Listening Tour

Prospective political candidates go on “listening tours” before throwing their hat in the ring. Ostensibly, this is to “feel the pulse” of the people and to “listen to their concerns”.

It’s a long time until November, 2024, but a certain resident of Mar-a-Lago began his “listening tour” with a speech in Las Vegas earlier this month. Donnie being Donnie, very little “listening” was done. The topic of the speech was supposed to be “crime”, but it devolved into a paean of praise to Donald J. Trump and , of course, a litany of the wrongs visited upon him.

“We have to stop fighting each other and unify. We were unified during what was in many ways the Greatest Period In Our Country’s History until COVID came in from China.” Those of us who can remember all the way back to 2020 might recall extreme polarization as opposed to national unity and a President with a 40% approval rating who pretty much ignored that “Chinese Plague” until tens of thousands died. That was the Greatest Period In Our Country’s History all right.

Donnie then slipped into foreign policy. Iran announced that it has sufficient enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon the day of Donnie speech. That never would have happened if he was still President. “I would have had a deal done within a week after the election if the election wasn’t rigged!” That would be hard to do since Donnie pulled out of the Iran Nuclear Deal that everyone in the world including Russia agreed to as soon as he became President. It’s impossible to “do a deal” when you’re not talking to the other party.

Back on topic, Donnie talked about “crime”. “The Biden administration, the Pelosi-Schumer Congress, and radical left Democrats at the state and local levels defunded the police!” Actually, police funding increased under Biden, but don’t let the facts get in the way of a good rant.

“Leave our police alone! Let them do their job! They know what to do!” That unarmed Black man in Akron with more than forty police bullet holes in his body might disagree. Maybe some controls on police overreaction are necessary.

“Impose the Death Penalty on drug dealers! That’s what they do in the Philippines and in China and there is no drug problem there!” Mass incarceration won The War on Drugs here. Let’s go with summary execution, beheading even. That should be even better.

“Crime is caused by an open cesspool of drugs and criminals pouring into our country.” Later in the same speech, Donnie boasted, “My administration completed almost all of The Wall!” Does that mean that The Wall didn’t work? The Mexican government that Donnie forced to pay for it must be so disappointed.

Most of the “listening” on Donnie’s “listening tour” was done by his audience.

By Ed Dufton