Sunday was Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, not that he likes the “number.”
The president says Joe Biden “gave old age a bad name,” and he’s right. Despite the continuing gaslighting and outright denials from the Biden family and their few remaining acolytes, it was obvious there was something very wrong with Biden’s brain even before he started his first and only term as president at age 78.
We all know 80- or even 90-year-olds who, through good genes or good management, are as sharp and vital as people a generation younger.
Trump appears to be so blessed, laughing in the face of a malicious campaign to portray him as senile by the same pundits who turned a blind eye to Biden’s cognitive collapse. He says he feels better than ever, and his most recent medical check-up found him to be in “exceptional health” with the cardiac age of a 65-year-old, while managing a punishing workload.
Party time for US
In 2022, the year Biden turned 80, inflation soared to a 40-year high — 9% — and Russia invaded Ukraine under his nose, having been emboldened, like all our enemies, by his catastrophic handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal the previous year.
By contrast, four years later, in the year Trump turns 80, inflation stands at 4% — not great, but less than half Biden’s birthday peak, and that’s with gas prices driven higher by the Iran conflict, which should plummet once the war is over.
If Sunday’s Iran deal delivers what the administration has promised, Trump will have saved the Middle East from nuclear Armageddon, defanged the world’s most dangerous bully and potentially set in train an enduring peace. That’s on top of negative net migration thanks to a secure border, record highs of US energy production and record deportations of Biden’s illegal alien criminals, leading to homicides at record lows, not to mention the beautification of Washington, DC.
He has defied all odds to be where he is, back as commander in chief for a second time, presiding over a historic spectacle at the White House Sunday that Teddy Roosevelt, one of his favorite predecessors, would have loved.
There are dark clouds on the horizon, but for now, as a balmy summer sets in and sports goodwill spreads, the mood among Americans is palpably lifting just in time for America’s 250th birthday celebrations to start in earnest. The country is ready to party!
The good vibes really kicked in Saturday night, when it felt as if all of New York was rejoicing in unison after the Knicks won their historic first NBA title in 53 years. The air was filled with the happy cacophony of cheering, beeping horns, and fireworks into the wee hours. Even the violence of small groups of barbarians didn’t take away from the pride New Yorkers feel in Jalen Brunson and his team of underestimated champions.
Meanwhile, the soccer World Cup is bringing an injection of joyous exuberance from hundreds of thousands of fans from around the world, which is infectious even to Americans who don’t care for the game.
In colorful jerseys, they throng Times Square and pile into sports bars full of laughter and singing.
‘Nothing comes close’
Social media is bulging with these foreigners’ admiration for American culture as they travel to matches across the country, loving the fast food and the gigantic stores, and marveling at the generosity and kindness of everyday people.
“I love Americans,” tweeted German soccer fan @FreddyLA7, who has become a viral sensation for his enthusiastic reviews of Southern hospitality as he drives cross-country following the German national team.
“We were about to walk an hour to the stadium in the rain to save on an Uber, and the receptionist at the hotel we were parked in front of decided to drive us there.”
He also loves the food, raving about the offerings at Waffle House, Taco Bell and Buc-ee’s: “Just had our first Waffle House experience at 1 am,” he tweeted. “Great food, great prices and friendly staff. 10/10, we will be coming back.”
A British woman posted: “The food in America is ridiculous. Everyone talks about portion sizes, but nobody talks enough about how good everything tastes. Even the ‘quick’ food feels elite compared to what I’m used to in the UK.”
Another young Brit even went so far as to post a video saying she was “well and truly born in the wrong country . . . I’ve been all over the world, and nothing comes close to the USA. You can get every single landscape, every single climate . . . Everything in the US simply beats everything I’ve experienced anywhere.”
A South African soccer fan has been posting videos marveling at how “spotless” and safe the streets and parks are in middle America: “I hope people don’t take this for granted because America is safe, America is clean, America is friendly. You can actually walk around at night as a white person in America [and] the stores are open 24 hours,” he said.
“American epitomizes positivity,” posted another appreciative soccer-lover.
After being beaten down by constant claims that the rest of the world hates us because of Trump, Americans are basking in the positive view of this generous land through the eyes of World Cup tourists, counting the ways they love what they see.
Spineless critics
It is the perfect clap-back to the ridiculously ahistorical snobbery of the Democrats and their media handmaidens. like New York Times columnist David Brooks and MSNBC’s favorite Biden glossier Jonathan Capehart, whose latest sneering mockery of Trump is over the UFC fight on the South Lawn Sunday.
“This is degrading the White House, degrading the people’s house,” Capehart huffed on PBS. “It’s just unconscionable that this has happened.”
“Who are the artists John F. Kennedy brought to the White House?” Brooks chimed in. “W.H. Auden, Robert Frost, Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein. And now we have got cage fighting. Don’t anybody say America’s in cultural decline.”
These pompous pundits don’t seem to know that Teddy Roosevelt, one of America’s greatest presidents, regularly staged combat sports at the White House, even fighting in boxing matches and jujitsu contests.
Like Donald Trump, Roosevelt saw physical courage and tough competition as virtues intrinsic to America. The likes of Brooks and Capehart reveal their spinelessness rather than the sophistication they imagine. How embarrassing for them.
Happy birthday, Mr. President, and Happy 250th America! May we all have a spectacular year, even the naysayers.
