Transitions of Scorched Earth, by Uncola

Yesterday SLL posted the video of Donald Trump’s speech at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner. It has to be seen to be believed. Uncola at theburningplatform.com has a good analysis with some choice excerpts.

Did you happen to see Donald Trump speak at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner this last Thursday night? Wow. The white-tie gala was held on October 20, 2016 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and was broadcast on the cable news networks. With Hillary Clinton and the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Tim Dolan, sitting just a few feet away and the celebrity media and other high society luminaries held captive: Trump spoke and it was like lighting a match in a leaking gas refinery. It was like watching the tsunami hit Japan, Indonesia and Fukushima all at once. It was like Gloria Steinem inviting Andrew Dice Clay to address her “womyn’s only” book club. Or perhaps, more accurately, it was like Rosie O’Donnell in the waiting room of her gynecologist only to see Andy Kauffman walk out donning a white Lab coat, with an enema pump in hand and wearing prophylactic rubber gloves ready to give her the treatment.

The Al Smith dinner is held towards the end of the election season every four years and is considered a light-hearted affair where the presidential candidates make nice with each other for an evening, raise some money for Catholic charities, tell a few self-deprecating jokes and a lob a few mild zingers at their opponent. The New York Times said the event is usually a “ritual of levity and feigned warmth”, but not this time. It did start out that way, however. Trump got up to speak and first threw out a few mild quips like these:

• “Just before taking the dais, Hillary accidentally bumped into me and she very civilly said, ‘Pardon me.’ And I very politely replied, ‘Let me talk to you about that after I get into office.’”

• “The media is even more biased this year than ever before. You want the proof? Michelle Obama gives a speech, and everyone loves it. It’s fantastic. They think she is absolutely fantastic. My wife, Melania, gives the exact same speech and people get on her case.”

Then, in a surprise way, the Donald pulled out the long knives and went straight for the jugular as the crowd started booing. He said:

• “Hillary is so corrupt, she got kicked off the Watergate Commission. How corrupt do you have to be to get kicked off the Watergate Commission? Pretty corrupt. Hillary is, and has been, in politics since the 70s. What’s her pitch? The economy is busted? The government’s corrupt? Washington is failing? “Vote for me. I’ve been working on these problems for 30 years. I can fix it”, she says.

•  ”I wasn’t really sure if Hillary was going to be here tonight, because I guess you didn’t send her invitation by email. Or, maybe, you did and she just found out about it through the wonder of WikiLeaks.

•  We’ve learned so much from WikiLeaks. For example, Hillary believes that it’s vital to deceive the people by having one public policy and a totally different policy in private. For example, here she is tonight, in public, pretending not to hate Catholics.

•  Now some of you haven’t noticed, Hillary isn’t laughing as much as the rest of us. That’s because she knows the jokes. And all of the jokes were given to her in advance of the dinner by Donna Brazile.

•  Which is – everyone knows, of course, Hillary’s belief that it takes a village, which only makes sense after all in places like Haiti, where she’s taken a number of them.

•  “According to her sworn testimony, Hillary has forgotten more things than most of us will ever know,”

To continue reading: Transitions of Scorched Earth