But the truth is this: It has all become painfully boring. With Trump, it’s the same old schtick. He lies and lies then lies some more. So it was, so it is and so it shall be.
Democratic Rep. Al Green removed during President Trump’s speech
House speaker Rep. Mike Johnson had Democratic Rep. Al Green removed during President Donald Trump’s speech.
If you believe in truth, if you keep even a toenail dipped in the waters of objective reality, President Donald Trump’s address to Congress was a divisive and staggering fiction.
As someone who still embraces facts, it was like watching half a room of people reveling cult-like in an alternate reality.
Republicans, in their persistent state of delusion, stood and cheered, as if Trump’s words actually meant something. As if hypocrisy was a mythical concept no serious person accepts.
But the truth is this: It has all become painfully boring. With Trump, it’s the same old schtick. He lies and lies then lies some more. So it was, so it is and so it shall be.
Trump’s boring lies enthralled Republicans, and that’s about it
The only thing that matters is that his lies and his policies and his recklessness are hurting America, and Republicans are applauding, as they did throughout Tuesday night’s speech.
On the same day the stock market tanked, wiping out all gains it had made since Trump’s election victory in November, he had the nerve to tell this joint session of Congress and the American people: “America is back!”
Trump later said: “Our country is on the verge of a comeback the likes of which the world has never witnessed, and perhaps will never witness again.”
America is not making a comeback – the economy is teetering
Inflation has ticked up. Food prices, which Trump promised to reduce on Day 1, have not dropped. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model, a leading indicator of the U.S. economy’s health, has dropped precipitously in recent weeks, according to Reuters, “signaling that GDP is shrinking at the fastest pace since the pandemic lockdown.”
What a comeback! We’re back, baby! (Am I doing that right?)
With Elon Musk in attendance – you know, the unelected bureaucrat who is gutting the federal government and firing Americans by the thousands – Trump departed this realm and spoke of an imaginary America, saying: “The days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over.”
Free speech for thee, but not for me – that’s the Trump way
The president proudly declared that “free speech … it’s back!” – apparently forgetting his social media post this week saying he would ban “illegal” protests at universities and arrest protesters. He made that free-speech claim after a Democratic lawmaker was physically removed from the chamber because he stood up to protest Trump’s lies. Trump made that comment even though his White House has barred The Associated Press from the Oval Office because it refuses to call the Gulf of Mexico by the president’s made-up “Gulf of America” name.
It was a lie, and utter nonsense. But Republicans acted like it was coming from the mouth of a benevolent deity.
Trump still blames Biden yet does nothing. No wonder Republicans won’t do town halls.
On food prices, Trump blamed former President Joe Biden and said, laughably: “I’m fighting every day to reverse this damage and make America affordable again.”
Egg prices have risen dramatically since Trump took office, largely due to bird flu, and there’s little evidence he’s doing a thing to address the issue. His tariffs will only raise prices for consumers. Trump’s work on food prices is so popular with Americans that Republican lawmakers have now been told not to hold in-person town hall meetings in their districts, lest videos of people protesting go viral.
Regarding Musk’s work dismantling the government – cutting everything from lifesaving foreign aid to crucial medical research and hurting Americans farmers by eliminating USAID – Trump said: “We’ve taken back the money and reduced our debt to fight inflation and other things.”
That is absolute nonsense. Musk’s claims of savings have repeatedly been found to be wildly overstated, there’s no evidence anything Musk has done has “reduced our debt” and, as previously mentioned, inflation is up. Trump may as well have claimed he invented rainbows and turned all American rivers chocolate.
Even when it comes to polls, Trump just makes stuff up
Trump claimed that “for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is headed in the right direction than the wrong direction,” saying there had been a 27-point swing since Election Day.
That might be true in whatever sad world Trump inhabits, but in our world, a new Marist Poll conducted last week found that 54% of U.S. adults think America is heading in the wrong direction, and a February Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 49% of folks think the country is going the wrong way.
Lies upon lies upon lies upon lies. This presidential address showed, in painful detail, the bubble Trump and his supporters inhabit. Fueled by narcissism and confident that his flock has fully rejected facts, Trump babbled endlessly, brimming with self-aggrandizement galore, and told a story of an America that simply does not exist.
The things happening are dire. Truly. But listening to the old con artist blabber made-up stories about how great everything is?
That’s gotten boring as hell.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
