As longtime readers know, I always prefer to read transcripts of speeches instead of listening to them. Many rhetorical tricks don't work as well in print as in voice, and you can get a better feel for the strength of the argument by reading it instead. It was tough to find one today! There are lots of articles about how bad the speech was, about how crowds were light and drifted away during the speech, about how James Clapper questioned the President's fitness to serve after hearing it, but transcripts are thin on the ground.
I finally did locate one. Normally these things are simply titled, "Transcript of [Whoever's] Remarks." This time, the transcript was titled: "President Trump Ranted For 77 Minutes in Phoenix. Here’s What He Said."
It was only by reading the transcript that I discovered, left out of all of the media coverage, that Alveda King was there. With a little more research, I discovered that she wasn't just there present, but had a speaking role in the form of providing a long opening prayer.
That's the sort of thing I'd have thought highly relevant, given the recent weeks of concern about whether or not the President supports white supremacists. I'd have expected to have seen it mentioned more prominently in coverage of the speech.
Really? With our media? Sometimes referred to as "the enemedia"? Them guys?
ReplyDeleteSurely you jest.
I really didn't understand Trump's appeal until I stopped just reading his transcripts, and started watching him speak. His performances don't read well, but he clearly connects with the audience in a way that doesn't come through. I'm looking for arguments, and they're often not there. But the audience seems to understand him better than should be possible given what he actually says.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, in this case he has actually said all the things he stands accused of not having said. And Alveda King said some things that the crowd embraced enthusiastically, which ought to undercut the narrative we've been hearing. And maybe it does -- maybe that's why we don't hear about her, or how the people in his audience cheered and sang along with her.
Something's going on, and it's not what the press is talking about. I wonder what it is.
Of course the NLMSM ignored Minister Alveda King. She's an oreo, a token, and beneath their august notice.
ReplyDeleteEric Hines
I'd have expected to have seen it mentioned more prominently in coverage of the speech.
ReplyDeleteBut... but.... that doesn't fit the narrative.