Teleprompter Trump strikes again
Before people criticize a person for relying on an aid for a job, they should consider whether using the aid is customary and widespread, as well as whether that person ever operates without it. Also, it should go without saying that the critic should be someone who never uses the aid for similar purposes. Otherwise, it’s only a matter of time until the critic’s hypocrisy is uncovered, removing credibility while shining the light on a particularly desperate and pathetic character.
Despite all this, Republicans can’t seem to stop engaging in such self-defeating rhetorical exercises. For example, how many times have we heard Donald Trump complain about former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden reading from a teleprompter, implying or explicitly arguing that it’s a sign of incompetence, weak leadership, or age-related deficits?
At a September 2020 campaign rally in Wisconsin, the dishonesty behind Trump’s lame teleprompter line of attack became so laughably obvious. “I’m watching what they’re doing with Biden where he’s using teleprompters,” Trump complained, according to reporting from The Washington Post. Trump then mocked a supposedly senile Biden, instructing, “Move it up move it up… I can’t see!”
However, the punchline was on Trump. You see, as Trump spoke these words attacking Biden for using a teleprompter, it was clear to the audience that Trump himself was reading from a teleprompter! Not only that, but this incident was far from the first or last time Trump relied on a teleprompter while campaigning and in office.
Another aid that lawmakers and politicians frequently use is a card of written notes or talking points to help at meetings, speeches, and negotiations. Kevin McCarthy, ousted and disgraced from his long-coveted position as Speaker of the House, this week decided to attack Biden on his use of cards when negotiating the debt ceiling earlier this year. “He talked from cards!” McCarthy complained, explaining why he “could not negotiate” with Biden, after painting him as less “with it” than Trump or Nancy Pelosi.
In the meantime, photographic evidence abounds showing the use of note cards as commonplace among political leaders. Plus, as HuffPost points out, “[T]he thing that the 58-year-old former GOP House speaker may not realize is that he, too, uses notes for talking.” Indeed, the evidence of McCarthy as well as Trump using cards is crystal clearTe. The only thing getting too old is this pathetic display of Republican hypocrisy.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month