Primetime speech – delivered with shouty spirit but no cheer – betrayed a figure dogged by a cost of living crisis and the looming release of the Epstein files

It will go down in history as the “Bah! Humbug!” address.

But this was not an address by a self-confident man dishing out Christmas presents to the nation. It smacked of desperation from one who can feel the December windchill of opinion polls – a Reuters/ Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed just 33% of US adults approve of how Trump has handled the economy – dissent in his own Republican ranks and the Jeffrey Epstein files looming on Friday.

The speech also revealed Trump’s need for a reliable foil. Over the years Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been useful nemeses for a man and movement defined less by what they are for than what they are against.

  • setsubyou@lemmy.world
    23·
    3 months ago

    apparently this was a sugar high: just before the remarks started, according to a White House pool report, an usher brought in three Diet Cokes and ice.

    But… that’s the sugar free one… he must have been on something else.

    • Sludge@sh.itjust.works
      10·
      3 months ago

      I mean, 3 diet cokes is a lot of caffeine.

      Edit: I’ve been corrected that 3 diet cokes is, in fact, not a lot of caffeine. Guess he’s micro-dosing amphetamines. My bad, y’all.

    • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      3 months ago

      There’s no such thing as a “sugar high”. This is just Trump being Trump. He’s been an idiot for ever.

      Remember his speech to the boy scouts in his first term?

      • k0e3@lemmy.ca
        2·
        3 months ago

        I don’t remember the speech, but I’m guessing he was complimenting how hot their younger sisters were.

        • drhodl@lemmy.world
          2·
          3 months ago

          He deviated into a story about a rich guy he knows with a boat, and what sort of parties happened on that boat… I think hookers were mentioned. To children…!