“Under the current administration, far too many hard-working Americans are falling behind, living paycheck to paycheck, most without labor unions to protect them from even worse harm…The Republican tax bill rigged the system against working people. Rather than bringing back jobs, plants are closing, layoffs are looming, and wages struggle to keep pace with the actual cost of living…We owe more to the millions of everyday folks who keep our economy running, like truck drivers forced to buy their own rigs, farmers caught in a trade war, small business owners in search of capital and domestic workers serving without labor protections…Women and men who could thrive if only they had the support and freedom to do so.” – from The Democratic Response by Stacy Abrams.
Ed Kilgore writes at New York Magazine’s Intelligencer that “when it comes to the partisan and ideological differences that have all but paralyzed Congress and until very recently left a big chunk of the federal government closed, there was zero presidential outreach, no offers of compromise and not a hint of respect for Trump’s opponents. He devoted a significant portion of his speech to restating his familiar and largely fabulist case that America is on the brink of catastrophe from a crisis on the southern border that only a wall can possibly address. Knowing full well that nearly all Democrats, more than a few Republicans, and a solid majority of the public reject this entire construct, he plugged away at it yet again, and didn’t even bother to explain what he plans to do if further negotiations fail — as he has predicted they will.”
Regarding Trump’s big applause line, ““If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation,” Speaker later Nancy Pelosi tweeted “Sorry, sir. But Article 1 of the Constitution is the legislative branch. And it has the responsibility to exercise oversight of the other branches of government. We would be delinquent in our duties if we failed to provide the necessary oversight. #SOTU”
“Even an hour-plus of Donald Trump’s lies couldn’t fully obscure the profound political renewal his 2016 election inspired. The first high point of Trump’s soporific State of the Union address came when he congratulated himself for women taking most of the new jobs created in recent years, and inadvertently triggered a wild standing ovation by the record number of women who took jobs in Congress this year (almost all of them Democrats, many wearing suffragette white). “You weren’t supposed to do that,” he chided them, seeming confused by their cheering. But they didn’t care; the celebration roared across the chamber…The next big moment came when Trump finally finished, and the Democrat designated to deliver the SOTU rebuttal took the microphone: Georgia’s Stacey Abrams, who narrowly lost her bid for governor in November, but emerged as a rising Democratic star nonetheless.” — from “Stacey Abrams Shows Trump What a Politician Who Cares About This Country Sounds Like: After Democrats in suffragette white cheered themselves on, Georgia’s Abrams seized her moment” by Joan Walsh at The Nation.
“It would be charitable to describe the 2019 State of the Union address as unfocused,” David Frum observed at The Atlantic. “President Trump veered and skeetered, sometimes yodeling blood-curdling calls to culture war, sometimes vaguely alluding to family leave and infrastructure modernization. He and his team could not decide what they wanted to do. Unsurprisingly, they did not do it.”
In “Schumer: Trump’s SOTU Performance ‘Like Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde’” at Talking Points Memo,” Kate Riga reports that “Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) slammed President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech Wednesday morning, saying that the President was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with all of his enthusiasm saved for the “nasty,” “divisive” parts of the speech…“It’s kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Schumer told CNN’s John Berman. “The excitement, enthusiasm was all in the Mr. Hyde parts.”…“The President was political, divisive, calculating even nasty at times. You can’t talk about comity and working together and give a speech that’s so divisive, that just doesn’t fly,” he continued. “So in the areas where he tried to reach out, you know, drug prices, transportation, infrastructure, there was no meat, there was no enthusiasm; all the enthusiasm was for the divisive parts like immigration, abortion, things like that.”
Martin Longman noted at The Washington Monhtly that “Infrastructure is probably the single most promising area for a major and truly bipartisan bill from this Congress. Trump spent all of twenty seconds talking about it, without offering a single idea for what he wants included: “I know that the Congress is eager to pass an infrastructure bill–and I am eager to work with you on legislation to deliver new and important infrastructure investment, including investments in the cutting edge industries of the future. This is not an option. This is a necessity.””
At The New Republic, Matt Ford notes in “What A Waste” that, “Tuesday’s address will not succeed in changing Trump’s political fortunes. Indeed, his State of the Union address was, like much of his presidency, a waste of America’s time…To the extent that Trump has ever pivoted, it’s almost always towards his worst impulses. In last year’s address, he laid out a four-point plan for immigration reform, pitching it as a middle-of-the-road compromise. Since then, his policies have only become more draconian…Trump says that Americans have a choice to make, and that much is true: They will make it in 2020. But Trump made own his choice long ago. Greatness never had a chance.”
“State of the Union addresses do not have to be crude exercises in cynicism. But Donald Trump on Tuesday night presented a stark example of how soulless the exercise can be when the presidency is entrusted to an incorrigible egotist who disregards science and society…The president’s address, delivered after he literally shut the government down for 35 days, began as a desperate attempt to portray himself as a functional leader proposing “common good” cooperation that “can break decades of political stalemate.” But Trump could not maintain the bipartisan facade for long. In short order, he was renewing the rhetoric of the shutdown with a rant about “large organized caravans” preparing a “tremendous onslaught” on “our very dangerous southern border.” — from “It Wasn’t a Green New Deal State of the Union Address, So What’s the Point? Trump’s cynical speech spoke to the past, not the future.” by John NIchols at The Nation.
In Jim Newell’s “At Least He Rhymed: This was the State of the Union address of a man who’s got nothing left to say,” at slate.com, he notes, “If he was trying to get a border wall agreement—and he really didn’t seem like he was trying that hard—it wasn’t by putting something new on the table, a real concession that Democrats might consider. He resorted to the same scary warnings about the “tremendous onslaught” of “caravans” approaching the border (another chuckle line for Democrats) and once again used grieving families who’d lost loved ones as pawns in his insinuation that undocumented immigrants are naturally inclined to violence.”
At The Guardian, David Smith observes that “the meat in the political sandwich was red and bloody. In perhaps the most stunning remark of the night, and the one most likely to be replayed years hence, Trump said: “An economic miracle is taking place in the United States – and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations.”…It was a direct assault on potential House investigations in general and Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation in particular. He went on: “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation.”…Some Democrats shook their heads. One or two heckles could be heard. No one knows how to lose an audience better than Donald Trump. And the descent continued rapidly.”
Amanda Marcotte writes at salon.com, “Unfortunately, Tuesday’s speech showed that Trump has learned nothing, not that this is any surprise. Trump spent the first 72 years of life learning nothing, so there was no reason to think he would start now. Sure enough, the speech showed that Trump is the same person he has been for the past three years, and likely his whole life: A liar, a racist and a man who is willing to ruin the country for no other reason than power and personal gain…But the threat still felt largely toothless. Certainly Pelosi didn’t seem ruffled. And that’s the biggest takeaway from the 2019 State of the Union: Trump’s shtick of using racism to distract from his corruption is finally wearing thin. Let’s hope that by this time next year, he’s sweating bullets through the speech — or not giving it at all.”
