May 21, 2017

Trump Sets New Bar for Presidential Success

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By the way, Donald Trump is getting good marks for today’s speech in Saudi Arabia because he managed to recite it adequately off the teleprompter and didn’t veer off topic into any of the usual Trump idiocy.

Seriously. This is what the coverage is like. Apparently that’s all we expect from a president these days.1

One other note: I’m not sure how many people have noticed this, but Trump has a long history of talking big when he’s on a stage or on TV but backing down when he meets people face-to-face. It’s already happened with China, Japan, Mexico, Germany, and a host of others. Now it’s happening with Saudi Arabia, which seems to have Trump practically in thrall. This should come as no surprise to anyone.

1Of course, the last time this happened was Trump’s state-of-the-union address, and he managed to bollox that up within two days. I won’t be surprised if he does the same this time.

HERE ARE THE FACTS:

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As we wrote over the summer, traffic has been down at Mother Jones and a lot of sites with many people thinking news is less important now that Donald Trump is no longer president. But if you're reading this, you're not one of those people, and we're hoping we can rally support from folks like you who really get why our reporting matters right now. And that's how it's always worked: For 45 years now, a relatively small group of readers (compared to everyone we reach) who pitch in from time to time has allowed Mother Jones to do the type of journalism the moment demands and keep it free for everyone else.

Please pitch in with a donation during our fall fundraising drive if you can. We can't afford to come up short, and there's still a long way to go by November 5.

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