February 6, 2019

The Democratic Women — dressed in white to honor the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote — stand and cheer as Trump says just the right things to rouse them out of what I think was supposed to be grim disapproval.

It was so much fun to see this creation of festive happiness:



Let me break this scene down:

0:00-0:12 — "No one has benefitted more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58% of the new jobs created in the last year," says Trump, leaning into "women." He pauses, nods and looks around.

0:15 — We see the array of women in white, keeping a solemn look at first. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez turns around and causes the women behind her to smile.



0:17-0:19 — This gesture happens — one woman  (who?) puts 2 elbows in the air and points 2 thumbs down at herself.



Is she receiving a signal (from Nancy Pelosi?) or simply deciding on her own? The thumbs are shaken and the woman nods her head vigorously. Her reaction sets off the woman 3 seats over to her left (who?), but there's a quick edit, so we don't see how that interaction progresses.

0:19: — We're shifted to this super-happy blonde woman (who?). The 2 other women are standing and clapping but looking like it pains them to have to approve of anything.



0:23 — Some real celebration breaks out (amid some dubiousness):



0:24 — Something's happening to the right of the screen that's exciting everyone, even bow-tie guy:



0:23-0:30 — The frame opens up and pans as if to help us see what they were pointing at, then the frame jumps back to the women we were seeing before, and they are clapping with arms extended and pumping fists in the air and laughing.



0:32 — Even AOC is standing and laughing (though not clapping):



0:36 — We get back to Trump, head back, blissful smile.... Nancy's applauding (or playing here comes the crocodile):



0:41-0:44 — The women sit down, and Trump nods a few times, and a slight smirk grows. I feel like he's thinking, Yeah, that's what I like.



He suddenly shakes his head to get into the character that works to deliver the presumably improvised line: "You were not supposed to do that."



There's an impish, confidential tone that, to me, reads as: Give me any kind of chance, and you will love me.

0:46 — The congresswoman in the headscarf is doubled over in elation. And look at the other women in this shot. Now, notice the man (with the glasses in his mouth, perhaps irritated to see that the women are going wild and annoyed that shallow charm like this works):





0:53-1:03 — "All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before."

1:07 — The reaction begins. One woman is standing (who?). AOC is talking and turning to the woman on her right, making her presence felt. Notice how the woman on her left leans away from AOC, perhaps tired of her continual efforts at looking like a powerful influencer:



1:12 — AOC is not the last one to stand. The woman on her left is (and she doesn't stand until 1:18):



1:25-1:27 — With one finger held aloft, Trump improvises: "Don’t sit yet. You are going to like this." There's an immediate, warm laugh from the assembly, and the instant he hears it, his face shows gratification:



He really does feed off the energy of the crowd. This moment is like what he gets (in much larger doses) at this rallies.

The hand position changes from upward pointing to the OK position. Given all the talk about the KKK over the weekend, I want to get out ahead of any stupidity about Trump's OK gesture. Here's Wikipedia on the 4chan prank of calling the OK sign a white power symbol.

1:30 — "And exactly one century after the Congress passed the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we also have more women serving in the Congress than ever before." This is the dynamic in the middle of the word "before":



Nancy is calling on her people to rise.

1:45 — And here's how it looks as he gets to the end of "before":



1:47 — They're all up, and though AOC is looking dyspeptic (for an instant), there's lots of celebration and cheering:



2:03 — We see the family reaction  (with Ivanka looked so much like Ivana):



2:04- We see the women in white again, cheering. Many hands in the air, fist-pumping, pointing. AOC leaps forward in a big high 5 that connects with no one (2:06).

2:20 — A U.S.A. cheer begins off screen, and the on-screen women in white pick up the cheer, with rhythmic clapping.

2:30 — The camera closes in on AOC. She's a camera magnet. She had been doing the clapping and chanting, but stops and bows her head. What is she thinking?



What is that man doing to us?

184 comments:

Earnest Prole said...

Now that’s what you call grabbing them by the pussy.

Darrell said...

Bunch of Democrat freaks celebrating post-delivery abortion. You know they are.

Leslie Graves said...

What a treat this post was.

Shouting Thomas said...

I never watch political speeches and rely entirely on the postmortems.

So, I'm counting on you, Althouse. Keep it coming.

David Begley said...

Yeah, Trump played the women last night but they will backstab him today.

Ralph L said...

Glasses guy is working his phone. Probably not alone in that.

tim in vermont said...

He looks like he is growing younger in the job.

tim in vermont said...

This what the press hates, just like Twitter, they hate when Trump bypasses them and gets his message out.

Lincolntf said...

They're wearing white dresses just in case they run into Bill Clinton and need to conceal a stain. -Lincolntf

David Begley said...

This post is a good example of Ann’s genius; combining her visual and literary analysis. One hundred times better than the NYT and WaPo.

Simply the best.

mccullough said...

The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920.

The 18th Amendment was ratified in 1919. These Women are Prohibitionists.

iowan2 said...

I mentioned in a post yesterday that Democrats missed a yuuuge opportunity to work with President Trump to advance some of the Democrat agenda. They got blinded by the resist idiocy. They should have read "The Art of the Deal" and believed it.

John henry said...

Thank you Ann. Very well said.

I had not caught Pelosi acting the puppet mistress. Thanks for showing it. Was she signalling all Demmies to stand or just the women in white?

I am still wondering who the woman on AOC's right was. She seemed to be keeping AOC from standing at least twice.

John Henry

Meade said...

"Now that’s what you call grabbing them by the pussy."

Point is — they let him. They chose to be grabbed. They consented.

My name goes here. said...

Many Democrats dressed the same way 100 years ago.

But you cannot wear hats in the chamber, so, you know it's still authentic.

I am not Laslo.

Hagar said...

"All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before."

Maybe, or we need two salaries per family to pay for all the "free" goodies?

A "stay at home mom" with, say, three small children, is not in the "workforce"?
Ask her!

A woman who likes the idea of being a "traditional mom" and make a good home to raise her children in, is to be denigrated. Why?

tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Douglas B. Levene said...

What Shouting Thomas said.

stevew said...

He's a real charmer that one, Trump.

Browndog said...

Now, this is a blog post.

tim in vermont said...

New York Time offers. transcript, but only with commentary by “reporters” (political officers) in case anybody might get the wrong idea.

MadisonMan said...

At 0:46, that man is on his phone. My eyes, phone and glasses don't play well together either.

I didn't watch SOTU. If I were giving it, the first thing I'd say would be "Let's all take a moment to switch our phones off"

My name goes here. said...

First post SOTU bet:

How fast will at least one of those women in white apologize for standing and clapping?

Second post SOTU bet:

When they apologize will it be for a)applauding something Trump said, b)for chanting USA!USA!USA!, or c)both?

I speculate we will not make it to 2PM before at least of of them uses one of the words: regret, inappropriate, or mistake to describe their applause.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rhhardin said...

The white dresses were supposed to mean that no man gets into their pants. That didn't last long.

tim in vermont said...

This is how the New York Times covered the same topic.

Save for the majesty of the setting, the president’s adherence to his script, and a single unscripted moment when Mr. Trump tipped his hat to the scores of Democratic women elected to Congress last November, parts of this State of the Union speech could have been drawn from one of his “Make America Great Again” rallies.

Temujin said...

They sat in their bizarre white uniforms, sat with smirks, grimaces, and dismissive looks as he spoke about the lowest unemployment rate among African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian Americans. They sat and looked angry as he spoke about no socialism in the US. But they bolted up so very proud of themselves and gave themselves a standing ovation.

It's all about them and their tribe. Collectivists on parade. It was a stunning night of manipulation by Trump. Nancy may have held the strings for the Womyn in White. But Trump held the strings for the room, including Nancy's strings.

He was more comfortable than a year ago. Far better than 2 years ago. The Dems should watch that and be very afraid. Trump looked large and in control. Every one of the Dem candidates looked glum, mad, disengaged, angry, puny, small, and childish.

Not my account. My wife's. A Democrat voter.

Susan said...

Hubby and I watched it together. We were both stunned and delighted that he was able to get the nuts in white satin on their feet and chanting USA! USA!

Unknown said...

I’d point out, too, that many women could vote before the passage of the 19th Amndment. I wonder how many female Congresscritters (or male ones, for that matter.) know this? See the following:

https://constitutioncenter.org/timeline/html/cw08_12159.html

tim in vermont said...

Maybe if more Americans knew what was actually going on in those rallies, they might approve. Can’t have that, let Momma Grey Lady tell you why everything you think is wrong.

Oh and Pelosi is only supposedly wealthy.

MountainMan said...

So you did not know the woman in the headscarf is Ilhan Omar? Beside her buddy Rashida Tlaib? The two rabidly anti-Semitic Israel-haters?

The Bergall said...

As a former colleague used to say "The usual foolishness"....................

Darrell said...

Surgery Day, Ann?
Prayers anyway.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

The woman behind AOC was Annie Kuster, NH district 2.

On behalf of the state of New Hampshire, I apologize.

rehajm said...

Wait- what? Women have disproportionately benefited from our thriving economy? 58% of new jobs? Where's the demand for equality? Where's the outrage?

Guess they were too busy enjoying being had. Being had. Trump had them. AOC kinda liked it.

Browndog said...

Ocasio-Cortez on Trump's speech: "I think that the president was unprepared. I don't think that he did his homework"

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

They sat in their bizarre white uniforms, sat with smirks, grimaces, and dismissive looks as he spoke about the lowest unemployment rate among African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian Americans. They sat and looked angry as he spoke about no socialism in the US. But they bolted up so very proud of themselves and gave themselves a standing ovation.

It's all about them and their tribe.


Yes, this is the commercial I want to see played over and over again in the minority areas.

All this pasty old white women wearing Klan colors sitting in disapproval about Hispanic and blacks. Then dancing and celebrating themselves.

mockturtle said...

"We wear white to unite against any attempts by the Trump Administration to roll back the incredible progress women have made in the last century, and we will continue to support the advancement of all women," Frankel said. "We will not go back.", explained Lois Frankel. In other words, it's all about abortion. I noted that there was no applause from that contingent when Trump spoke of ending late-term abortions.

Tina Trent said...

They looked weak. Sitting together like the mean girls from high school, all wearing the same thing. Why didn't they let the pajama boy in the white suit sit with them? Is sex segregation the new varsity feminist cheerleading squad?

Wince said...

What is that man doing to us?

"Dames. Sometimes all they gotta do is let it out. And a few buckets later there's no way you'd know."

Harold said...

Guy with the glasses is doing what I do, I'm near sighted but old enough these days that I need bifocals, so most of the time it's just more comfortable to take off my glasses when I use my phone. AOC in that last shot seems to be looking at her phone.

MayBee said...

I hate it that the Democrat(ic) women tried to take the mantle of the suffragettes. As if Democratic women are either responsible for their achievement, or the continuation of them. I don't like modern people deciding they are what the people who fought, wanted. I like to think the Suffregettes realized women would all have different opinions and vote according to their own individual thoughts.

roesch/voltaire said...

I loved the irony drenched chant of USA from the women in white who ran against the cheap MAGA slongan and won.NOw let us see if the tweeter president really supports paid family leave, lower drug costs or reverts to more outrageous claims of saving us from a war with North Korea.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

They are saying, “YES, we women are here right here in the House!” THAT was the celebration and they were celebrating it while poking fun at Trump for mentioning more women than ever are being employed, while they know he’s simply pandering. They know he only cares about women being employed, minorities being employed because he wants to be given credit for it.

Wince said...

Anyone who thought Trump could communicate that speech from behind a desk in the Oval Office was mistaken.

Pelosi must have regretted opening the government.

Robert said...

Excellent job on the post, Ann.

tim in vermont said...

outrageous claims of saving us from a war with North Korea.

Wow. I guess to be a Democrat, partisanship really does trump peace as a goal.

MayBee said...

I'm thinking AOC is looking at her phone, too. "What are people saying about me?"

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“NOw let us see if the tweeter president really supports paid family leave, lower drug costs or reverts to more outrageous claims of saving us from a war with North Korea.”

His history of past tweets predicts the future.

tim in vermont said...

By the standards announced for the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump should have won just for the progress he has made there. But that would have gone against the Nobel Committee’s partisan aims.

Gunner said...

Who cares about all this “We are Wamen, hear us Pussy Hat” stuff? I want to know if ICE arrested all the illegals that Democrats brought to “embarrass” Trump.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

What Hagar said.

tim in vermont said...

Inga joins in preferring a state of war with North Korea to having to give Trump credit.

Face it, he’s the peace-monger that Obama never was.

MayBee said...

I agree with Hagar and Pants.

tim in vermont said...

Meanwhile, Warren was unhappy all night about the WaPo knocking her out of the race, doing Kamala’s work for her. I think that the choice has been made.

Tank said...

A well crafted speech delivered very well. Trump is by far the best president of my lifetime. He seems to love the job, and to get better and better at it.

MayBee said...

"They know he only cares about women being employed, minorities being employed because he wants to be given credit for it."

I can't read his mind the way you and they apparently can, but so what? Better they are employed than unemployed because a president doesn't want credit for something.

traditionalguy said...

With a master seducer like Trump at work on her, it is just a matter of time until a woman wakes up in bed with the man that she never expected to want anything to do with. This warmth and in telligent pursuit trick is cross-cultural; it also works with Chinese, Koreans and Japanese.

DABbio said...

Terrific blog post, AND comments.

tim in vermont said...

R/V would rather poor blacks be unemployed so that they have to crawl to the government for help, as befits their station in life.

alanc709 said...

Trump keeps doing good things for us only because he wants credit......gee, what a concept. Unlike libs, who deny what they want, so the world can't condemn them.

Laslo Spatula said...

"They know he only cares about women being employed, minorities being employed because he wants to be given credit for it...."

Even if true, I don't see that as a bad thing.

All elected officials want credit.

The large majority don't do anything worthwhile to get it.

Many of them are happy with charades.

Charades don't put a paycheck in people's hands.

I am Laslo.

tim in vermont said...

They know he only cares about women being employed, minorities being employed because he wants to be given credit for it.

"Judge, I only promised to pay him because otherwise he wouldn’t do the job! I can’t believe you are holding me to this!”

Inga...Allie Oop said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tim in vermont said...

Inga’s projecting, she wants poor people who would rather work on welfare so that the Democrats get the credit.

Inga...Allie Oop said...


““All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before."

Maybe, or we need two salaries per family to pay for all the "free" goodies?

A "stay at home mom" with, say, three small children, is not in the "workforce"?
Ask her!

A woman who likes the idea of being a "traditional mom" and make a good home to raise her children in, is to be denigrated. Why?”

Well, shame on Trump for not giving cudos to stay at home moms. I’ll give them credit for contributing to the society and their families as much as women who work outside the home.

Susan said...

Frankly, I don't care who gets credit. I just want a thriving, safe, happy country for my grandchildren to grow up in.

Unless you are a Trump hater, that's what we are heading toward.

tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wince said...

Instead of a shutdown, Trump should call it "The Extension" Pelosi gave him to work on his speech.

Kevin said...

Inga's pointing out that they enjoyed it last night but will wake up this morning, rationalize what they did, and argue it was done without their consent.

Good thing there was a video.

roesch/voltaire said...

Tim goes off topic and makes outrageous claims almost as often as Trump does.

Kevin said...

Trump: More women have jobs, opportunities, and choices than ever before.

Inga: Booo!

traditionalguy said...

No one could have written a script like that one, complete with a cast of hundreds of extras happily responding to their orchestration leader. We are indeed spoiled. But I can't help wondering how the Brits, Europeans and Asians seeing that also wanted to have an intelligent NATIONAL leader like Trump.

MayBee said...

Are the teal ribbons for ovarian cancer?

Kevin said...

You know the speech was good because Inga got here early to begin commenting.

tim in vermont said...

Blogger roesch/voltaire said...
Tim goes off topic and makes outrageous claims almost as often as Trump does


You’re the one who is upset that it’s Trump who has begun talks to end the Korean War as the Norks were launching tests over Japan and threatening Guam.

ALP said...

tim in vermont: Holy shit, wouldn't that be something? Trump the first president to leave office....refreshed.

tim in vermont said...

I guess you learned that stuff about refusing to give credit where credit is due whenever partisanship is involved from all of those philosophers you read all the time.

Kevin said...

““All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before."

Maybe, or we need two salaries per family to pay for all the "free" goodies?


We're going to need four salaries per family to pay for all the "free" goodies the Dems want to offer.

tim in vermont said...

R/V is still mad that Trump has ended the folly of trying to “sivilize” Afghanistan with the blood of our young men, and that he has called off whatever project that Hillary, John Kerry, and Obama had in Syria that made them pour weapons into a civil war.

Hunter said...

Oh how I long for our last legitimate president, Barack Obama, who was happy to consider high unemployment and anemic growth "the new normal" rather than be so egotistical as to improve the situation and take credit for it.

richlb said...

"This gesture happens — one woman (who?) puts 2 elbows in the air and points 2 thumbs down at herself."

I think that woman is saying that she's one of the women who gained employment due to the booming economy.

Gahrie said...

Point is — they let him. They chose to be grabbed. They consented.

Yeah...but they're women, so this morning they get to change their mind and yell rape.

richlb said...

Also, the chanting of "U-S-A" - isn't that racist?

Big Mike said...

parts of this State of the Union speech could have been drawn from one of his “Make America Great Again” rallies

And the Times is upset about this because why? Perhaps because it exposes their narrative of Trump not having a vision. Obviously Trump has a vision, and the fact that it’s a vision of prosperity for people who work for a living instead of a vision set by the editorial board of the New York Times is all to the good.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Many Democrats dressed the same way 100 years ago.

But you cannot wear hats in the chamber, so, you know it's still authentic.”

I was looking at pictures of KKK women earlier today, and they, of course, wore white. Mostly, but not always, white robes. But when they wore traditional KKK headgear, it tended to mostly be open faced. This is contrasted with the men, whose headgear mostly covered their faces, except for their eyes. Which is to say that these women could almost be KKK women, who had to leave their headgear at the door to conform to the prohibition of such in the Chamber. Which is really bad timing on their part, given beleaguered VA Gov Coonman’s med school year book page showing someone wearing (male) KKK dress along with someone in blackface.

Oh, and giving women the vote was a Republican thing, as was, of course, freeing the slaves, enacting civil rights laws, etc, while the KKK was the Democrats’ militant wing for much of a century.

mockturtle said...

I'm thinking AOC is looking at her phone, too. "What are people saying about me?"

Exactly, MayBee! With AOC, it's all about AOC.

tim in vermont said...

Trump got them to remove their NPC masks for a little bit.

Francisco D said...

The Democrat party is a 3D clown show (Dumb, Delusional and Demented).

They try to give a sense of meaning to those who lack the ability to analyze and comprehend information.

They push narratives that idiots like Inga desperately want to be true.

I may run out of popcorn in the next two years.

wendybar said...

My husband called them sheep.

Rick said...

We have the lowest black unemployment ever recorded

Complete silence.

We have more women in congress than ever

Yea us! We're the best evah!

What is that man doing to us?

Showing who you are.

Unknown said...

"Trump satisfies women"

He really has learned a lot from NYC life, tabloids, marriages, persuasion, TV shows, supermodels

He keeps "The Hand"

Will Dummy AOC every have Republicans standing in celebration?






chickelit said...

tim in vermont said...Meanwhile, Warren was unhappy all night about the WaPo knocking her out of the race, doing Kamala’s work for her. I think that the choice has been made.

No one has yet gauged Kamala's reaction during the speech. I was watching her whenever the camera allowed. She was the scowliest of the scowlies. She can't wait to start "prosecuting" Trump and his family.

Howard said...

Fixed it for ya
Blogger traditionalguy said...

With a master seducer like Trump at work on her, it is just a matter of time until a woman wakes up in bed with the man that she never expected to want anything to do with. This warmth and in telligent pursuit trick is cross-cultural; it also works with Chinese, Koreans, Japanese and Blogger traditionalguy.

Unknown said...

Why are we celebrating identity groups taking disproportionate shares?

walter said...

But..gender is a construct...

Sydney said...

AOC is a beautiful woman with a good fashion sense. I'm afraid she's going to be our next Obama.

Ann Althouse said...

Thanks, Darrell.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Democrats who make money off of US - all stand and love each other. Gross.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

They're wearing white dresses just in case they run into Bill Clinton and need to conceal a stain. -Lincolntf

Thread winner

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Demcoratic females are very self-absorbed and very immature.

Howard said...

Well, April, at least democrats elect women. The US has yet to produce a conservative woman of substance like Maggie Thacher or Teresa May.

William said...

Such a great analysis of a great moment. It was easily the best moment in the speech. It warmed my heart to see those grim suffragettes on their feet, laughing, cheering, yelling "U.S. A., U.S.A.". It was very bliss to be alive at such a moment.......Well, we saw how that moment at the Tennis Court ended, but perhaps this moment of bonding will have a happier resolution.

walter said...

So Howie, you up the whole party and their respective vulvas irrespective of "substance"on one side, "conservative"+substance+presidency on the other.
Nice going.

Francisco D said...

Well, April, at least democrats elect women. The US has yet to produce a conservative woman of substance like Maggie Thacher or Teresa May.

Keep an eye out for Liz Cheney, Howard.

The Media/DNC complex won't be able to discredit her like they did with Sarah Palin.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Trump tricked the women in white into applauding for him, and Pelosi tried to pretend she was in control.

wendybar said...

Howard said...
Well, April, at least democrats elect women. The US has yet to produce a conservative woman of substance like Maggie Thacher or Teresa May.
2/6/19, 9:11 AM

Does Nikki Haley ring a bell?

Jake said...

"Don't get me wrong, I'm all into the strong-woman applause going on, but it has to be said that it is a little sad that the first thing House female Democrats really chose to celebrate here tonight was .. . themselves."

https://twitter.com/KimStrassel/status/1092979552362450945

Also, in that last pic of AOC, looks like she's looking at her phone.

AZ Bob said...

"Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country."

Reaganesque!

Narayanan said...

“To hold an unchanging youth is to reach at the end, the vision with which one started.”
— Ayn Rand

Trump likes Ayn Rand.
He plans long range, plays to win.

SweatBee said...

The "congresswoman in the headscarf" is Ilhan Omar, of "I applied for a marriage licence to Ahmed Aden in 2002, to my [alleged] brother Ahmed Said Elmi in 2009, "culturally" married and made babies with Ahmed Hirsi (possibly the same person as Ahmed Aden?), and then lied on my 2017 divorce papers that I'd had no contact with Elmi since 2011 even though there are pictures of us together. Also, I hate Jews and can't be bothered to obey campaign finance laws" fame.

Daniel Jackson said...

A brilliant piece of Visual Sociology--capturing THE moment when the Master of Ceremonies captured the room. The Old Soldier, The Survivor, The Hero, "Freeing the Prisoner," and turning a group of ladies dressed in their Confirmation White of Purity into squealing teenagers cheering for "their Side!" One could only dream of such a moment.

However, I think the real moment is Nancy singing Happy Birthday--when politics are set aside and honoring a survivor of life, one year to the next.

In THAT moment of liminality (see Victor Turner's Forest of Symbols), EVERYONE in the chamber acknowledged that it is all about people with some life and liberty thrown in. Against her dramaturgical self interests, Nancy could not help herself.

Priceless.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“I hate it that the Democrat(ic) women tried to take the mantle of the suffragettes. As if Democratic women are either responsible for their achievement, or the continuation of them. I don't like modern people deciding they are what the people who fought, wanted. I like to think the Suffregettes realized women would all have different opinions and vote according to their own individual thoughts.”

Republican women could’ve worn white too, in honor of the suffragette movement.

Sprezzatura said...

"What is that man doing to us?"

"Making us take the House, where I'm a plya!"

"More, please!!"

Matt said...

On the contrary, this is a disastrous development and should fill with fear all who love liberty and rational, objective governance.

Look at the country before "women's lib" and after and tell me I'm wrong.

A government of mothers with trillions of other people's money at their disposal is a horrifying thought.

glenn said...

“OK kids, you can stand up and applaud now”

“Thanks Boss”

Bob said...

The Master Persuader at work.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

"What is that man doing to us?"

"Making us take the House, where I'm a plya!"

"More, please!!"


Indeed!

tommyesq said...

"They know he only cares about women being employed, minorities being employed because he wants to be given credit for it."

Even assuming that is true (which Trump's record of pioneering the employment of women in high-end construction management positions belies), I'll take that over the standard Dem position of only wanting to take credit for seeming to care about women and minorities being employed, and not actually employing women and minorities.

walter said...

"What is that man doing to us?":

"If even a small number of high-income taxpayers leave, it has a great effect on this tax base," Cuomo said of the top 1 percent of earners who pay for nearly half of the state's entire income tax revenue. "You are relying on a very small number of people for the vast amount of your tax dollars."

"Shut up! Shut uuuuup!"

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Trump wants people to think he was responsible for more women working, that’s simply not true and him taking credit for it was laughable and it was being mocked. Yes more women are in the HOUSE because of him, that was blowback by American women to his misogyny. It was because Trump was so horrible that women came out to vote in droves.

john burger said...

Nice analysis, Ann. As I watched the SOTU, I wondered what and why the Democrat women were wearing white, too. Then, I saw Pres. Trump work them, to get the standing, clapping, and celebrating (though, afterwards, pundits said Trump was clueless that there are so many in Congress as a direct result of his horrendous human character). They did not have a clue what he did.

jvb

walter said...

"that was blowback by American women to his misogyny"
There's yer "substance" Howie.

Kevin said...

They did not have a clue what he did.

Sure they did.

That was just the press pushing democracy into the darkness.

Fernandinande said...

the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote

It's not a right if it was bestowed by legislation, and 06Feb2019 is probably not the 100th anniversary:

Amendment 19 - Women's Suffrage
Notes for this amendment:
Proposed 6/4/1919
Ratified 8/18/1920

Jon Burack said...

What Trump did here was brilliant. For this reason. He forced them to drop their "soldiers' stance" and prove to the world that they, like the rest of us, are too Americans who like to whoop it up. The supposedly vast ideological divide the left likes to tell itself exists, does not in fact exist at all outside the abstraction-drenched world of political potshotting. As opposed to truly divided societies (by group identities, etc.) these women are as unable to resist a good yuk even if it's Trump who gives them the chance to yuk it up. I imagine they thought they were yuking it up at his expense. But in a truly divided society they'd have been up with fists clenched gritting their teeth at his hypocrisy. Thank goodness it's not France. "USA, USA."

MacMacConnell said...

When I first saw those women dressed in white I didn't think of suffragettes. I thought of the movie Elmer Gantry.

CapitalistRoader said...

Outstanding. A thoughtful, entertaining analysis. Pelosi's attempt to look aloof and above it all by reading (Olive Garden menu pages?) actually made her look petty and mean.

gahrie said...

The 19th Amendment did not give women the right to vote. In fact no one has a right to vote. The 19th Amendment made it illegal to deny women the ability to vote solely because they were women. Similarly, the 13th amendment did not give Black men the right to vote, it simply made it illegal to prevent Black men from voting because they were black. (which is why literacy tests and poll taxes were used instead)

Jon Burack said...

Further note to Inga.

If you think these women were "mocking" Trump, you are deluding yourself. And if that is the spin they put on it, once they see how badly he played them, they are kidding themselves. They were genuinely celebrating the FACT of women working and them getting elected. Sure they think it's because of Trump's evil nature. So then explain how it is they allowed him to make such a supremely satisfying (to him and his supporters and 75% of those watching) use of their mockery. I'd say there fake outrage at everything got popped like a bubble. They simply could not keep it up in the face of such good natured humor.

Rick said...

Inga...Allie Oop said...
Trump wants people to think he was responsible for more women working, that’s simply not true and him taking credit for it was laughable and it was being mocked.


Inga has apparently just learned that Presidents take credit for all kinds of things they don't actually do. Like the "Clinton Economy" which was result of the internet/tech boom.

Reasonable people see this as business as usual and those who have convinced themselves otherwise are driven by hyper-partisanship which prevents their understanding pretty much anything.

Sam L. said...

Don't you just HATE it when Trump SCORES BIGLY? Only the Left does that.
BUMMMMMMMMER for them.

Original Mike said...

I saw people celebrating themselves. Not a good look, IMO, but I was raised in the midwest where such behavior was understood to be crass.

Jon Burack said...

Celebrating themselves is right. So Trump's narcissism had its counterpart in theirs. Except Trump does not take his image in the mirror as seriously as they take theirs.

As to the Suffragettes, here is Susan B. Anthony. Think the ladies were celebrating her?

"The prosecutions on our courts for breach of promise, divorce, adultery, bigamy, seduction, rape; the newspaper reports every day of every year of scandals and outrages, of wife murders and paramour shooting, of abortions and infanticides, are perpetual reminders of men’s incapacity to cope successfully with this monster evil of society,"

n.n said...

First, here's to uniform suffrage, to equal rights, to personal responsibility. The Constitution did not discriminate by sex, diversity, or the stage of our evolution.

The prosecutions on our courts for breach of promise, divorce, adultery, ... of abortions and infanticides, are perpetual reminders of men's incapacity to cope successfully with this monster evil of society.
- Susan B. Anthony

Ah, the "wicked solution", the "final solution", Pro-Choice.

Think the ladies were celebrating her?

No. Anthony believed women were capable of self-moderating, responsible behavior, which has been proven progressively untrue by latter day liberals, feminists, abortionists, and the like.

walter said...

Sphincter firmly re-clenched:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
‏Verified account @AOC
12h12 hours ago

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Retweeted Peggy Noonan
Why should I be “spirited and warm” for this embarrassment of a #SOTU?
Tonight was an unsettling night for our country. The president failed to offer any plan, any vision at all, for our future.
We’re flying without a pilot. And I‘m not here to comfort anyone about that fact.

wildswan said...

Anne's right. He made them enjoy themselves and cheer for the USA. Master class. Beyond that. If today they're all getting back in their boxes like whipped puppies and swearing never to have fun or cheer for the USA ever again, - well, you just can't count on that, can you? Not if the Donald beckons.

walter said...

So..they were wearing pins of Jakelin Caal Maquin, who died in father's/CPB custody after being revived and flown to hospital. FWIW, autopsy still not revealed.
What do they propose as a solution to that? We need to purpose build hospitals on the border?
Wearing pins does squat.
More "substance"

Dude1394 said...

But no such jubilation at the lowest African American, Hispanic and Asian unemployment in history. It is as if they only support their tribe or something. Don’t forget it men.

wildswan said...

Donald Made Me Laugh.
A Congresscritter's Ordeal in The Chamber.

"At one point I came to myself long enough to notice that I was giggling like a high school girl. At that moment I realized a night of sordidness had begun and worse was to come. Laughing, cheering America, singing Happy Birthday ... it was all so ugly. ... Today that person sadder but wiser is back at work supporting infanticide, hating America. Smiling bravely, they explains they cheering was a form of rape for there are no women.

Dude1394 said...

“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Retweeted Peggy Noonan
Why should I be “spirited and warm” for this embarrassment of a #SOTU?
Tonight was an unsettling night for our country. The president failed to offer any plan, any vision at all, for our future.
We’re flying without a pilot. And I‘m not here to comfort anyone about that fact.”

She is a perfect spokesperson for many of the millennials I see. Constant snark devoid of reality.

Rabel said...

"She had been doing the clapping and chanting, but stops and bows her head. What is she thinking?"

She's trying to get the front of her jacket/cloak closed. You can see her struggling with it several times in the video.

She has ample bosoms but doesn't usually they to put them on display. The open jacket was a bit too revealing.

Rabel said...

And I believe that is Helen Bonham Carter seated to AOC's right.

walter said...

She should have freed "the girls" in protest of Adam Levines Superbowl display

Leland said...

Sad that the Democrat women, while proudly celebrating women's suffrage, have to act like puppets to a mistress. I look forward to the day they embrace free will.

Curious George said...

Althouse "0:19: — We're shifted to this super-happy blonde woman (who?)"

Abigail Anne Davis Spanberger is an American federal law enforcement agent, former CIA operations officer, and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 7th congressional district. The district includes several suburban and rural areas west of Richmond.

Tinderbox said...

Played them like a fiddle.

bagoh20 said...

Here in Nevada we have a female majority in both the legislature and the state supreme court.

That does not give me hope. It is women and womanly men who ruined California, and they are on the move to pussify the whole country.

bagoh20 said...

The guy who is not celebrating with them is on his phone. It would be kinda silly for him to jump around like a sorority girl.

Bilwick said...

And giving women the right to vote . . . did it result in a freer or more statist society? Just wondering. . . .

Someone on Instapundit pointed out that when Trump said America will never be socialist, the Democratic response . . . crickets. . . .

I remember when if you accursed "liberals" of being closet socialists, they protested. Now they just sit there with a "Yeah, so?" attitude.

pdug said...

The lesson: flattery will get you everywhere

Jim at said...

The US has yet to produce a conservative woman of substance like Maggie Thacher or Teresa May.

The US has yet to produce a liberal woman in that vein, either.

mockturtle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mockturtle said...

bagoh reports: Here in Nevada we have a female majority in both the legislature and the state supreme court.

Here in AZ, both Senators are female, one R, one D; out of nine congressional Representatives, two are female, one R, one D. Our male Governor is R.

Not all women fit the Prog mold and, as far as I can tell, the state house & senate are pretty equally divided by gender and with the Republicans being in the majority.

bagoh20 said...

I'm sorry, but those congresswomen were just consumed with self-congratulation, and I expect that obsession with self and their own success is what will drive what they do. They didn't even stand or applaud for the success acknowledged for minorities or the country as a whole. All that got them excited was their own backslapping. By contrast, others were applauding and standing for other people and their stories, and the principles we all should share. It was self versus country.

Leland said...

Bagoh, you think Trump knew others would see what you saw? I think he did. He recognized others and included women.

walter said...

Gotta love ms./mom "Impeach that motherfucker" giving the positive hand gesture.
Unless that's a secret replacement for the middle finger.
Did she get fucked?

AOC shakes her head as she bows it

Infinite Monkeys said...

What is she thinking?

"Now who's texting me?"

Rosalyn C. said...

Althouse nails it. Thanks for a wonderful exegesis: maybe we can get along despite our politics? That's not exactly unity but it's a start. We can still disagree but we have to stop hating each other.

Time after time Trump demonstrates that positive thinking matters more and works better than constant criticism and negativity. Lots of liberals I know have claimed to be interested in consciousness and transformation and using the "law of attraction," all of which are based on maintaining a positive philosophy. Yet liberal Democrats continually miss the point with Trump. (accusing him of being a con, a liar, Hitler, Satan, etc.) He sees their hypocrisy and deals with it with humor. A+

I'm seeing some changes in the media lately -- grudgingly giving Trump a little credit for his successes even though the pundits continue to insist he doesn't deserve the credit he claims. I gave up trying to help my friends see Trump differently; they want to agonize about Trump and that's their choice.

Speedy recovery, Ann. Wishing success and that your vision gets clearer and brighter immediately.

jg said...

counterpoint: 'Democrats [women] cheered harder for themselves getting into congress than for war heroes, criminal justice reform, child cancer survivors, preventing sex trafficking, lowest unemployment among black/hispanics in history, job growth, and a guy who landed on the moon.'

tim in vermont said...

Trump wants people to think he was responsible for more women working,

You mean because the economy is on fire? Unemployment at record lows? You do know that presidents have always taken credit and blame. I would go all in on a bet, were there a way to know, that the left would certainly be blaming Trump if unemployment were high.

Big Mike said...

Question to contemplate: how did so many women get elected when such a large fraction of them have such a political tin ear?

bagoh20 said...



Sexism, like the racism that elected Obama. The women would not have won if they were men, and Obama would not have won if he was white.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

There's nothing much to really "break down." They stood up and cheered because the comment about their jobs was one they manipulated to mean jobs as congressional representatives, having cleared out the underbrush of whichever lazy Republican jackasses they beat to sweep in those historic victories.

Could you be any more myopic? How long did your post have to be?

Tedious takes at every 5-second mark on what everything "looks like," from someone who clearly can't tell. Sheesh.

Sprezzatura said...

Alt thought bubble:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGL2rytTraA

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I noted that there was no applause from that contingent when Trump spoke of ending late-term abortions.

Why should there be? Most are heart-wrenchingly reluctant acts of absolute medical necessity, you medieval moronic self-hating hater of women. And you pose as someone with scientific research expertise. Your ignorance is horrifying.

rcocean said...

Politics as Soap Opera as someone on this blog always says.

I suppose you could complain it lowers the tone of Congress, but given their behavior over the last 20 years, that's a hard one to make.

rcocean said...

i have nothing against women Pols - but spare me the congratulatory "I am woman hear me roar" crap.

Stop focusing on yourself and "your sisters" and start representing the people who sent you to Congress.

rcocean said...

While working I turned on C-span and there was a black Pol from Colorado babbling on about how he was the first black congressman from Colorado and he was a son of immigrants blah de blah.

Who gives a shit? Represent your District and pursue policies that help the country.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Apparently Glenn Reynolds has an easier time freely choosing to associate the color white with the Klan than normal people do.

Why is that? Because he's from Tennessee?

walter said...

"The Guttmacher Institute has looked at the reasons for late-term abortion, and the reasons are chilling. First, the top-line finding is clear: “[D]ata suggest that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment.” Instead, there were “five general profiles of women who sought later abortions, describing 80% of the sample.” These women were “raising children alone, were depressed or using illicit substances, were in conflict with a male partner or experiencing domestic violence, had trouble deciding and then had access problems, or were young and nulliparous [had never given birth].”

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Apparently the Gutt Macht er Frei Institute forgot to put the reason of fetal anomaly on their questionnaire. Stupid Gutten bachters.

Data from the British Isles did not neglect that reason and gave a stat of 36%.

I think forcing to term pregnancies of women who have mental or physical problems is inhumane and can't be justified medically.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/06/health/late-term-abortion-explainer/index.html

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

A number would have obtained them sooner, but were unable to. So keep restricting the procedure in those states! That'll be sure to raise that 1.3%!

All this concern for pregnancy and the unborn and nothing for the homeless, the underemployed, the uninsured. You guys sure are selective in what you care about!

walter said...

"Women were asked whether eight specific factors slowed them down in obtaining abortion care: not knowing they were pregnant, not knowing where to go for an abortion, difficulty getting to the abortion facility, raising money for travel costs, the cost of the procedure, difficulty securing insurance coverage, trouble deciding whether they wanted an abortion, and disagreeing with the man involved in the pregnancy on the decision to have an abortion.

We also asked women several open‐ended questions: “What are some of the reasons you decided to have an abortion?” “What would you say was the main reason you decided to have an abortion?” “Did anything slow you down and prevent you from coming to the [recruitment site] earlier in your pregnancy?” and “What would you say slowed you down the most?” The general phrase “slow you down” allowed participants broad leeway to report on their experience."

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1363/4521013

Nichevo said...

She had been doing the clapping and chanting, but stops and bows her head. What is she thinking?


"I'm not showing nearly enough cleavage. Tips will suck tonight."


I apologize for my life of honoring women and treating them as peers. Obviously cheap flattery and transparent manipulation was the right answer all along.

Big Mike said...

All this concern for pregnancy and the unborn and nothing for the homeless ...

We shipped all the homeless off to San Francisco. Didn't you get the memo? The San Franciscans love them homeless folks. Feed them. Help them shoot up. Let them shoot regular citizens. The San Franciscans even pay people six digit salaries to clean up after them.

Sprezzatura said...

Big M,

Seattle same as SF.

Sprezzatura said...

One of the council members suggested providing the drugs in addition to a "safe" places to shoot-up. It's on tape, during a council meeting.

The idea was proposed as a way to keep folks from stealing to get dough to buy drugs: just give them the drugs, free from the government (i.e., not free for tax payers who would be incentivizing turning there city into a shithole/house)! Problem solved!!

https://dailycaller.com/2018/06/09/seattle-officials-float-free-heroin/

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Women were asked whether eight specific factors slowed them down in obtaining abortion care: not knowing they were pregnant, not knowing where to go for an abortion, difficulty getting to the abortion facility, raising money for travel costs, the cost of the procedure, difficulty securing insurance coverage, trouble deciding whether they wanted an abortion, and disagreeing with the man involved in the pregnancy on the decision to have an abortion.

All real burdens that Republicans are trying to increase.

So as usual, Republicans will end up adding to the problem they say they're so upset about. More late-term abortions to deal with the problem of Republicans making abortion in general - i.e. earlier in the pregnancy - more burdensome.

Way to go, assholes!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

We shipped all the homeless off to San Francisco. Didn't you get the memo? The San Franciscans love them homeless folks. Feed them. Help them shoot up. Let them shoot regular citizens. The San Franciscans even pay people six digit salaries to clean up after them.

Geez, Big Mike. I realize that as an autistic dick-sucker you're used to being treated in a compassionless, shitty way - but it sounds like not everyone's as much of an asshole as you are for it. Perhaps they managed to find some humanity and human worth in those homeless folks that no one has yet to find in you. I guess that's where not only an inability to relate to others - but a complete refusal to even try to do so - gets you, huh?

Now why don't you go back to argue in favor of fragging U.S. troops like you used to do.

Big Mike said...

No sense of humor, Ritmo? Sad

walter said...

Blogger Trump International Crime Syndicate said...
Most are heart-wrenchingly reluctant acts of absolute medical necessity, you medieval moronic self-hating hater of women.
--
Yeah..PPPT shape-shifting as usual

McCackie said...

I can understand not wearing conical hoods, it would mess up their hair. How about some nice snazzy bonnets proposed by Atwood?