Former Senator Al Franken. (photo: Getty)
08 August 19
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of the most frustrating parts of being an American during these past
couple years has been trying to process the sheer tonnage of lies, the
endless vitriol and stupidity, the unyielding crassness, cynicism, and
self-aggrandizement, not to mention the sheer cruelty coming on a daily
basis from Donald Trump. It is so overwhelming that it all sort of
blends into one nightmarish mountain range of bullshit.
At a certain point, the brain gives up. There is no
sense trying to remember his childish taunts, malicious calumnies, and
transparently empty boasts. Just wait a few minutes. There’ll be a new
one.
Keeping track of, let alone cataloguing, his daily
stream of effluent, quickly became an impossible exercise, especially, I
would imagine, for the poor souls whose job it is to do just that. But
every once in a while, I will find a new category of affront that
screams, “point me out!”
And that is Trump’s unwillingness to step up during a
moment of national pain and deliver a speech meant to provide some
comfort to Americans in a manner that makes you believe he gives shit.
Remember, this is a guy who criticized President Obama for using a
teleprompter. Yet, when he spoke yesterday about the tragedies in El
Paso and Dayton, his expressionless face appeared to be mounted on a
swivel-head, turning mechanically from one prompter to another in a way
that suggested that he was reading the words for the first time and that
he really felt he had better things to do.
Mr. President, when more than thirty people are
randomly gunned down by two men in two American cities within hours of
each other, and one of the killers had written a manifesto borrowing
heavily from your own words, it’s time to step up and at least say
something that, while not particularly comforting, (not your forte), at
least sounds sincere. Some tips. Practice the speech. Start by reading
it. Several times. That way, when you say the words for the cameras,
they will seem familiar to you and you may understand why you are saying
what you’re saying. Try to rewrite the speech, if just slightly, in
your own words – enough to make it sound like you mean what are saying.
Don’t gin up emotion if you don’t have any to gin up. But at least make
an attempt to pretend that you grieve for those who died and their
friends and family.
Don’t go to El Paso. Or to Dayton. But especially El
Paso. The families and friends of those who were massacred there have
every right to believe that your words from the moment you started your
campaign at Trump Tower, then throughout your campaign, and to the very
day of the shooting – that those words encouraged the shooter and that
their loved ones may very well be alive were it not for the hatred
you’ve been spewing almost daily.
Give the speech – a new speech – that expresses
heartfelt sadness and grief. Do it from the Oval Office, not from one
of your golf courses. And try to make it sound like you’re sincere, even
if you’re not. That will require some work. But it will be worth it.
Understand how desperate all of us are for some reassurance that there
are indeed limits to your unfeeling cruelty.
Please. Not just for the
people of El Paso and Dayton. But for all Americans.
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