Shocking and aweing America into a lul?
You may have heard recently the expression “shock and awe” from Republican sources or even the Trump administration itself. As in, the Trump administration once sworn in is going to shock and awe the people.
I believe it is being said in a positive tone. What “shock and awe” really means in this context is that there will be an overwhelming amount of information and news and soundbites, along with a great number of “actions” from the president.
All of it, to keep the news cycle quick and flash the next shiny talking point. This is a political strategy that is not unique to Trump, nor new to him. We have been seeing this for nearly 10 years now.
I implore those of us disheartened by Donald J. Trump to try not to allow our pea-size attention spans, completely controlled by TikTok and Instagram to allow for us to move on from the outright disingenuous, dishonest, and disgusting things he says and does on a semi-daily basis.
So, let me update you on what it is President Trump has done since being sworn into office.
All of that big talk from Trump while running for president about tariffs. Like, all of those times he misrepresented what a tariff was and voters believed him in some places.
You know, the tariffs Trump said he was going to put on China. Well, turns out Trump will be putting 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
No word on Trumps stance when it comes to his cheap labor, communist, authoritarian friend. Oh, and news flash: the American consumer will still be the one who bares this cost.
The first major event to occur under the Trump presidency was a commercial airline flight heading over the Potomac that had a collision with a blackhawk helicopter belonging to the U.S. military.
Now, this is a rare event to say the least that is deeply tragic and cost many civilian casualities. Our fearless leader responded not by giving a heartfelt speech, condolences to the family affected, updating the public of facts surrounding the case, and supporting those trained to investigate what exactly happened.
Instead, the insecure orange man blamed Joe Biden, Obama, and DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion). And before you say “well, maybe he’s right. What were the two military helicopter pilots race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orrientation?”
They were two straight white guys. To be clear, the president’s response to a tragedy was to get on live television and wildely speculate about an incident he knew nothing about.
And more deplorable, he used it in an attempt to further his political agenda, that being, getting rid of DEI.
The other major news story in the Ameican political climate was Elon Musk at the inauguration.
More specifically, a gesture he made twice. It seemed to be a salute of the German kind from say early 1940’s?
The people defending this have since floated a couple alternative ideas as to what was meant by the gesture. One being that it is actually an ancient roman salute he does, not the German kind. Pretty weak argument after you watch the video.
The other alternative floated is Elon Musk suffers from autism or an adjascent dissability that geniuses possess, one that makes it hard to understand the social cues.
That is a much more stable an argument if you believe Elon is a genius. He is certainly not someone with great social skills. Just watch the clip.
Either way, you and I probably can agree that nobody should be getting on stage in front of thousands of people at the president’s inauguration and gesture twice anything remotely similar to the gestures he made. It shouldnt matter whether or not you respond well to social cues.
Oh, not to mention, Musk using his social media platform X and his celebrity to genuinely endorse a far right political party in Germany. Look it up.
Just to rattle off a couple other notable moves Trump has made since being in office, he has pulled from the WHO (World Health Organization), similarly pulled from The Paris Climate Agreements.
He has rescinded birth place citizenship, is suggesting immigrant concentration camps, has roled back DEI, is actively attempting to roll back many government funded benefits, has haulted all Federal aid, and don’t get me started on RFK or Trump’s pick for defense secretary.
The one bright spot is that all of these executive orders Trump is signing will most likely not hold up in court. Some might, some won’t.
But know this, Trump still can’t just do what ever he wants. He his beholden to systems of governance and to the courts, and though he would like to answer to nobody and nothing, he still does.
Please keep it that way. Lastly, don’t take my word for it. Go and research what is happening, take an interest, form your own opinion. Ciao for now.