In case you’ve been wondering, yes, Donald Trump has been hiding lately. Since Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old nurse, was killed by federal immigration agents during a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, Trump has made himself scarce.
When the president has shown up in public, it’s been at events that are carefully staged to avoid contentious questions — particularly after he walked a rope line outside the West Wing in the days following Pretti’s shooting and said, “You can’t have guns.”
Sources close to Trump say the reason he has rarely been seen is that he is preparing for his upcoming State of the Union message, which he is scheduled to deliver on Tuesday, Feb. 24. Others, noting what appears to be a physical and mental decline, say it is health related. Some have explained it is because he angered the National Rifle Association and many of his supporters with his rope line comments about limiting firearms. As usual with Trump, more than one statement can be — and often is — correct. In this case, all three probably are.
Trump is resting. He is prepping for his speech. And he’s still trying to figure out how to spin the Minneapolis debacle after White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and drew the ire of both Democrats and Republicans.
But the president’s silence will soon come to an end. As he said in an email to supporters on Thursday as he headed to Georgia, “I’m moments away from delivering a MASSIVE announcement — one that will shake American history, crush the radical left, and send the fake news into total meltdown. This is HUGE. Bigger than big. The kind of move only I, President Trump, can pull off. They won’t know what hit them.”
He is, of course, talking about the State of the Union. Trump’s trip to Georgia on Thursday served as a dress rehearsal for his big night — and it signaled that we should expect a typical Trump speech next week, a rerun of his greatest hits. He will tell us how great the country is because of his appearance on the political scene. He will acknowledge no mistakes and offer no apologies for anything his administration has done.
As Presidential Pep Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday, Trump is “still digging his way out of the Joe Biden mess.” So you can also be sure that he will blame the Democrats for anything wrong in the world.
Trump will tell us how safe cities and states are because of his actions — despite the protests, killings of innocent people and thousands of federal troops deployed in major American cities.
Trump will tell us how safe cities and states are because of his actions — despite the protests, killings of innocent people and thousands of federal troops deployed in major American cities. On Wednesday, appearing at the White House for a Black History Month reception, the president told us we need law and order. “Washington, D.C. was a crime capital. Now many people are saying it’s safe. Many people. It happened very fast. It’s safe to walk down the street again,” he said before bragging about deploying the National Guard to Memphis and New Orleans.
During his address, Trump will tell us the Dow is at 50,000 and gas is at $1.99 per gallon. (Fact check: This near-daily rant about gas still isn’t true). He will also say that before he returned to the White House, Joe Biden was the worst president in history and we were a dead country — and that many are now saying that we’re “the hottest country on the planet.”
Some say his claims about heat have more to do with canceling Environmental Protection Agency guidelines and policies. Others argue it’s because Trump is a minion from the darkest circle of a mythical hell. Either way, Trump will claim it’s because manufacturing is back, our economy is great and he has solved all of America’s problems.
He will say that we are loved, respected and feared overseas. Trump will tell us he’s making Americans healthy again and that 80% of Americans believe we should deport violent criminal immigrants living among us.
He’ll praise God and family, and brag about bringing the country back from whatever dark hole he claims we inhabited prior to his arrival. He’ll tell us, as Leavitt did on Wednesday, that not only is he the “president of peace,” but that he has solved seven or eight major wars. He’ll smile and say he’s gotten us close to peace in Ukraine, though the war didn’t start on his watch and is not his fault.
And he’ll be sure to call Democrats cheats and liars.
Want more sharp takes on politics? Sign up for our free newsletter, Standing Room Only, written by Amanda Marcotte, now also a weekly show on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
He won’t mention the Epstein files or how he has dismantled the EPA. He won’t mention his ongoing destruction of the free press.
He won’t talk about the rapidly rising measles epidemic or how he has gutted government agencies that oversee the safety of our food and drugs. He won’t mention skyrocketing health insurance premiums or how some middle-class Americans have taken to selling blood plasma to make ends meet. He won’t talk about the persistence of inflation and how recent polls show that Americans don’t share his enthusiasm for the economy.
He won’t talk about how he is separating families and stoking fears about immigrants to justify abandoning due process. He won’t talk about shooting American citizens while his federal shock troops invade American cities and ignore police procedures, good sense and the Constitution.
He won’t explain how we’re loved by Russian President Vladimir Putin and feared by our European allies. He won’t tell us how America is no longer trusted enough to receive intelligence from our closest allies, including the United Kingdom, or how little they think of us.
He’ll leave out details about how his administration has killed people in the Caribbean, bombed independent countries and is currently threatening a war against Iran.
He won’t talk about the billions he’s made from his presidency since he took office or about the alleged money-laundering schemes with the United Arab Emirates through crypto currency.
He won’t talk about the corruption of his own government, and how he has stoked fear and anger. He won’t talk about the growing concerns of a renewed arms race, the widening education gap or how many people now must be 40 before they can afford their own home.
He won’t talk about the corruption of his own government, and how he has stoked fear and anger. He won’t talk about the growing concerns of a renewed arms race, the widening education gap or how many people now must be 40 before they can afford their own home.
He won’t talk about any real issues that affect people unless he can make you scared or angry.
He will never admit to a single misstep.
The conspiracy theorists among us think he could announce the presence of aliens from outside our solar system, especially after former president Barack Obama’s recent off-hand comments raised eyebrows. Leavitt laughed that off on Wednesday, saying that any speech about aliens is “news to me.” I wonder if any of these “aliens” have been deported?
Republicans in Congress will cheer. Democrats have been told by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries they have two options: “either attend with silent defiance, or to not attend, and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion.” Supreme Court justices and the Joint Chiefs will nod quietly. A few might shake their heads.
And millions of Americans will believe the fiction.
You can’t blame them. We love our American fiction. We’re the country that invented Superman and Captain America. We are righteous: truth, justice and the American way. We are God’s children. It’s true, we think a lot of ourselves.
Trump is just the festering symptom of the fictional cancer we worship and subscribe to here in the United States. We often think movies are reality. If you doubt our love for fiction, then consider this; Our most popular sport is called football. But in that sport we rarely use our feet, and we don’t, strictly speaking, play with a ball. In baseball, we refer to the championship tournament as the “World Series,” though only American and Canadian teams play for the title.
We say we have free speech and due process. We say we have the right to bear arms, that all are created equal and that no person is above the law. We say that we value education, health care and family. But none of this is true. Here in the United States, we only value money and power.
On Tuesday, Trump will use our values against us in an effort to take away the things we hold most dear. He will spread more of what my dad used to fertilize his roses. So ahead of his speech, the real question is not what Trump will say, but how many people believe his appearance on the public stage is coming to an ignominious end?
That’s the real reason we should be careful to listen and watch Trump. Everyone who has covered him, including me, has noticed a marked change from his first administration to his second. Could he last another 1060 days in office? Maybe.
But his absence on the public stage and his speculative nature, as well as lingering questions about his health, are all adding up to one great big and sometimes terrifying question: What the hell happens should Trump not reach the end of his term?
He may well try to answer that in his State of the Union address — if only because of his desperate desire for immortality. With that in mind, what exactly could he try to pull off in an attempt to secure the historic status he believes he is due?
Aliens? No midterm elections? Martial law? Will he change the NFL kickoff rules?
“What will he say?” could be the most frightening question of all.
Read more
about the Trump administration
