Trump鈥檚 CPAC speech was like a national Rorschach test
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Liz Marlantes Politics Editor
| WASHINGTON
Dear readers:
鈥淚鈥檓 in love, you鈥檙e in love. We鈥檙e all in love together.鈥� That was President Trump, speaking to supporters over the weekend at CPAC, the yearly convention for conservative activists held in Washington, DC.
Hard as it is to believe now, this same group not long ago regarded Mr. Trump . This year鈥檚 conference was, as Trump鈥檚 remarks made plain, a lovefest.
The president gave the longest speech of his career, clocking in at well over two hours. He poked fun at the Green New Deal (鈥淒arling, is the wind blowing today? I鈥檇 like to watch television.鈥�) He mocked former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and talked about his love of TiVo. He boasted, yet again, about the size of the crowd at his inauguration. He literally wrapped his arms around the American flag and gave it a squeeze.
Critics called it 鈥渦nhinged.鈥� 鈥淭he聽president of the United States gave a rambling and incoherent聽two-hour speech in which he raved like a lunatic and told crazy, self-serving lies from start to finish,鈥� The Washington Post鈥檚 Eugene Robinson. 鈥淚f that no longer qualifies as alarming, we鈥檙e in serious trouble.鈥�
Others saw it as pure political entertainment. 鈥淚t was like listening to Robin Williams鈥� genie in the Disney movie聽Aladdin, Howard Stern in his peak years as a radio shock jock, or Don Rickles as an insult comic,鈥� Reason鈥檚 Nick Gillespie. 鈥淭here is simply no potential candidate in the Democratic Party who wouldn鈥檛 be absolutely blown off the stage by him.鈥澛�
Assessing the widely disparate reactions, conservative Trump critic S.E. Cupp commented that the real division in this country isn鈥檛 between the right and the left per se, but between Trump fans and Trump foes: 鈥淭he interpretations of all things Trump are so divergent, so disparate from one another, that there isn鈥檛 even a common language set to describe what each is seeing,鈥� she 聽on CNN.com.
To some, Trump serving as a kind of national Rorschach test reflects the extent to which our politics have become a 鈥渃ult of personality鈥� 鈥� in which allegiance to (or abhorrence of) the man has overridden thoughtful discussion of issues and ideas. 鈥淭rump鈥檚 speech was a virtuoso performance, showing off the man in full,鈥� National Review鈥檚 Jonah Goldberg. 鈥淏ut the overriding theme to the pudding was that there is only Trump.鈥�
Let us know what you鈥檙e thinking at csmpolitics@csmonitor.com.
