Sharon Kennedy: Listening to Trump address the AFPI

Former president, Don Trump, recently attended and addressed the America First Policy Institute’s “Agenda Summit” in Washington, D.C. It was his first appearance in our nation’s capitol since the insurrection he instigated.

I was listening to him on one computer while playing solitaire on another. I wasn’t much interested in what he had to say. I’d heard it all before. “The Democrats are destroying our country. We no longer have a southern border. Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was a complete and total catastrophe. The U.S. economy is tanked. I received more votes than any other candidate in the history of the world. Everything was perfect on my watch. Gas was cheap. Stocks were high. Government forced regulations were toast. Impeachments were phony. Everything will be perfect again when I’m re-elected president in 2024.”

Bla, bla, bla or as Thom Hartmann would say, quack, quack, quack. My game of solitaire was much more stimulating than Trump’s speech until he began winding down. Like you, I’m used to his bluster and wrecking ball approach, his foul language and his chest beating. However, before an audience of Yale conservatives dressed to the nines and nary a MAGA hat in sight, his departing words were more like those of a pious altar boy than a raving lunatic. As he lowered his voice and gently appealed to his audience of Establishment politicians, both past and present, I paused my game and gave the old man my full attention.

With more charm and decorum than that of the ever-tanned and handsome George Hamilton, Trump lulled his audience into a trance. His voice softened as he convincingly told his people to stick with him and all would be well upon his return to the West Wing. Gone was the gusto so necessary to appease the crowds in attendance at his rallies. Gone,

too, the vulgar language enjoyed by his gang of Red Hats. Gone, the country music, the baiting, the boasting and the Average Joe and Jane. No guy was wearing a plaid shirt. No gal had donned her tight Levis and halter top. The people he was addressing were graduates of elite universities. Dare I say there wasn’t a truck driving, beer drinking, craps shooting, high school dropout among them? These were the associates who get invitations to Mar-a-Lago. If you failed to catch his closing remarks, ask Google to find them for you. Whether you’re a Trump disciple or a Biden supporter, those remarks are not to be missed.

The Donald I heard during the last minutes of his speech was one who is capable of anything. He oozed grace and intelligence because he stayed on script. He was calm. His voice was as soothing as Gilead’s balm. Like the snake charmer he is, he could easily convince any listener of his genuine respect for the institutions he had hoped to overthrow on Jan. 6. If I had not heard his rally speeches and was not listening to the Select Committee witnesses, his Academy Award performance of July 26, 2022, would have won me over. Such an outstanding display of fact manipulation, if not outright lies, would have gone unnoticed. I would have been as mesmerized as everyone else in the room.

Fortunately, it takes more than a sugar-coated voice whispering sweet nothings to convince me Don is anything more than the greatest showman since Phineas Taylor Barnum who could charm the rattle out of a snake.

— To contact Sharon Kennedy, send her an email at authorsharonkennedy.com. Kennedy's latest book, “The SideRoad Kids: Tales from Chippewa County,” is available from her, Amazon, or Audible.

This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Sharon Kennedy: Listening to Trump address the AFPI