Like a middle-age dad lounging on his couch, talking back at what he hears broadcast on the Fox News Channel, the real estate mogul made his presidential campaign announcement Tuesday morning from the atrium of Trump Tower in Manhattan. Sounding less like a politician (which he isn’t) and more like a salesman (which he is) Trump retailed his policy baloney by the yard in a speech that had all of the coherence of a man suffering the blind staggers.
“Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people,” Trump said, making that rictus of disbelief look with his opposable lips.
According to Trump, there’s no problem on the political horizon—trade with China; the Iranian bomb; infrastructure; the national debt; offshore manufacturing; health care, et al.—that he can’t solve by applying his pure will. As conversational as the guy sitting next to you on a transcontinental flight, Trump rambled up and down his rhetorical scales. Forever portraying the United States as a backward, put-upon, and defeated nation, Trump proclaimed, “When did we beat Japan at anything?” Well, come to think of it, the 70th anniversary of the island nation’s unconditional surrender to America is coming up in two months, but never mind the fact-checking when Trump is speaking.
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