On Tuesday Donald Trump decided to use his speech at Ft. Bragg, which was planned as a tribute to the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army, to instead spiral into another rehash of his "American carnage" themes as he painted a portrait of a country under siege from forces within.
That led Guardian columnist Robert Tait to label what he watched as some "weird s--- indeed."
In his speech postmortem, Tait noted that the president's MAGA rally style before the assembled Ft. Bragg soldiers was heavy on attacks on California and light on praise for the mission of the U.S. Army –– which was compounded by Trump's choice of music for his walk-off.
Noting the president went dark again with his attacks on U.S. citizens and the political leadership of California who are balking at his heavy-handed military approach to occupying the state in search of immigrants, Tait wrote, "It was the same discordant melody he had gone off on in his memorably dark first inauguration speech of January 2017, prompting George W Bush – who has kept an otherwise sphinx-like silence on things Trumpian in recent years – to murmur that it was 'some weird s---'."
"Given the martial setting, it would have been worthier, though unquestionably duller, to hum a tune of virtue and valor," the columnist suggested before adding, "It was a tour of Trump’s darkest horizons – all the bleaker for being leavened with a comical parting serenade."
That "comical parting serenade" he noted was the Village People's disco chestnut "YMCA."
That led Tait to bluntly observe, "As he exited the stage, the PA boomed out his favorite anthem, the Village People’s YMCA. The president drew the biggest cheer of the day from the watching troops by playful indulging in his trademark little dance, culled from distant memories of late nights at Studio 54. Then he waddled off stage, like some aging dystopian disco king."
You can read his whole piece here.