Donald Trump's big speech before the joint session was a shambles. Or maybe, given his signature verbal incontinence, a ramble. Either way, it perfectly showcased a quintessential Trump's quality: imperviousness to fact-checking. The man doesn't just dodge accountability; he breakdances on its grave while firing merch out of a t-shirt cannon.
His supporters found great delight in his bon mots about Lesotho, the cleverness stemming from the fact that it's a smallish African nation. By the way, Lesotho has 2.2 million people—more than 14 US states—I can only assume someone in Lesotho is falling over at the existence of a place called "Delaware."
But wait, there's more! We were treated to the comedy that results from combining the ideas of "Mozambique" and "circumcision." Then there was the great transgender mice scandal. The White House is insisting there really was $8 million spent on transgender mice, when what was really funded was research on, for instance, how estrogen and anti-testosterone therapy affects immune response—documenting the effects of hormones in mice before they are put in people, which is how research is meant to exist, even if the Trump Administration's position is that transgender people aren't. Also, one of these experiments asked whether testosterone-induced infertility can be reversed if a patient stops taking it. If the answer is "no," that would actually give great fodder to the Trump administration's side of the argument.
Here's the annoying part: I'm not convinced that mocking these inaccuracies does anything beyond amplifying them. It's like trying to put out a fire with chicken grease. But the alternative is what—ignoring presidential nonsense? Then Trump would just fill the void with fresh bullshit. Plus, let's be honest, Trump stream of raw material for mockery is one of America's great natural resources. On that I have a "Drill, baby, drill!" posture.
This is where we are as a country, finding pleasure in the parts of our president's agenda that are the most mockable. It only slightly beats being a Mozambican fellow uninformed of the great benefits of a late-life circumcision.
Watch the Video on Youtube:
Share this post