For much of his life Donald Trump Jr. wasn’t sure what to do with his life. But now he’s found purpose: He makes deranged, awkward speeches, at Republican conferences or in videos, to the amusement (and, sometimes, concern) of social media. His appearance Friday at this weekend’s CPAC conference in Dallas was for the most part pretty typical, with plenty of basic red meat tossed into the hungry crowd. But when he tried to make a joke about Texas, he only got tumbleweeds.
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 9, 2021
Things started off well. The former president’s oldest son praised the Lone Star state, saying, “Texas has always led the charge.” The crowd ate it up. But then Don Jr. got a little too confident. “Well, ’til about like a couple of months ago and then Austin sort of took over,” he added. “Like, I don’t know guys. Like, Texas was leading the charge. You’re still top 25.”
The crowd, stationed some 200 miles from the largely progressive city, did not find it funny. And it clearly threw Don Jr. off his game. He tried to get back on track. “We got to work on that stuff because those people have lost their minds,” he said, adding a weak “Right?”
He powered through it, though. Once he called journalists “propagandists,” he was back. His speech featured some Greatest Hits grievances, railing against CNN, against Dr. Fauci, against cancel culture, and he generally painted a utopian vision of world he said is “going to hell.”
But Don Jr.’s latest apoplectic rant wasn’t all that well-received on social media either.
Is someone whispering to the side at the end that Austin is in Texas? 🤣😂 pic.twitter.com/V08WxELT70
— a_girl_has_no_name (@aFaeryHasNoName) July 9, 2021
Even *our* jokes are better than this
— TrivWorks (@TrivWorks) July 9, 2021
Tough room.
— Spencer Garrett (@1SpencerGarrett) July 9, 2021
https://twitter.com/JohnHmprpmphr/status/1413628580328792065
Way to insult the people you want on side. 🤦
— Kit Indigo (@kitindigo) July 9, 2021
Texas-sizes cringe
— Black Lives Matter KC (@BLM_KC) July 9, 2021
https://twitter.com/WedsGee/status/1413629971671617537
Others just found it par for the Don Jr. course.
Don Jr. is higher than a freaking kite! https://t.co/KIGMS3KrgZ
— Brian O'Sullivan (@osullivanauthor) July 10, 2021
Surely Texas — who already have a senator who skips town at the sight of a catastrophe — deserves better.