State of the Union and other presidential addresses have been more show biz, less serious discourse for decades. Two performances standing out in President Donald Trump’s latest speech to a joint session of Congress were served with hefty dollops of irony and hypocrisy.
Of course, it’s great to have Marc Fogel back with us, but it’s important to remember who treacherously imprisoned him in the first place, Vladimir Putin, Trump’s buddy. Recently, Putin himself referred to Trump as a guy who “shares his vision of the world.” Also worth noting, to get Fogel back, Trump returned to Russia a notorious cybercrime kingpin, in cahoots with Putin, who had been directing hacks, swindles, financial blackmailing and scams all over the world — targeting not only banks, businesses and health care and educational institutions, but also those whom we consider to be “the most vulnerable”… the naïve and trusting, financially desperate and elderly. Once again, the adage, “birds of a feather” is proved.
As for the shout-out to the cute child (DJ Daniel) who suffered through six years of brain cancer treatment and operations —aspiring to be a police officer, we must hope that Trump’s executive-ordered cuts to cancer (including childhood cancer) research continue to be blocked by the courts, and relentless Republican efforts to gut Medicare and Medicaid, and overturn Obamacare/ACA, continue to fail so that children like DJ can obtain treatment and live long enough to fulfill their dreams. We must also hope that DJ never decides to join the Capitol Police, as long as Republican candidates happen to lose presidential elections.
Susan Ciarimboli
Greensburg