Some thoughts on president’s speech...

There are times where I wish I could’ve bet some money on what was going to happen in this nation. Clearly, I would’ve pocketed a considerable amount of spare change had I placed my bets on what we’ve seen over the past several weeks with regards to the change in the nation’s leadership.

Based on what happened so far this month, I would’ve clearly won enough money to buy something very expensive these days – a dozen eggs at one of our local supermarkets.

The most blatant example of what I saw involved President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. Instead of simply listening to what he had to say, there were lawmakers seated in the chambers on Capitol Hill who were already clearly divided on what he had to say to all Americans.

During that 90-minute speech, the rest of America saw clear and blatant examples of what some news reports referred to as “childlike and willful behaviour” with regards to the Democrats in Congress.

This included female Democrats who deliberately wore pink clothing because they “suddenly” felt that the nation’s leader was somehow affecting the rights of women. Then there were others who held up various signs that news cameras “suddenly” recorded that displayed various messages that included “no king” and “save Medicaid.”

It was clear these lawmakers had already decided well before the speech that they were going to do whatever they could to show their inability to understand what Trump planned to do as a way to help this nation. They were already divided as they displayed biased, sharp, partisan division to anything he said before he spoke that evening.

But this wasn’t the first time any of this happened. I still remember when Nancy Pelosi deliberately took a copy of Trump’s state of the union speech during his previous time as the nation’s leader in which she was clearly seen tearing up that speech while the TV cameras were rolling.

If anything, she could’ve simply left the speech where she sat that evening. Her actions clearly showed her inability to at least hear what Trump had to say versus her discriminatory stance she clearly illustrated.

Even worse involved a celebration during our current president’s speech in which a child battling brain cancer received an honorary award from the U.S. Secret Service. D.J. Daniel took center stage as people applauded and rallied their support for this 13 year old, who fought against a disease that at one time was considered something he wouldn’t have survived.

But where were the Democrats? Oh yeah. They sat in their seats and refused to stand or clap for this young child.

Having said all of this, let’s do the one thing I mentioned in an editorial I wrote a few months ago. It involves what I refer to as “reversing the narrative.”

Let’s say a Democrat was the one in the Oval Office at the time of this month’s speech versus a Republican. What do you think would’ve happened that evening?

I’m betting good money each one of those Republicans would’ve been slapped with multiple censures with the Democrats then demanding each of their opponents be removed from office. We would’ve seen multiple news reports highlighting what they would quickly refer to as “hateful” actions.

At the same time, how would Democrats have reacted if all of the Republican lawmakers refused to applaud or stand to honor D.J. Daniel that evening?

Yup.

The Democrats would have repeatedly yelled and screamed that the actions of their political counterparts were somehow “racist.”

However, since it was Democrats responsible for displaying these actions, it became another case of, “Oh nothing to see here. Move along. Move along.”

So much for the national news media being free of political bias.

Fortunately, at least one member of Congress got held accountable for his actions that evening. It came as Texas representative Al Green started yelling during Trump’s message to all Americans. Following his removal from the legislative chambers, Green ended up getting slapped with a censure, commonly known as a reprimand, for his actions that represented what lawmakers called a “breach of proper conduct.”

As part of this action against Green, lawmakers held a vote to approve this disciplinary response. Once again, some lawmakers showed their inability to remain unbiased in how they deal with those in Congress who commit these actions.

During a joint session address, only a handful of Democrats voted to condemn this representative for his actions that immediately got aired on national television. As the lawmakers met following the president’s speech, the House of Representatives voted 224-198, in favor of the censure against the Texas congressman.

Just 10 Democrats supported this reprimand – another blatant display of political bias in which the laws of this nation only seem to apply to their opponents.

Now I wonder how those same representatives would’ve acted had the president been a Democrat and the lawmaker that disrupted the speech was a Republican. In what would’ve likely been broadcast as “breaking news” aired 24 hours a day, seven days a week, I’d wager the representative would’ve been immediately thrown out of office versus getting a figurative “slap on the wrist.”

However, here’s something that seems ironic. In what represents a clear case of hypocrisy, these same Democrats and their supporters never seemed to feel this way when it came to the 15 years that Trump served as the host of the reality TV series “The Apprentice.” Not once did they stop watching the show nor did they take actions that threatened this man or his supporters.

So what happened?

Oh yeah, he ran for president against former First Lady Hillary Clinton. It wasn’t even a close race. He clearly led by earning 538 electoral votes compared to the 270 votes Clinton received.

But what happened over the next four years? All this nation saw were the Democrats constantly finding ways to attack him and everything he tried to do in service to this nation.

I swear that if he would’ve sneezed during one of those confrontations, the Democrats would’ve used that as a way to remove him from office since “he was too sick to remain in office.”

Meanwhile, Joe Biden clearly showed signs that he was mentally incapable of leading this nation. This reached a pinnacle after medical professionals repeatedly asked that the former president take a mental competency test after a report showed he couldn’t remember basic facts about his own life and career.

However, the Democrats continued to rally their support for the 81-year-old man until Biden clearly lost a debate against his opponent. But instead of allowing voters a chance to select who they wanted to replace him in that presidential race, they immediately endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and made her the party’s instant favorite for the nomination.

Gee, I wonder what would’ve happened had the Republican party done the same thing. Once again, I’d wager good money their opponents would’ve demanded holding off the election and running new presidential primaries to, in their words, ensure the voters had their voice on who they wanted for president.

Had this actually happened, it would’ve been nice after I won another dozen eggs for my family.

– Brian S. Orban