Unofficial Trump joint session speech thread

[Bowfinger]

Time to fact check his speech.

"In his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Trump stuck closely to his prepared remarks, but ran afoul of the facts in some cases.

Trump said the U.S. has spent $6 trillion in the Middle East and “with this $6 trillion we could have rebuilt our country.” The amount spent so far is $1.7 trillion, according to the Defense Department.
He cherry-picked the findings of a recent report, saying it found immigration costs U.S. taxpayers “billions of dollars a year.” The report said immigration “has an overall positive impact on long-run economic growth.”
Trump said “94 million Americans are out of the labor force,” a figure that includes the retired, college students and stay-at-home parents. The vast majority — 88.5 million — said they didn’t want a job.
Trump said he would “promote clean air and clean water,” a vague claim that came hours after he had signed an executive order to roll back a 2015 “Clean Water Rule.”
And the president repeated claims we’ve fact-checked before on border security, welfare, job creation since he was elected, health insurance and crime. For instance, he said the U.S. left “our own borders wide open, for anyone to cross.” But the border patrol budget and number of agents have both doubled since 2001.

The false and misleading claims in Trump’s Feb. 28 address to Congress touched on familiar topics to fact-checkers, including the Middle East, the labor force, immigration and more."

Full story here USA Today

This really gets to the heart of it for me. Yes, Trump did a competent job of reading from a teleprompter and mostly staying on script. This is noteworthy only because his speeches are usually train wrecks. So, green ribbon for meeting the minimum standards we expect from a POTUS. Only time will tell whether there's any substance behind his new performance.

What still concerns me, however, is his continued blatant dishonesty (examples above). The subset of his followers who admit Trump is consistently on the wrong side of facts often rationalize it as his off-the-cuff speaking style. They acknowledge much of what he says is false, but insist it's just him being in the moment, trying to emphasize a point. Yet in this speech, Trump stuck to his script and still openly lied. This shows his lies are often premeditated, that he is deliberately, knowingly deceiving Americans about significant policy issues. Simply put, Trump is a liar.

I'm also concerned that so many Americans are duped by some of his obvious lies. Take the "94 million" comment, for example. Anyone with more than three working neurons should have instantly realized how preposterous that was. It's transparently ridiculous. Yet millions lap it up without a hint of critical thought. I've seen it on social media, I've already heard it from a friend, and we see it in this very thread. Good grief, wake up sheeple. Pull your heads out of Donnie's rectum. Show that you're not a complete waste of human intellect's potential for reason. Sad.

 

[Thebobo]

..snip...

I'm also concerned that so many Americans are duped by some of his obvious lies. Take the "94 million" comment, for example. Anyone with more than three working neurons should have instantly realized how preposterous that was. It's transparently ridiculous. Yet millions lap it up without a hint of critical thought. I've seen it on social media, I've already heard it from a friend, and we see it in this very thread. Good grief, wake up sheeple. Pull your heads out of Donnie's rectum. Show that you're not a complete waste of human intellect's potential for reason. Sad.

No shit 94 million is bat shit crazy that would be like a 34 percent jobless rate. lol fools. Hopes someone at a press conference ask Trump about that.

 

[fskimospy]

Nope, they were valiant heroes standing up to obummer tyranny! Duh!

I know they always do this thing where roughly half the room stands up and applauds for certain things, while others don't etc, but I don't remember the republicans refusing to stand up for things that are universally accepted as good things. It certainly could have happened, which would just show there are some petulant children on the right side of the isle as well. I get not applauding things you don't agree with, but everything?

I mean last year Paul Ryan didn't clap for Obama saying we should make a national effort to cure fucking cancer so I think your memory is just a little off.

The whole speech is silly political pagentry. The president's party tries to give the impression that he's the best and the other party tries to give the impression that he's the worst. Nothing special about this year.

 

[woolfe9998]

I agree, it's really important not to lower the bar for what we expect from a president just because Trump is so bad. I've noticed a disturbing trend in the media, probably out of some desire for false balance, to lavishly praise Trump whenever he does things so monumental as appoint a competent cabinet secretary or give a coherent speech.

From what I've read it was a perfectly fine speech, but that should be the minimum standard. I understand we can't expect him to be as competent as Obama but surely we can hold him to a better standard than this.

Yeah, I'd say this media trend is alarming. Every time Trump does something that isn't totally idiotic, they fall all over themselves to praise him. Like Van Jones on CNN last night. It wasn't enough to say he gave a good speech or had a good moment. It's like he'd totally redeemed himself at this one moment in time. Bullshit. They're trying to prove they aren't biased against Trump which means Trump's attacks on them are having more of an effect than they'll admit. What's worse is that when he goes back to being a total buffoon, like probably today, and they criticize him for it, his followers will totally forget all the ridiculous over-praising him and still think they're biased. The press isn't going to get any real credit for this praise because Trump and his followers expect 100% praise all the time, not just when it's warranted. The press should just stick to what is factual and what is reasonable and stop worrying about how they're perceived.

 

[Mai72]

Awesome job with the speech Mr. Trump.

Now, it's time for the results. Speeches are great but this is where the real work begins. In 6 months are we going to see results or are we going to be let down. Only time will tell.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

I saw the silly white surrender dresses the Democrat women were wearing, Did anyone see a pussy hat?

 

[justoh]

My mom always says that if you have a problem with one person, the problem probably lies with them. If you have that problem with lots of people, the problem probably lies with you.

I'm curious, do you think that has any application here?

I don't think you are curious. I'd guess you're also smart enough to understand exactly where Homer went wrong, unlike the other two, but you won't admit it due to your dishonesty and/or bias.

This seems clear since even if my posts pointing out his error were incoherent, his error should have occurred to you independently.

 

[woolfe9998]

This really gets to the heart of it for me. Yes, Trump did a competent job of reading from a teleprompter and mostly staying on script. This is noteworthy only because his speeches are usually train wrecks. So, green ribbon for meeting the minimum standards we expect from a POTUS. Only time will tell whether there's any substance behind his new performance.

What still concerns me, however, is his continued blatant dishonesty (examples above). The subset of his followers who admit Trump is consistently on the wrong side of facts often rationalize it as his off-the-cuff speaking style. They acknowledge much of what he says is false, but insist it's just him being in the moment, trying to emphasize a point. Yet in this speech, Trump stuck to his script and still openly lied. This shows his lies are often premeditated, that he is deliberately, knowingly deceiving Americans about significant policy issues. Simply put, Trump is a liar.

I'm also concerned that so many Americans are duped by some of his obvious lies. Take the "94 million" comment, for example. Anyone with more than three working neurons should have instantly realized how preposterous that was. It's transparently ridiculous. Yet millions lap it up without a hint of critical thought. I've seen it on social media, I've already heard it from a friend, and we see it in this very thread. Good grief, wake up sheeple. Pull your heads out of Donnie's rectum. Show that you're not a complete waste of human intellect's potential for reason. Sad.

Yeah that's what concerns me as well. Most of the dishonesty in this speech was of the sort that the CNN fact check piece referred to as "true. but misleading." Like 96 million people out of work. Technically, it's true. In reality, it gives an entirely false impression. Unlike past Trump lies which can easily be sussed out in 10 seconds with the aid of Google, these lies are more sophisticated. He's getting better at it.

 

[xthetenth]

Yeah, I'd say this media trend is alarming. Every time Trump does something that isn't totally idiotic, they fall all over themselves to praise him. Like Van Jones on CNN last night. It wasn't enough to say he gave a good speech or had a good moment. It's like he'd totally redeemed himself at this one moment in time. Bullshit. They're trying to prove they aren't biased against Trump which means Trump's attacks on them are having more of an effect than they'll admit. What's worse is that when he goes back to being a total buffoon, like probably today, and they criticize him for it, his followers will totally forget all the ridiculous over-praising him and still think they're biased. The press isn't going to get any real credit for this praise because Trump and his followers expect 100% praise all the time, not just when it's warranted. The press should just stick to what is factual and what is reasonable and stop worrying about how they're perceived.

It's infuriating how the media falls over themselves to prove they're balanced rather than being fair. Just because he can recite some words that aren't blatant about how awful they are and bask in the reflected glory from a soldier who died on one of his missions doesn't mean he isn't also pushing a narrative of crimes committed by illegal immigrants in the context of pursuing a government policy of politicizing those crimes, following in the footsteps of the 1930s requirement for German prosecutors to notify the Justice Ministry of any crimes by Jews so they could be publicized.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Thats what I thought. Heres a few whoppers.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/ten-of-barack-obamas-worst-lies/

So that makes Trumps lies alright?

 

[fskimospy]

I don't think you are curious. I'd guess you're also smart enough to understand exactly where Homer went wrong, unlike the other two, but you won't admit it due to your dishonesty and/or bias.

This seems clear since even if my posts pointing out his error were incoherent, his error should have occurred to you independently.

It seems that you're having the same difficulty understanding my posts as you appear to be with others then! This is distressing.

I am genuinely curious, so please do answer! You appear to be having communications problems with large numbers of people and so I'm interested to see where you believe the failure lies.

 

[justoh]

It seems that you're having the same difficulty understanding my posts as you appear to be with others then!

Talk about incoherent...

 

[fskimospy]

Talk about incoherent...

Should I take this as a refusal to answer where you think the problem lies? I would have thought you would have been just as interested as I am in getting to the bottom of this but I guess I was wrong! I'm sure there's a good explanation for your incuriosity though.

 

[SMOGZINN]

So we are going to lower corporate tax rate bigly, lower middle class taxes by really amazing amounts, and increase spending on almost every topic by billions or trillions, and lower the debt? Who is going to pay for all this?

 

[Pens1566]

That speech was nothing more than the "valedictorian of summer school" for him. No concrete policy, still plenty of lies, more platitudes. He turned down the crazy and most of the self aggrandizement for around an hour. Here's a fucking cookie. What a low, low, low bar we've set. We're fucked.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Yeah that's what concerns me as well. Most of the dishonesty in this speech was of the sort that the CNN fact check piece referred to as "true. but misleading." Like 96 million people out of work. Technically, it's true. In reality, it gives an entirely false impression. Unlike past Trump lies which can easily be sussed out in 10 seconds with the aid of Google, these lies are more sophisticated. He's getting better at it.

He didn't say "out of work"...he said "out of the labor force" and this statement is true, although I agree that it could be considered to be misleading if one assumes he was talking solely about the unemployment rate which he wasn't.

 

[HomerJS]

Thats what I thought. Heres a few whoppers.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/ten-of-barack-obamas-worst-lies/

I took a quick glance. Can refute most of them. Will take time later

 

[PokerGuy]

Are you actually trying to claim that Trump is no more dishonest than any other president?

Correct, he's just more open about it and not as crafty because he's not a polished politician (professional liar).

I would love to see a source where Mattis actually said this, as taking the word of a serial liar is a poor idea, wouldn't you agree?

I already explained why it's irrelevant either way. It doesn't matter if you think Trump's a serial liar or not. You have basically nothing for him to lie about other than "sources say". In this particular case even more so, because in the event that there was actual valuable intel that came out of the mission, nobody could disclose it anyway. So "sources say" is completely worthless.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

I took a quick glance. Can refute most of them. Will take time later

Please refute these as well since you seem to be up to the task.

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/barack-obama/statements/byruling/false/

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/barack-obama/statements/byruling/barely-true/

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/barack-obama/statements/byruling/pants-fire/

 

[Fanatical Meat]

So we are going to lower corporate tax rate bigly, lower middle class taxes by really amazing amounts, and increase spending on almost every topic by billions or trillions, and lower the debt? Who is going to pay for all this?

The next President will

Duh!

 

[Grooveriding]

Should give this to Trump supporters, it's as much their participation trophy as it is his. Imagine the effort and self delusion it takes to have supported Trump through thick and thin. A man who fucks up and makes a fool of himself on his daily basis. He's been a disaster from first go. Birtherism, Chinese hoaxes, inauguration crowd sizes, 3 million illegal votes, Russia and Putin's choice for POTUS via interference through hacking/fake news, we're stealing their oil etc. etc. It's a litany of idiocy almost all the time. To list it all would require a thesis at this point. We've all seen Trump supporters turn themselves into pretzels with mental gymnastics of logic to try and maintain their CDB. 'No he does not mean exactly what he literally says. You don't get it. To understand him you must tuck both your ankles behind your head, lube up, squint and cross your eyes just right and click your heels together three times. Then the real meaning of this bigly man will be revealed to you.'

He manages to hold his shit together for about half an hour. Doesn't meander off into electoral college vote numbers, bigly election wins, no conspiracy theories, Hillary and/or Obama bashing. Yes he uses the widow of a man he help get killed as a party favour and yes much of his alternative facts are as usual lies and distortions of truth. But, he managed to hold his shit together for 30 minutes.

After that sort of dedication I think they deserve finally getting one moment where he doesn't make a total ass of himself. By the end of today or tomorrow he'll have fucked up royally again. Maybe a week from now instead of 'But Hillary or But Obama' it will be 'But that bigly speech with the Republican cheering section'.

I'd say give them their moment, their devotion and myopic cult of personality has earned it.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Please refute these as well since you seem to be up to the task.

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/barack-obama/statements/byruling/false/

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/barack-obama/statements/byruling/barely-true/

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/barack-obama/statements/byruling/pants-fire/

So that makes Trump lying OK?

 

[PokerGuy]

Yeah, I'd say this media trend is alarming. Every time Trump does something that isn't totally idiotic, they fall all over themselves to praise him. Like Van Jones on CNN last night. It wasn't enough to say he gave a good speech or had a good moment. It's like he'd totally redeemed himself at this one moment in time. Bullsh*t. They're trying to prove they aren't biased against Trump which means Trump's attacks on them are having more of an effect than they'll admit.

That's because they know they are biased, and they are trying desperately to not seem as biased because they have no credibility left.

The press should just stick to what is factual and what is reasonable and stop worrying about how they're perceived.

Amen to that, but they stopped doing that long ago. Decades ago.

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

So that makes Trump lying OK?

Only if one considers Obama's lying to be OK.

 

[ThePresence]

I agree, it's really important not to lower the bar for what we expect from a president just because Trump is so bad. I've noticed a disturbing trend in the media, probably out of some desire for false balance, to lavishly praise Trump whenever he does things so monumental as appoint a competent cabinet secretary or give a coherent speech.

From what I've read it was a perfectly fine speech, but that should be the minimum standard. I understand we can't expect him to be as competent as Obama but surely we can hold him to a better standard than this.

Obama was far from a competent POTUS in my opinion. On the contrary, he was a total disaster.
But this is about Trump, which is an entirely different disaster.