FAKING IT:

The first month of Donald Trump's presidency has been marked by this repeated unending observation among media observers: "This is not normal. This is not normal. This is not normal." So it's possible that much of the ebullient praise for last night's address to a joint session of Congress is borne out of it being, well, normal - normal in tone and in manner. Boring, if you will, in a safe and responsible way. One could imagine John Kasich giving much of that speech, especially the parts about family leave; one could imagine Tom Cotton giving much of that speech, especially the parts about the evils of the sequester; one could imagine Mike Pence giving much of that speech, especially the parts about America. The point is that this was in large part a generic big-spending tax-cutting cop-and-military-defending Republican speech. Which is safe, and recognizable, and, well, normal.

You only had bunches of things to hate if you believe in free trade, fiscal responsibility, entitlement reform, and balanced budgets - things the Republican Party once stood for but it turns out were never part of its animating mission. So, essentially, Paul Ryan was put through 90 minutes of on-air waterboarding for him and his Reaganesque/Jack Kemp mission for the party. But he swallowed hard, and stood, and yes, he clapped. As someone who believes in all these things from the comfort of not being a member of Congress, I didn't have to - I just gripped hard on my copy of The Fountainhead, and wished him well.

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