But it took the president long weeks to make that simple statement, and just a few hours before his speech in the Capitol, he was suggesting to a group of state attorneys general
that anti-Semitic attacks might actually have been carried out by people who want “to make others look bad” (in other words, his political opponents).
At one point, Republican lawmakers in the chamber leapt to their feet, cheering in sycophantic approval, when Trump announced
that he was going to put an end to the “uncontrolled entry” into the United States of people “from places where proper vetting cannot occur.”
This is a classic Trumpian stunt, inventing a problem and then promising to fix it.
The president talked a lot about national unity on Tuesday night, although I suspect
that what he meant was that we should all unite behind his policies, behind his philosophy and, most important, behind him personally.
In fact, as Tuesday night’s speech to Congress demonstrated so clearly, the president is actually a master of the art of diminished expectations.
There is no free access for refugees to this country — it takes about two years to clear the vetting process —
and none of the fatal terrorist attacks in the United States since 9/11 have been committed by people from the seven countries Trump targeted with his anti-Muslim visa ban.
The Republicans dutifully roared their approval when Trump announced
that he had “directed the Department of Defense to develop a plan to demolish and destroy ISIS.” Apparently it had never occurred to President George W. Bush or President Obama to do that.
Donald Trump, Master of Low Expectations -
First as a candidate, and now as president, Donald Trump has drawn fire for promising the moon
and stars without giving the slightest hint of how he intended to obtain them.
