President Donald Trump’s first joint address of his second term was absurd for many reasons — the most obvious being that it took place in the same chamber ransacked by some of his most devoted followers during the Jan. 6 riot. Most comedians never get to enjoy a comeback as dramatic and ridiculous.
Trump’s supporters and apologists and even some of his most ardent critics acknowledge that he’s got a quick, sardonic New York wit.
And comedy was a central theme of his speech. Trump’s supporters and apologists and even some of his most ardent critics acknowledge that he’s got a quick, sardonic New York wit. He can “break chops” with the best of them, even if he has absolutely no sense of humor about himself. But when he’s in stand-up mode, as he was for much of Tuesday night, he’s a bully comic. And the lines he serves up aren’t so much funny as they are weaponized against those he and his followers consider the enemy.
During the first Trump administration, the word “clapter” was used to describe a virtue signaling brand of unfunny resistance comedy. In 2016, before Trump was even president, Donald Glover mocked fans “just clapping and laughing to be on the right side of history.”
It was all about the MAGA clapter Tuesday night. Despite Trump’s deftness at dishing the occasional quick one-liner, he’s rarely clever or unexpected. His arsenal consists of red meat for the red hats — and a whole lot of thoroughly debunked lies.
Just ask weathervane Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who proclaimed Trump’s speech “Inspiring, funny, compelling and the Democrats’ worst nightmare. Trump 2028!”
I’m feeling generous tonight, so I’m going to assume the senator’s “Trump 2028” exclamation is a trollish joke and not an encouragement for Trump to stay in office past the date when he is constitutionally required to leave office.
Early in the address, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, repeatedly interrupted the president, waving his cane and shouting. Republicans tried to drown him out with “USA! USA!” chants. After a warning from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Green was escorted from the chamber by the sergeant at arms as Republicans sang the chorus of the one-hit wonder group Steam’s 1968 song “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” — just as you would if stadium security kicked out a rambunctious sports fan.
After Green’s ejection, Trump made a point of turning to face the Democratic caucus — like a comedian setting up for a devastating zinger — and complained that there’s nothing he can do to make them happy, not even curing a terrible disease. He then pivoted to bragging about withdrawing from the “corrupt” World Health Organization. Trump likely didn’t intend the juxtaposition between those two statements, but it was funny nonetheless.
What’s an ‘illegal protest’ in a country with the First Amendment? Whatever Trump says it is, presumably.
Other unwitting laugh lines from Trump included his boast of bringing back “free speech in America” on the same day he announced, “All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came.”
What’s an “illegal protest” in a country with the First Amendment? Whatever Trump says it is, presumably.
Another unintentionally funny moment was when Trump praised Elon Musk as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency — even as the administration has said in court filings that someone else is in charge of DOGE.
Trump spent several minutes reading a thoroughly debunked list of people over the age of 100 who he claimed are receiving Social Security benefits before turning to newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “We have a healthier country than I thought, Bobby,” Trump deadpanned to raucous Republican laughter. (It’s funny because this country is experiencing measles outbreaks more than two decades after it declared the disease essentially eradicated, and longtime vaccine opponent RFK Jr. is angering his anti-vaxx fan base by at least mildly encouraging measles vaccinations.)
The president did make Democrats genuinely laugh once, when he noted during a rant about border security that “we have to take care of our law enforcement.” (He recently pardoned nearly every Jan. 6 rioter, including the most violent who savagely beat police officers.) And even though Trump is planning to slash industrial regulations and take a sledgehammer to the Environmental Protection Agency, he also demonstrated that he’s an avid recycler by bringing back his well-worn “Pocahontas” dig at Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
Trump’s address to Congress was thoroughly dishonest, loaded with culture war smears and pumped full of delusional confidence about where the country is headed. It was also the kind of bleak comedy this country ought to get used to for the next four years.