Felt sorry for Maddow last night...and what a bizarre performance from Trump !

[BritVic]

I've been fortunate recently to have the opportunity to stay up late and watch the occasional RM show (2.a.m. start here in the UK !) I can't bear the other U.S news shows, the endless panels and speculation and so on. You could tell she was upset that instead of an hour of factual reporting she had to present 45 minutes of speculation, complete with pointless live shots of Damascus in the dark.

Not only that, but 10 minutes of live BLOTUS too. What were those odd sounds he was making last night? Didn't sound like sniffing, more like he was gasping for air ! This was particularly inappropriate when he talking about the chemical attack and the Syrian people fighting to breathe - followed by a noise that sounded like he was trying to give an impression of what that might sound like.

He'd obviously been told to rein in the hand waving-while he spoke, but couldn't quite manage it - and what was with him turning to his left halfway through his speech. Had the teleprompter in front of him broken down. Maybe he switched to 'rally mode' by mistake. Whatever it was, not a good look for someone who is supposed to be addressing the nation !

[akbacchus_BC]

1. Rachel is always good and if she cornered a rat, good on her!

[jodymarie aimee]

2. In the first 30 seconds

I swear she was crying....not for Syria..for all of this demented crap.

[Farmer-Rick]

28. I know, I've turned to my better half

And asked if Rachel was crying in other shows. There are times she looks so sad and upset about our country and how awful things have gotten.

It's amazing she can report on this corruption and vanishing democracy without screaming.

[forgotmylogin]

34. Rachel Maddow has publicly expressed she battles cyclical depression.

She has taken time off from her show in the past.

“One of the manifestations of depression for me is that I lose my will,” she told Wells. And I thereby lose my ability to focus ... if I’m not depressed and I’m on and I can focus and I can think through something hard and without interruption and without existential emptiness that comes from depression, that gives me - not mania. But I exalt. I exalt in not being depressed.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/02/rachel-maddow-depression-rolling-stone_n_1642737.html

[Farmer-Rick]

36. I had no idea.

Depression can be a deadly disease, I hope she can manage to fight it.

[forgotmylogin]

54. Sounds like she lives with it every day...

and she's got what, the highest rated cable news show currently?

[ecstatic]

55. Fwiw... As someone who has experienced it,

The Russia/Trump issues are extremely upsetting and can lead to sadness, but not depression. I think all the working and non-stop reporting is, if anything, preventing a relapse of depression. Right now, Rachel is operating at the highest levels of her potential--she's the first stop for journalists with breaking news, she's doing her own original investigative journalism, and even cartoons in the NYT!

When you are busy as hell, you still have an awareness that certain things are FUBAR, and you might even have an occasional breakdown, but the principle "out of sight, out of mind" prevails.

[BSdetect]

3. It seemed like drumphus had been practicing how to read but he sounded stilted. Little pauses betwee

n words.

[JI7]

4. yup, pauses that make no sense

it's like reading a foreign language that one has little or no understanding of . just trying to pronounce and get the words out without knowing the meaning much.

that's how he sounds whenever he reads anything. (in english)

[maddiemom]

32. Any reading specialist or qualified teacher could tell you that Trump's dyslexic.

It really wasn't recognized and dealt with in his early school era.. I have a brother Trump's age and my family struggled to understand his high intelligence, yet difficulty in reading.. Not being wealthy, they couldn't just ship him off to an expensive private school, often even less qualified to deal with the problem. Teacher pay and qualifications at private schools were not not especially impressive in Trump's day. Parents weren't really paying for the education, but the prestige. A wealthy family at that time might be puzzled, but didn't especially concern themselves with less obvious learning problems.

[pnwmom]

5. I don't know about those odd sounds because I hit the mute button

whenever I see his face.

I was relieved to see Theresa May on tonight, so I could put the sound back on.

[oberliner]

9. Theresa May?

She is a right-wing conservative.

[pnwmom]

10. She is a human being who speaks in complete sentences.

She's not a puffed up, cheeto of a malignant narcissist.

[oberliner]

11. Lots of awful people with loathsome views are human beings who speak in complete sentences

The key is what the content of those sentences is.

[pnwmom]

14. You can overlook his constant preening and posing. I can't. It makes every word out of his mouth

that much harder for me to take.

[oberliner]

15. I can't stand to listen to Trump

But I also can't stand to listen to Theresa May.

[mahina]

23. Fair enough but I also can hardly bear to listen to trump speak.

It’s amazing my TV still works.

[hlthe2b]

43. I'm with you. I disagree vehemently with May, but at least I can stand to listen. She's literate

and not insane.

[hlthe2b]

41. me too... and I barely even watched.

[WhiteTara]

45. I didn't at all.

[blueinredohio]

6. Thanks BritVic for watching Rachel, I agree she is the show worth watching.

We also are ashamed by Trump and can't wait until he is out of office.

[BritVic]

22. No matter that she is a more coherent orator,

same here with Theresa May. I suspect you may have success before we do !

[True Blue American]

7. Can you record the show?

I do that for shows that are on late. You really need to watch Larry O’Donnel. He comes on after Rachel.

Or Ari Melber. He is on 3 hours earlier than Rachel. An accomplished Attorney.

You can also read DU. We discuss it all!

[kag]

13. I concur.

Rachel, Ari, and Lawrence are the three best shows on MSNBC, best news/commentary shows on TV period. I like Tapper on CNN, but just watch clips of him on youtube rather than catch it live.

[True Blue American]

26. Also Ali Velshi and Ruhle

During the day.

And Steve Kornacki. He was moved up at NBC, but he is all over.

But honestly the clips give you all the high lights.

That appearance in Court yesterday did not go well. While Cohen sat out in the sun,like a Godfather his Attorneys were sent packing by an irritated Judge because they could not answer her questions. Cohen should have been there. His failure to appear will cost him, and maybe Trump.

[kag]

47. Yes! I LOVE Steve K.

Especially on any election night when he's at "the board". And Ali and Stephanie are also pretty great.

[True Blue American]

52. Steve gets carried away at

Times. He is funny to watch,trying to do 10 things at once. Brian had to slow him down Election night. The returns had come in they were waiting on.

They really have a great group at MSNBC now.

But let Joe and Mika retire. I love Donny Deutsch,too.

[BritVic]

17. I mainly watch clips posted on YouTube the day after,

but the news cycle this week has been extraordinary, even by Trump's standards. I like The Last Word too - anything that gives guests time to breathe and discuss matters at length, rather than panels of guests fighting to get their point across.

[BritVic]

19. I have to use one of those sites that offer various news feeds (not sure how legit they are)

In recent weeks MSNBC and CNN have become very protective of copyright re their feed being shown on YouTube. Only the occasional CNN link now but plenty of Fox News feeds (Murdoch doesn't mind people watching the corrosive BS they spew out for free)

[oberliner]

8. She should've just done her regularly planned show

Was looking forward to hearing her put everything together with respect to all the Trump/Cohen news.

[Frustratedlady]

12. You have to go into it with the understanding he is horrid at speechafying.

He is horrid at reading from a teleprompter OR connecting with his audience unless he's at a rally with his adoring followers.

I would imagine he was nervous because his plans had been turned down from the get-go re: Syria. Although he couldn't care less, he had to get this war going, as he could see Mueller approaching quickly in his rear view mirror.

My shock was that he didn't mention his incredible election, highly-attended inauguration, bigly tax cut or phenomenal stock market/economy.

My concern lies with the poor Syrians who have been bombed to the moon and back because of male egos and greed. Trump doesn't understand anything beyond soldiers and tanks on his bedspread, pretend swords and pop guns, fantasy military parades. Too bad he didn't take a fancy to train sets. At least then this train wreck of a presidency would be understandable.

Consider yourself fortunate to be in the U.K. We are stuck with him 21/7 (he does sleep a bit so he can dream of tweeting).

[djacq]

16. If an Orange Clown fails, does it make a noise?

[robbob]

44. ???

[samnsara]

18. i turned off the evening news shows as soon as i heard there was gonna be ...

...an announcement from trump. I caught up on The Terror instead...less scary than trump. You can get Rachels podcast if you miss her show. I'm lucky I live on the west coast and she comes on at 6 pm. Her podcast goes up about an hr later.

[Vinca]

20. I think that's the first entire BLOTUS address I've ever watched.

It reminded me of tryouts for the junior high play. Poor, choppy reading with no emotion and no apparent understanding of the words on the page. He did manage not to trash Comey, though, and that surprised me. LOL. As for the sounds, he's a giant, noxious, gas bag and maybe he's sprung a leak.

[mahina]

24. Surprising he didnt go in to his electoral win.

Useless obscene

[OnDoutside]

21. I just finished listening to a podcast of her show last night, and Trump won.

Rachel wasted 45 minutes on Trump's latest deflection, rather than probably something to do with Cohen.

I would change her saying to "Watch what he does, not what he says, except when he does deflection"

[BumRushDaShow]

25. "more like he was gasping for air"

I was in bed listening to SiriusXM's simulcast of Rachel's show when the address came on so I was doing "audio only", and heard exactly what you were describing.

What surprised me was that the all-news CBS affiliate radio station here in Philly never broke in to play the address at all, which was unexpected (I had the station on too with the volume down low while listening to Rachel).

[True Blue American]

27. You are as bad as I am.:)

Reading my IPad, checking news,reading the digital news, clicking from station to station. Then trying to get away.

Yesterday it was 81 here. I turned everything off, went out,fed and admired my flowers, smelled the fresh cut grass, then sat out in the sun, enjoying Spring.

If this were only a bad nightmare. Every one I talk with is in a state of agitation,except those who think Trump is fine. You have to wonder what world do they live in?

[BumRushDaShow]

30. It hit 81 here too

and I was out on my patio doing the spring cleanup (pulling out old foliage and sweeping up debris), scrubbing my outdoor carpet with some soap and water, and getting a raised planter ready for some herbs! Will be out there today cutting back a couple clematises and maybe doing some shrub pruning.

This past year has been a nightmare because so much of what he says and does, with little or no check or balance (outside of the courts) has the potential for a detrimental impact on the future and on my finances. And there are even issues concerning any travel overseas because Americans are being laughed at and ridiculed. I know my family has about had it with all the drama coming from the WH and the reporting of it.

[True Blue American]

48. I replaced my sun room with a new deck this year,with storage

I was cleaning cushions,put them out,planted lettipuce and kale in my flower beds. Cilantro and sage in pots.

Felt so good. This morning I woke up to more war drums from the media. Plus the many articles of the long, sordid Russian/ Criminal backed history of Trump and Cohen.

But we had a few good hours.

[Ms. Toad]

59. He's been doing that since the primaries. n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

60. Well he was sniffing and snorting during the primaries and debates

but this was more significant in terms of gasping.

[Ms. Toad]

61. Sounded the same to me.

But, then again, I noticed it long before people in DU commented on it and I couldn't figure out then why people thought it was a new thing.

[BumRushDaShow]

62. I had watched him during the debates/primary

and heard/saw it as it happened. And in that case, he wasn't doing that much teleprompter stuff, although during his addresses, he has sniffed through them.

But during this address, I only heard it as audio-only listening to Rachel's show through the SiriusXM's MSNBC simulcast of the channel. So it "sounded" more pronounced as a "gasp" vs a "sniff" and came out of nowhere.

[Ms. Toad]

63. Definitely more prominent as audio, when there aren't all of them visual mannerisms

To distract you.

I think that's why I noticed it so much earlier. I don't have access to TV, so I only ever listened to him through the entire primary season.

[BumRushDaShow]

64. I was in bed and only had it on to listen to Rachel

and when I heard he was coming on I wanted to just cut it off but held on so I could hear the aftermath. I just looked up where he even gave it and found that he gave it standing behind a podium in the White House Diplomatic room (as seen below with the last legitimate President and First Lady) -

[FailureToCommunicate]

29. Those weird puffing sounds were his

Reptile brain cells struggling to read a teleprompter of hard, big word and complete sentences that someone else had written for him. It was the most taxing thing he has done in a while and the effort showed on his pinched face and labored breathing.

(Apologies to reptiles of course)

[Mountain Mule]

31. I try to watch Rachel when I can but

I live in a remote part of rural Colorado where it costs a small fortune to get either cable or satellite. While I miss not always having access to Rachel and others on MSNBC, the silver lining is that I don't have to listen to Spanky. If they put him on NPR or PBS, I kill the sound. I can't stand listening to his voice. YUCK!

[womanofthehills]

35. You can get Rachel on podcast every night a few hrs after her show

I live in a rural area too and have no tv but I podcast Rachel and Randi Rhodes.

[Mountain Mule]

42. Thanks for the info!

Someone else here also just gave me this link for live streaming MSNBC - http://www.livenewson.com/american/msnbc.html

You can watch 10 Rachel shows (or whatever) for free and after that, it's only 2.95/month for unlimited access. I signed up for it because MSNBC is my "go to" source for breaking news - them and all the good folks here at DU!

[True Blue American]

49. Great news

For you.

[azureblue]

33. Trump was drugged out again

He abused prescription stimulants and it was on full view here. Out of his mind...

[Towlie]

37. Even the very end of Trump's speech showed that he was reading without actually comprehending.

I noticed it immediately. The end of the speech was this:

"Thank you, and goodnight." (the end of the text he was reading)

"Thank you." (Trump's own redundant addition, indicating that he had come to the end of the text he was reading)

[NurseJackie]

57. Excellent observation! You're absolutely correct. He's reading words, not sentences.

It's like a third-grader reading his book report in front of the class... written by his MOTHER the night before it was due. Clearly he's never read the book, and didn't even bother to reviewing what the book report actually says.

He went off-script when he started talking about great the US is.

If our country falls, splits in two, or is conquered, it will be because of Trump.

[Ligyron]

38. Welcome to DU!

Mate, Trump appeared to be under heavy sedation - which would explain many of the mannerisms he displayed during his very brief "speech". Some are reporting he had to be hit with a tranquilizer dart after going totally berserk while speaking to a panic stricken Michael Cohen about their legal situation earlier that afternoon. I also suspect Chlorpromazine was administered approximately an hour before his 5 minute act.

As for that to the left thing: perhaps they had to bring in a pole stripper to keep him from nodding out during his big moment on the world stage. They do that sometimes.

[Honeycombe8]

39. He likes to be photographed from his right side...he looks better from that angle, he's said. And...

And he wants to be photographed to downplay his double chin. His first press conference (not public, but with the press) was about this. About how he's being shot from unflattering angles, which angles he wants, etc. It was unbelievable. It was like he thought he was starting a new reality show: Trump, the President, starring Donald Trump!

[Wounded Bear]

46. That's because most of his hair swoop comes from the left...

It is more obvious that his coif is a complex weave based on long hair on the left that is carefully combed to cover his pate. From the right, his hair looks almost normal.

[Honeycombe8]

58. Oh, that could be it. Lookie:

Left side:


Right side:

[lunatica]

53. His right eye really shows his evil soul

It’s slanted in a bizarre way and looks downright satanic. Maybe he thinks it scares his enemies. Who knows what reptilian thoughts flicker through his brain though, because it’s obvious his self image doesn’t match his real looks.

[Honeycombe8]

40. Link to get Rachel Maddow podcast of her show here (and many other shows!) (and PlutoTV)

https://app.stitcher.com/mystations/57583644/6602/details

I highly recommend a show called "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" You won't be sorry.

You can also listen to Morning Joe, Hardball, and many other shows.

If you have PlutoTV (it's a free live program/app, look it up on your computer, or it's on Roku and other streaming devices), there is a news channel for NBC/MSNBC. The MSNBC programs are shown, often same day, but after they've aired on cable tv. Sometimes they're shown a day later. Morning Joe, Ari, Rachel Maddow, etc.

[rockfordfile]

50. Maddow did great considering the circumstances of the night.

Trump wagging the dog was clear. Listening to trump at anytime is like when you see a commercial from a guy trying to sale you quick rich schemes. Think of Trump University.

[Lint Head]

51. And Trump's stilted childish reading is irritating to me.

[Meowmee]

56. Hes on drugs

Prolly, the sniffing started in the debates. There were one or two articles about his use of a speed like drug in the past for an endo type condition which rumored that he never stopped it.