Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Somewhat fascinating and actually horrifying


Well the better half and I made the effort. We went down to the AAC to see President Trump. We didn’t attempt to get in, we watched the large screen overlooking the plaza like way too many others. We were not on the Plaza, but in a spot off the street to see and definitely hear his speech. I say that because they had the speakers up loud. We did not watch the whole speech, but we could hear it for a couple of blocks as we walked away.

We got there early and the crowd was very pleasant. Afterwards many people were posting on social media how wonderful the crowd was and they are correct. Many people waited patiently, everyone was very friendly, they were enjoying being out, even though there was mounds of trash, it was all put in the same place, piled up on overflowing trash cans, yet no massive amounts of litter all over the streets.  Nothing untoward at all. A protest march tried to walk through the crowds and they stayed on the street and outside of one young girl trying to walk through the Trump crowd and a cop straightening her out real quick there were no incidents that I saw. We walked around a bit before it started.

The better half wanted to see the motorcade, but by the time we were close to that side of the AAC it had already arrived. We missed that but lingered about waiting for the speech to start.

I am going to go back to some social media posts. Some posts overestimated the crowd size, some spoke wonderfully about friends and people they met, all posted how excited they were to be there, yet did not see one that talked about his speech. This was a campaign rally and no one mentioned any platform or ideas he expressed. None really commented anything at all about the meat of the speech. There may have been some that did, however, I did not read any. And I think I know why.

His speech was frightening, not because of what he said, but because of what he didn’t say and how the crowd reacted. We left after twenty plus minutes and I know it went on much longer, but he didn’t say anything substantial. Absolutely nothing, nada, zip, zero nothing.

He stood there and basked in the crowd’s adoration, called people names, told us how wonderful he is, how wonderful his Presidency is, what he has done without citing any references, statistics, except some very broad numbers and very unverifiable, he gloated, he waved, he pointed to a person every now and then, told everyone how crazy others are, even made the circle motion around his ears a few times, yet did not say anything that would make you think I want to hear more.

And the crowd loved it. They cheered, they booed, they applauded, they were euphoric and it was scary. Here were normally rational people being hypnotized by hot air. He bragged about the wall without any specifics, he bragged about employment numbers without any specifics, everything he did was the best, the greatest, no other President like him, but never said anything. And the crowd ate it up. He would step back from the podium, stand there with his nose in the air, smiling,  turning around to stare at the crowd, letting them soak him in, and yes I said that they way I wanted to, he definitely reveled in the adoration. It was maddening to watch. Nothing to really sink your teeth into in what he said, but the crowd was full on board to everything he said. And these were the people outside. I guess since they waited and couldn’t get in, they would be more fanatical. I do not know. You could hear and partially see the crowd on the screen, and they were just as pumped up.

I do not know what to tell you. It was spooky and not in the fun Halloween style. It is going to be very hard to separate his base from him. They are true believers and watching the change come over the crowd when he came on was something to behold, I grant you. Also seeing him though you realize he is not stable, just the look on his face and in his eyes leads a person to believe there is something not right going on inside him. The better half felt he was like the leader in the Hunger Games. I fear much worse.

On a separate note, will someone stop H. Clinton from getting involved before she thinks she has some influence or something. Please and very soon. 2016 was bad enough, anything close to a repeat is another horror story.

And a random comment. Have you seen the ads for the new Terminator movie? I thought he was a robot in the movie, yet they have ole Arnold, well as old, without even trying to well I do not know, but it isn’t a good plot line to have an old terminator. Just doesn’t work realistically, but then again apparently, we, Americans, are willing to accept anything as long as we like it.

Some critical thinking education is desperately needed.

The Dallas Mavericks start play tomorrow and the NBA has its two starting games tonight. I am excited., The conversation around here is about who is the fifth starter. I have my views, but for some reason I keep missing out on responding to articles that have this discussion. By the time I read something the article is a day old and no one else is commenting. I tried earlier on one, but the battery on my phone quit so I lost the whole post and I was 90% complete. Some quick thoughts.

As the team stands the two major areas of weakness are rebounding and a true lock down defender. I feel then we need to adjust by concentrating on the players with the highest shooting percentage and the players that can play the best team defense and switch well. The fifth starter should be someone who meets those two requirements to help us overcome where other teams may have an advantage. Two bonuses would be helping to keep the turnovers down and be able to create some turnovers for the other team. We miss too many shots and the other team out rebounds us, we will get outscored significantly. Obvious, but that is where this team stands right now. Let’s see what happens. I am going to be optimistic and put $2 down in Vegas on the Mavericks winning the Championship. Why not, I have a friend going this week.

Eventually I will get back to the story I recently started. It didn’t start as well as I wanted, but that is on me. I need to inspire myself to make this effort and test myself.


Cheers

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