Notes from the commentariat

Via BBC, August 2013, reporting findings by Richard Toye that "many people thought the Prime Minister was drunk during his famous 'finest hour' broadcast. Prof Toye, from the University of Exeter's Department of History, said Churchill's speeches did stimulate and excite people but also caused disappointment and considerable criticism. 'There is little evidence that they made a decisive difference to the British people's will to fight on,' he added."

Newty thinks a "bully pulpit" is when you use the presidency to beat up on the weak and defenseless. Naturally he's in favor. https://t.co/IlnTLzKdF0

— Leaves of Yas (@Yastreblyansky) April 13, 2020

Meanwhile Hugh Hewitt thinks Winston Churchill is the more apt comparison, because of his rigorous insistence on happy talk:

Churchill insisted that everyone in his cabinet, in the country really, choose to put on confidence and resolve like an overcoat. Even when gloomy, and he often was, or waspish, snappish and impossible to please (it seems like a daily occurrence in Larson’s account), Churchill knew his audiences were many: In Britain, across its empire, in America’s ambivalent White House and Congress, and of course in Berlin.

Of course. Our allies, who can't decide whether to fight or not, will be inspired by Trump's eloquent courage, while the virus, holed up in its bunkers, is going to be baffled by Trunp's resolute cheerfulness and probably make tactical mistakes.

What an idiot, but what an appetite for trying to rationalize public deception. I hate praising Churchill, but he never told Britain that "we will win this war sooner than people think".