Biden addressed the issue head-on in candid remarks that recognized the strong feelings of some students. In the meantime, Trump lied, meandered, and froze his way through a glitch-filled campaign speech in Dallas.

As with the presidential debates, every Biden speech is pitched by the media as a “make or break” event for Biden—even though he continues to hit the ball out of the park. See the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Biden delivers high-stakes commencement address at Morehouse College. As one commentator noted,

Of the many double standards employed by the media, Biden needing every speech to be some combination of Lincoln and Cicero while Trump's public appearances are 90 minutes of word salad, non sequiturs, and dictatorial musings that get no push back, is among the worst.

You can judge for yourself by watching the video of the entire speech or reading the text here: President Biden's Morehouse commencement address | Full speech.

In his remarks at Morehouse, President Biden addressed the virulent racism and voter suppression that are alive in parts of Georgia, the economic struggles faced by college graduates, and the controversy over the war in Gaza. He said, in part,

You started college just as George Floyd was murdered and there was a reckoning on race.

It’s natural to wonder if the democracy you hear about actually works for you. What is democracy if Black men are being killed in the street? What is democracy if a trail of broken promises still leave Black communities behind? [¶]

And most of all, what does it mean, as we’ve heard before, to be a Black man who loves his country even if it doesn’t love him back in equal measure?

President Biden also addressed the terrorist attacks on Israel, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the need for an immediate ceasefire and return of the hostages:

What’s happening in Gaza and Israel is heartbreaking.  Hamas’s vicious attack on Israel, killing innocent lives and holding people hostage. . . . Innocent Palestinians caught in the middle of all this: men, women, and children killed or displaced in despite -- in desperate need of water, food, and medicine.  It’s a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

That’s why I’ve called for an immediate ceasefire -- an immediate ceasefire to stop the fighting [and] bring the hostages home.  And I’ve been working on a deal as we speak, working around the clock to lead an international effort to get more aid into Gaza, rebuild Gaza. 

You may not agree with everything President Biden said, but he addressed a difficult subject head on. And he did so in a somber, responsible manner expected of the US President.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch (in Dallas), Trump gave another wild, difficult-to-follow, and worrisome speech that raised questions (again) about his mental health. Among other choice moments,

• He claimed that “There’s been no president since Abraham Lincoln, perhaps in a certain way including Abraham Lincoln, that has done more for the Black individual in this country that Donald J. Trump. Not even close.”

• He compared himself to Al Capone.

• He threatened to defund any school that included a vaccine mandate (which, for the record, is all of them).

• He mused about whether his election in 2025 (if it happens) would be his “second or third term.”

• He interrupted his speech to describe his struggles to swat a fly that was “brutally” attacking him. “I hate flies,” says Trump.

• He described the overturning of Roe v. Wade as “an amazing thing.”

• He nearly pushed over the lectern, and then said, “This is the worst platform, who put this stage up? The fricking place is falling down.” (This happened earlier in the week, not in Dallas. Thanks to a reader for the fact-check!)

• The last portion of his speech was delivered over background QAnon music.

• But, most ominously, he froze for about thirty seconds mid-speech. See The Independent, Trump appears to freeze for 30 seconds during NRA speech.

Trump's campaign has given no explanation of the mid-speech freeze by Trump. However, his defenders speculated that his teleprompter froze or that he paused to “listen” to the creepy QAnon music playing in the background.

Whatever the reason for Trump’s mid-speech “glitch,” the American media is giving Trump a “pass” by not discussing the event. To state the obvious, if Joe Biden had stopped speaking for thirty seconds during his Morehouse College address—even because of a broken teleprompter—the media would be calling for the removal of Biden under the 25th Amendment.

Trump's mental lapses and grandiose delusions on Saturday come hard on the heels of his claim on Thursday that he won the 2020 presidential vote in Minnesota—a state that he lost by 233,000 votes! Another hard disconnect from reality by Trump that is swept under the rug would that result in merciless negative coverage by the media if Biden had committed the same lapse.

Since the media is not going to report fairly on the comparative facts, we must be prepared to spread the good word for President Biden and cite the facts regarding Trump's ongoing meltdown.

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More thoughts on Justice Alito’s display of an insurrectionist flag

The gravity and scale of Justice Alito’s display of an insurrectionist flag only days after the January 6 insurrection cannot be dismissed, minimized, or rationalized. It is up to us to impress on the media that Justice Alito has single-handedly delegitimized the Supreme Court’s review of any matter relating to Trump's insurrection and attempted coup. The only appropriate course for the Supreme Court is to declare that it should not have granted a review of Trump's presidential immunity defense and remand the matter to Judge Chutkan for trial.

No decision by the Court on the presidential immunity defense can be trusted by anyone—no matter the result. Two members of the Court should not have participated in the decision to review Trump's presidential immunity defense. If they had recused themselves as required by the Supreme Court’s Code of Ethics, the Court would have not granted review. Any decision by the Court is the “fruit of the poisonous tree” of that illegitimate grant of review.

These arguments are laid out in greater detail by Michael Podhorzer in his Substack blog, Supreme Gaslighting. Podhorzer writes, in part,

It’s long past time we acknowledge and reckon with the extent to which our present national dysfunction is the fruit of the poisoned tree – the illegitimate SCOTUS majority. When he was confirmed, Roberts famously claimed that the proper role of the court was to be “an umpire, calling balls and strikes.”

But unlike the conservative and liberal Chief Justices before him who toggled between narrow and expansive strike zones, the Roberts courts declares winners and losers –ignoring the rulebook altogether, providing free passes to the special interests they represent, and striking out the rights and freedoms that heroic Americans over generations fought and died to accomplish democratically.

I recommend Podhorzer’s essay in its entirety. More importantly, I recommend that readers lobby local and national newspapers and media outlets to give this story the coverage that it deserves. It is a scandal of breathtaking proportions that at the very least requires an impeachment inquiry. Justice Alito’s cover story is nonsense and should not be credited. He displayed an insurrectionist flag. That fact requires serious scrutiny.

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Opportunity for Reader Engagement

For readers who are involved in postcarding, texting, phone banking, etc. I recommend the weekly newsletter of the Downtown Nasty Women’s Social Group. The group’s most recent newsletter is here, DNWSG May 19-26: Heather Booth on Wed, Urgent Literacy Fast Action, Economic Dem Fact (mailchi.mp). There is a “subscribe” link at the very bottom.

The newsletter is a professional, information-packed resource for grassroots volunteers. What I like most about the newsletter is that it includes a “Weekly DemFact,” a single-topic Democratic accomplishment that can be easily shared with others. This week’s DemFact is “Fighting inflation and lowering costs is the Biden-Harris top economic priority. Trump's second-term economic plans could make inflation skyrocket.”

Each DemFact is backed by high-quality and easily shareable charts, articles, and visual aids to help spread the word about the good work Democrats do every day. Check it out!

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Concluding Thoughts

It has been gratifying to see some independent news sources taking on major media journalists about their professional malpractice in treating Trump with false equivalencies and unwarranted “both-siderism.” Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo has been going at it hammer and tongs with reporters from the New York Times.

The defensive reaction by reporters at major media outlets is “It is not our job to help Joe Biden get elected.” Fair point. But no one is asking them to help elect Joe Biden. We are asking them to hold lying politicians to account and to clearly identify imminent threats to democracy.

Attorney and commentator Daniel Miller wrote the following over the weekend:  

It’s not the media’s job to get Biden re-elected. But it is the media’s job to prevent politicians from lying to the public. And this is key.

Every time a network has on a Trump supporter, the public is flooded with lies and hypocrisy. Unless the media is prepared to call them out for these lies and hypocrisy REPEATEDLY, they are complicit in a propaganda operation that has been going on for decades.

The media must do better. We all must do better. We cannot allow these lies that have poisoned the minds of the American public to continue unchallenged. We must challenge these lies and we must get the American people to see the truth.

Good points by Miller. His articulation makes clear that we are not complaining about coverage relating to Joe Biden because it is unfair to him but because it is unfair to all Americans, who have every right to assume the media will not re-broadcast lies because they are too lazy or ignorant to hold their guests accountable to the truth. And as Michael Podholzer notes in his article, part of being informed as a media outlet involves not engaging in collective amnesia about what happened in January 2021.

Remember that distinction next time you write to a reporter or an editor to complain about the coverage in the outlet. We have a lot of jobs on our plate. Fighting the disinformation war is one of them. I wish it were otherwise, but until the media starts acting like their existence is dependent on the outcome of the next election, we must remind them—at every opportunity.

Talk to you tomorrow!