NPR, predictably, takes the bait.

Donald Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night was the occasion for his most presidential performance to date, balancing a reprise of his angry campaign themes with a recitation of hopes and dreams for the nation.

It was his most successful, if not his first, effort at assuming the public persona and personal demeanor associated with his new office. He stuck to the script on his teleprompter, spoke graciously to individuals in the audience and refrained from attacks on critics, rivals or adversaries.

In other words it was his least worst performance so far – but that’s a very low hurdle. He for once didn’t act like an angry toddler; big deal.

The president began with words of condemnation for the hate crimes lately unleashed on religious and ethnic minorities around the country, including the fatal shooting of an immigrant from India in a suburb of Kansas City.

“Recent threats targeting Jewish Community Centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms.”

It’s good that he mentioned them, very belatedly, but again that’s a low hurdle – but even more, how dare he claim that we are “a country that stands united in condemning hate” when he spent the last two years doing everything he could to stoke and foment and inflame hate? How fucking dare he.

The president, however, did not respond to critics who say these recent acts have been encouraged by some of his own rhetoric or apparent signs of disrespect for targeted groups. Rather, he turned to strikingly poetic sentiments.

Fuck poetic sentiments. He has speechwriters; we know that. He incites hatred and he himself persecutes some of the groups he targets for hatred.

The success of the big speech strategy seemed immediately apparent. Media coverage was largely positive, even laudatory. Snap polls showed big majorities found the speech optimistic and uplifting. The president’s approval rating, which had been at historic lows for a president in his first month in office, is expected to pop back up in the next few soundings.

I hope people are not that stupid.

There was the monstrous thing Trump said to the war widow:

Carryn Owens was honored by a standing ovation by everyone visible in the vast House chamber, regardless of party or position. She wept openly, clasped her hands and looked upward as the ovation continued for several minutes. When it finally subsided, the president said, “Ryan is looking down right now and he’s happy because I think you broke a record.”

Huh. So Ryan is dead, and his widow is unhappy, but it’s cool because he’s actually just perched up there “looking down” and feeling awesome about the applause his widow got for crying because he’s dead. So he’s not dead and she has nothing to cry about so what was the standing ovation about?

Meanwhile Trump is still Trump. The fact that he can read a speech doesn’t change that.