There were, of course, flashes of Trumpian weirdness: particularly the parts about illegal immigrants rampaging around the country committing crimes. The calls for unity and attempts at uplift sounded forced and fake. He lied about saving jobs and increased defense appropriations from NATO members. His “bipartisan” infrastructure plan was the same old proposal that only an oligarch could love. He didn’t give any guidance to Congress on the critical issues in the Obamacare replacement bill. The threat to stop supporting our allies was there–it was just implicit. In short, it was a collection of his greatest hits.
And yet, when he uses a teleprompter and a speechwriter, he sounds almost, well, normal. His narcissism and Dark Knight imagery remained in check. He didn’t offend any of our allies. Large portions of the speech could have been delivered by George W. Bush.
In a word, it was boring. Think of “The Celebrity Apprentice” hosted by the Arnold rather than the Donald. Sad!