THE AMERICAN POSEIDON ADVENTURE

There has been so much coverage of Trump’s State of trump’s Union that there is little need to rebut every detail about the economy, immigration, food assistance, tariffs, foreign relations, and America’s global standing. It was fiction layered over grievance, what one senator aptly called the ranting of a “divisive demagogue.” How many repetitions of the same facts following the Trumpian diatribes of lies will it take? We know what happened to the Kool-Aide drinkers of a cult. Is that what it will take? 

Yes, the medal presented to the elderly soldier was a moving moment. But even then, Trump could not resist making a wisecrack about wanting one himself, a five-time draft dodger disrespectfully joking about valor. It was a revealing moment. There is no quicker way to demean what a medal represents, loyalty, sacrifice, honorable service, than to turn it into a punchline.

The State of the Union has traditionally been a moment to outline proposals, articulate a vision (sometimes with exaggeration), and. attempt to bind the country together. That did not happen. Instead, we heard an acerbic screed fueled by lies, division and fear.

What matters as much as what he said is what he avoided. The speech was filled with shiny distractions meant to obscure the deeper dysfunction of an administration and the downward spiral of Congress’s integrity, that has left many Americans struggling and some dead. The wealthy are doing well, just ask Trump. By his own telling, he is having one of his best financial years, trading on America’s assets and security while markets rise. Those benefiting from capital gains are pleased.

But Americans who live paycheck to paycheck feel something very different. Small farmers and businesses have lost market share and face mounting pressure from an erratic trade policy. Tariffs, the largest tax increase ever,  paid for by American consumers, have been estimated to cost households roughly $1,700 annually through higher prices on coffee, meat, cars, appliances, and countless everyday goods. It is no surprise that affordability received scant attention. It is difficult to connect to everyday costs from inside a gilded bubble and harder still if one does not care to.

It is a sad spectacle to watch members of Congress rise in applause for claims they know to be harmful, untrue and deadly for Americans. It felt like the final scene from The Godfather when Michael’s wife Kay asks him if he ordered the murders. He lies to her face and then his ‘capos’ enter the room, kiss his ring and the door on integrity slowly closes.

Meanwhile, questions persist about the handling of records related to Jeffrey Epstein. How can anyone believe Trump. If there is nothing to hide, transparency should be simple. Obey the law, release the documents. Direct the Department of Justice to comply. Accountability and sunlight are not partisan demands; they are democratic ones.

Perhaps the full truth will not emerge until a future administration. But history suggests that truth has a stubborn way of surfacing. Justice may be delayed, but it rarely disappears.

This is not a moment for comfort. Yet there is one reason for cautious hope: facts accumulate. Reality asserts itself. Narratives built on falsehoods, exaggeration and grievance eventually collapse under their own weight. A balloon inflated by hot air, appealing to fear, prejudice, and resentment, inevitably leaks.

And in a democracy, citizens have the final say. We puncture illusions not with rage, but with votes.

VOTE!!!

RESIST!!! & EDUCATE!!!