Trump sticks to the text celebrating the state of the union, with one angry deviation
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US President Donald Trump delivered a state of the union speech that by his standards seemed very focused and disciplined, giving an idea of how Republicans can try to campaign for control of Congress during this fall.
Trump has intensified the anger he has shown in the past few days at the Supreme Court justices who overturned his global tax regime.
On Tuesday night – as the three judges against him sat in front of him – he used strong language about the court’s decision to call it “unfortunate.”
Much of Trump’s speech was celebrated.
He began by listing what he saw as his most important accomplishments at home so far in his second term, and appeared to stick closely to the prepared text of his speech. That’s something he often fails to do, with his penchant for going off on tangents.
Trump then sought to capitalize on the nation’s joy over Team USA’s Olympic hockey victory.
20 members of the gold medal-winning US men’s hockey team visited the White House and attended the state of the union address, a request denied by the women’s team.
He enjoyed the appearance of the men’s team in the house in the speech. It wouldn’t hurt to be paired with pictures of them wearing their USA jerseys with gold medals, the first for USA men’s hockey since 1980.
It touches a deep American feeling patriotism, Trump also revealed plans for the 250th anniversary of American independence, and told inspiring stories of American military heroism as he presented medals to veterans.
Trump on the attack
But the triumphant tone of the speech changed dramatically when he tried to attack two of his favorite things: the Democrats, and what he called “illegal criminals.”
For anyone who thought the president might be recovering from his mass deportation campaign following the backlash following the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Trump’s speech suggested he is no longer in a position to back down from law enforcement.
His language grew louder and his voice grew more angry as he accused Democrats of allowing “millions and millions” of people to enter the US illegally, said Somali-Americans were defrauding taxpayers, and accused Democratic lawmakers of blocking the deportation of violent criminals.
He appealed to Democrats by challenging them to stand up if they agreed with this statement: “The first job of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
When Donald Trump was sworn into office he declared that ‘America’s golden age begins now.’ Nationally, CBC’s Eli Glasner compiles a report card on the US president’s economic progress, just over a year into his second term.
When the Democrats refused to stand, Trump glared at them. “You should be ashamed of yourselves,” she said.
“These people are crazy,” he added. “Democrats are destroying this country.”
‘Trying to make us angry’
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger launched a Democratic Party protest minutes after Trump finished his speech.
“In his speech tonight, the president did what he always does. He lied, he messed up, he messed up,” said Spanberger. “He’s trying to divide us. He’s trying to make us angry, to make us fight, neighbor against neighbor.”
Trump had the opportunity to denounce political violence, but chose not to.
He mourned the death of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot dead at a rally in Utah in September.
“We must absolutely reject political violence of any kind,” Trump said and honored Kirk’s widow Erika, an invited guest at the speech.
But Trump did not mention the June killing of Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, who was killed along with her husband.
He also did not mention the shooting of Good and Pretti at the hands of federal agents last month as they protested ICE raids in Minneapolis.
The state of the union speech is important because it is watched by tens of millions of voters, the largest television audience that Trump is likely to draw for a speech this year.
The stakes were particularly high for him this time because he faces declining approval ratings and the fast-approaching midterm elections, when his Republican Party could lose control of Congress.
Nationally, CBC’s Lyndsay Duncombe debunk some of the false and exaggerated claims made by US President Donald Trump during his state of the nation address.
That is why many observers were looking to the address to see if Trump could convey a strong message about the state of the economy and show that he knows he needs to do more to deal with the rising cost of living, which has been shown in poll after poll to be the top concern of American voters.
For several months, Trump’s staff has been trying to direct him to talk more about affordability during his public events.
Trump has done this in some ways, but often in a defiant way, downplaying cost of living problems and insisting that inflation is high, even though it continues to hover around the same level as when he took office.
While Trump didn’t come off Tuesday night exactly sympathetic to the financial struggles of working-class American voters, he didn’t fall into his usual habit of complaining that he’s the one doing the hard work, who doesn’t get credit for all the things he’s doing to make the economy better.
But then he stuck to one of his long-standing habits: peppering his speech with exaggerations and outright lies, especially about economic measures.
