The following is from a friend from another county, a 30-something woman who works in tech & therefore prefers to remain anonymous.
I watched the bad orange man’s speech last night, and I have to say, I’m pleased. Some observations:
Softer-spoken, at least in the first half. He seemed visibly damp-eyed as he told the story of the assassination attempt and gave the names of the wounded and killed. He called for unity, forgiveness, and reaching across the aisle … but not to give up principles to do it. Make America Great Again for everyone.
Repeatedly emphasized that illegal immigration hurts everyone, including legal migrants and ethnic minorities. Basically said, “You’re welcome to come if you do it legally.” Named multiple victims of illegal immigrant crime, including Laken Riley.
Cracked a couple of jokes off the cuff. Looking at the same chart he tried to display last Saturday, he said something like “I didn't really get a chance to talk through this last time, I was distracted.”
No mention of abortion or trans stuff. Emphasis firmly on concrete matters: inflation, immigration, the wars, energy independence, taxes. Told a story about encountering a waitress in Las Vegas who complained about how her tips were taxed, and said that was crazy. No tax on tips! Crowd loved that.
Deliberately stepped on several land mines. Said “China virus” and then grinned at the crowd, knowing the media would hate it. Joked with the Wisconsin delegation (resplendent in their finest cheesehead hats) that he was planning on sending manufacturing jobs here – “And yes, I am trying to buy your votes.”
Reserved criticism purely for the Biden administration and criminals. No criticizing his (questionable) Secret Service detail. To hear him tell it, everyone he’s ever met has been the best person he’s ever met.
The speech did get rambly in the second half. He went for at least 90 minutes! The crowd was locked in for sure, but man, I was tired by the end.
I was watching the Twitchy live coverage at the same time. One commentator said something like “He’s hanging out with friends now.” I got that feeling too: he was speaking off the cuff, ad-libbing for sure. It’s one of his biggest failures as a public speaker, and I did wish he’d wrap up faster. But weirdly, I also found it endearing.
After all the AI nonsense, the Trump “voice” is distinctively human in its flaws. You can’t mistake it and you can’t fake it. The other day I saw a meme of Trump as Buddha, talking about the dangers of material desire, and I recognized it instantly without even looking at the accompanying picture. You can always tell when Trump (and to a lesser extent, Melania) has actually written or said something: the voice is unmistakable.
Biden et al., on the other hand, sound like ChatGPT. They repel me the same way the machine voice does. When Biden fumbles over his speeches, it sounds like a machine glitching rather than a man stammering. We may be witnessing the first politician to represent the great state of Uncanny Valley.
Finally, Trump made some seriously big promises. Lower inflation, cut taxes, drill baby drill … OK. Shut down Mexico’s nonsense and stop China buying oil from Iran … maybe. End the wars in Ukraine and Israel … Now I’m skeptical.
Then I remembered that he already did it. This is the same guy who presided over no new wars, skyrocketing economy, Putin and China being suspiciously quiet, and actual honest-to God peace in the Middle East. Dunno if he can do it all, but I’d bet he can get a lot closer than the other guy.
Someone on Twitchy joked that his speech went longer than Biden's workday. Which yeah. Can you imagine Biden free-soloing for 90+ minutes? There ain’t enough drugs on the planet.
So that was my impression of El Jefe Naranja last night. It ain’t in the bag, but I think he did a solid job. And boy, do I miss actually having savings. I know whom I'm voting for.
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