Demagogue in Chief

At just after 8pm tonight and flipping through channels, I landed on CNN and there was Trump beginning a speech.  Listening but half paying attention, my thought was "why are they replaying one of Trump's old campaign speeches?" and flipped the channel.  A few seconds later, remembering Trump's "thank the voters" tour that was beginning, I returned to CNN.  It was "now" in Cincinnati, and President-elect Trump was engaging in the same, if not accentuated, demagoguery that he used in his most unhinged moments of the campaign.

"Demagogue --- an orator or politician who gains power and popularity by arousing the emotions, passions, and prejudices of the people."

 Tonight he was attacking the press with abandon calling them "dishonest and ugly people" and mocking them, pointing to them, as he boasted about his victory.  His self-adulatory speech tonight was a catalogue of his misleading "facts" from the campaign trail.  His statement that he, yes he, would restore all of the industrial jobs lost in the Rust Belt since the year 2000 was oblivious madness.  Has he no concept of technology and its ongoing impact.  Does he want to continue to raise hopes by saying things that are impossible to accomplish?  How cynical is that?  This was painful to listen to, but masochistically I continued, hardly believing that he was not moving on from campaign rhetoric to comments that are more thoughtful and aspirational, while being just a touch realistic.

There was so much to his comments that were was cringe worthy.  There was a rant about how well "we" did with Blacks, with Latinos, with women, as if they were all huge supporters.  When an audience member apparently reacted vocally to his comment about women's support, and was in the process of being removed from the event, he commented "where do these people come from?  They should send her back to mommy."  This is a President?

Trump was immensely relishing his role as entertainer and rabble-rouser, as a celebrity playing to a willing crowd.  He loves attention.  We know that.  One could expect something better than that, but they would be wrong.

As Trump finished his half hour of bombast, the Rolling Stones song "You can't always get what you want" began on the speaker system.  That was the one completely true aspect of the presentation from a superficial point of view.  Does he have the Stones permission to use their music as an anthem for his stage persona?  Has he ever listened to the words beyond the title and the refrain?   Has he heard the words "practiced at the art of deception"?  The answer is almost certainly "no" to each of these questions.

The comment here is not a political party comment.  It is a comment about our democracy.  Trump is not part of our American tradition.  He has no understanding of it, none it sadly seems.