Last night Donald Trump gave a speech

He read the words from the teleprompter without going off script

He didn’t say carnage

He didn’t say that the media is the Enemy of the People

Someone has taken his phone away and he hasn’t sent a mean tweet in a couple of days

He put the same Bannon red meat into what I’m calling the Ivanka wrapper and the media – at least thus far – seems to have bought into it

There were pretty words at the front and the end of the speech which Trump read with a robotic tone

He started enjoying himself during the middle of the speech when he proclaimed that law and order must be restored and on and on…

If you read back in my blog you will see that I have taken to mixing a fictional twist with what is happening now

I don’t want to be fake news

I don’t want to further a problem

But I have to wonder why with one speech suddenly news coverage has changed

There are two obvious options to me

The first is that there is a messaging dictated from the top

The other is that the media and its pundits are reacting as an abused individual who after weeks of daily beatings is given a day of relief and pulls back and walks on eggshells to keep that next explosion at bay

Or a mixture of both – or something else I haven’t considered

But puzzle this out…

After most major speeches – from either party there is usually a round of fact checking especially with Donald Trump who is a known liar

I’m not seeing much of that today

What  I hear is

Is this the Pivot?

Will this be the point where he quits hitting us, where he becomes that competent President who is reasonable?

Really??

From what I hear and read even the White House is surprised at how well the speech was received

They are basking in the glow

Are they going to be held to account?

Are we going to question that we’re raiding in Yemen now?

Is Congress even going to hold a hearing about it?

Or is the media just going to continue to play the Donald Trump dance and hope that he doesn’t hit them anymore?

What is it about him that sets a bar so low that if he reads a speech he’s given huge kudos?

Everyone acknowledges that the bar is set too low but very few seem willing to challenge that?

We need a strong and free press

I support a strong and free press

The strong and free press needs to own that responsibility

If not

This is how Democracy dies…