One of the many sadnesses of this Trump era is that the American political tradition for great oratory has been obliterated. With MAGA-aligned cronies, amateurs and grifters holding the reins of power, there is no ambition, let alone capability, to make words soar. I’ve noted before that Barack Obama made me want to start Speakola eleven years ago. I think he has more speeches transcribed and saved to the ‘Politics’ section than any other person. Trump lacks the language skills, coherence, empathy, logic, humour, historical understanding or sense of service to country, planet, god or universe that are normally necessary for a great speech. His underpinning philosophies are self-enrichment and the tearing down of those who he regards as enemies, which, given enough time, is everyone (except maybe Putin). His speeches are not only awful to listen to, the worst sort of childish belligerence, they’re also politically stupid, because Trump doesn’t need popularity anymore. I’m confident that he’ll make a play in the last two years of this term to retain the presidency, and it won’t be the American people he’ll be courting. It’ll be the military.
I’ve stopped listening to Trump speak because he fills me with such apocalyptic sadness, but I do read and listen to Heather Delaney Reese most days, and she takes the hit for thousands of us who are Trump-drunk and broken. This analysis of Trump’s campaign boast about how much money he is making for American oil companies with his Middle East war (while ordinary motorists are suffering at the pump) is today’s abomination, but there’ll be a new smear on the gusset of political decency tomorrow.
Barack Obama, speaking in Michigan, spoke well of the urgency of the moment, the need for a rebalance in the House and Senate. He seems to have been on this exact stage for eons, campaigning in elections that have more or less dragged America to the edge of an abyss, but he tries to buttress spirits, to summon a little bit of the old ‘Hope and Change’:
One advantage of having seasoning and experience when you've campaigned in as many elections as I have, I can tell you when an election comes along that just feels a little bit different —an election where people are so ready for something new, so hungry for something better, so sick and tired of being sick and tired that everywhere you go, it feels like change is in the air.
And Michigan, that's what I'm feeling right now! That's what you get a chance to do in ten days; after 10 years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence. Tomfoolery. Nonsense. The likes of which this country has not seen in modern times at least. You get to say enough is enough. We're voting for change right here in Michigan!
It was good to see him taking aim. I have thought that the ex presidents have been too quiet during this period, that they’ve abided by the historical convention that those who’ve sat in the Oval Office shouldn’t say too much about the present incumbent. It’s felt to me like these are exceptional circumstances, that Trump is driving the bus off the cliff with everyone on board. My wife thinks he’s Shift the Chimpanzee in the last Narnia book. Obama is more circumspect, more eloquent of course. He had this to say on tariffs and Canada:
Our current president loves tariffs, loves them. He has his one economic policy. Tariffs. They're going to be great. The greatest tariffs ever. And he was warned at the time, when you impose tariffs, consumers pay the tab. And it's not just the goods that are imported that we buy that are made in other countries. In a place like Michigan and the auto industry, you got integrated systems between Canada and the United States. And so each car requires a whole bunch of parts from a whole bunch of places.
So he was warned, this will drive prices up. This does not lower prices. And by the way, that's exactly what happened. And the weirdest thing is he's the toughest when it comes to tariffs and trade wars on that well-known evil empire, Canada. That historical adversary of ours. Canada! Canada, it's your neighbour. It's a few minutes drive over the bridge.
These are the people who gave us Martin Short and maple syrup. They are the nicest people. They're so nice. And somehow we've gotten them so mad because they're just constantly being abused and talked about and talking about annexing their country, making it a 51st state. And so rather than these tariffs bringing down the deficits like he said he would, they're driving up your prices and now we are running a debt to the tune of $40 trillion. I can't resist pointing out, by the way, that when I was president, we were in the middle of the worst financial crisis. All these Republicans are all ‘deficits, deficits, debt, debt’. You got to do something about it. And now $40 trillion, crickets. What happened? What happened? Somehow deficits only matter when a Democratic president is in office. So anyway, you would think that with all this going on, at least our current president would have passed some legislation to try to bring down prices. But no, the only bill they have passed of any significance was a trillion dollar tax break that mostly benefits the richest Americans.
Obama was funny as he often is. I remember thinking his final White House Correspondents Dinner speech was hilarious, “[mic drop] Obama out”, although it’s less funny when you think of the precipice we were standing at in 2016.
I don’t know whether being funny about Trump helps, because it feeds into the circus, and the circus somehow elevates the bully on TV who fires people and is meaner than you’re meant to be if you have a conscience or shred of decency. Still, Obama's cheesecake line this week was funny, so here it is:
What's up with the gold? I mean, he's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory. It's just gold everywhere. He is clearly not focused on lowering prices for you.
Or this on corruption. He’s not being funny now:
This is a culture that’s set at the top. We have never seen a president excel in straight up grifting on your dime like this. Never seen a president so intent on selling favors like this. We have lost count. Vote, because we have lost count.
Audience: Vote. Vote. Vote. Vote. Vote. Vote. Vote. Vote. Vote. Vote.
See, this group’s a quick study. We have lost count of all the deals he and his family have done. You can’t keep up. Meme coins, taxpayer-funded contracts for his kids’ companies. As Abdul mentioned, the guys become billions of dollars wealthier in office. Nobody disputes this. Nobody denies it. It’s just, how do you do that when you’re supposed to be looking out for you? And the worst part about it is not a single Republican in Congress has done anything to stop it.
Not any of the Republicans on the ballot here in Michigan have done anything to stop any of this nonsense. Most of them supported him every step of the way. You remember, roll back the tape, we’re going to drain the swamp. The only thing they drained is the reflecting pool on the National Mall because some no bid contract got it all messed up. And then they tried to blame them on this three-time Olympian. You remember that? Said he vandalized it and they had to drop the case because it was foolishness.
And here is how the 44th president of the United States, who has had his portrait removed from public view in the White House by the 45th, brought it home:
There's a moral component to the choices that we face right now. And we are not going to fix a system that's broken, we won't unrig our economy, so long as we've got a culture where anything goes, where people in the highest offices in the land think it's okay to lie and cheat and bully. Where what is true and what's false is all just poured into social media and it doesn't matter what's what and where money is the only measure of our worth. And that's the signal that's sent every single day.
If you're not rich, you don't count. Every single day. That is the thing that's the message we deliver to our children consciously and subconsciously. And that's part of what's going on right now. We have lost touch with those things that really matter in life, caring for our families, helping our neighbors, treating other people with respect.… and I don't know about you, but I am tired of anger and division. I want some friendship and neighbourliness and joy and everybody rolling up their sleeves in the common enterprise of rebuilding this country and then handing it off to our kids a little better than it is right now. That's what I want. That's what you want. We didn't get into this moment overnight. We're not going to get out of it overnight. But Michigan, I know this election can be a start. This election can be an inflection point.
This election can be a course correction in America's long journey towards a more perfect union because if we're willing to turn out in big numbers here in Michigan and across the country, if we're willing to vote for change up and down the ballot, then this election might not just mark the moment this country began to move in a better direction. This will be the moment when we began leaving our worst impulses behind and started aligning our politics with our highest ideals.
Michigan, you and I have proved before it's hard to stop change when its time has come. In ten days, you have a chance to do it again. So, I'm asking you right now, are you fired up? Are you ready to go? Let's make Jocelyn Benson governor. Let's make Abdul El-Sayed Senator. Let's get onto the path of making this country better. I love you, Detroit. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. Good night.
You can check out Obama’s full speech and transcript on Speakola. The transcript was produced by Rev. Vote America! Please vote.
Best wishes
Tony Wilson
Thanks to everyone who is a paid subscriber. It’s obviously a huge help for this one person ‘great speeches’ operation.
You can help Speakola get visibility by liking and sharing posts
Send me your favourite speeches! tony@speakola.com
A piece I wrote about South Melbourne FC winning the Australia Cup
The Elephant in the Room is IN THE ROOM
I’ve been on about this for a while, but the advance copies of my new picture book arrived today and it’s beautiful! Already nearly half the print run has been snapped up. Grab a Christmas copy for the 2-7 year old in your life who likes elephants or idioms or maybe even both.
