In his first appearance before a divided Congress during Tuesday’s 2019 State of the Union Address, Donald Trump preached a theme of ‘unity’ — then proceeded with words that were anything but unifying.
Politics
Recognizing that Democrats now run a very powerful legislative branch of government, Trump was sly. He began his address with honeyed words of unity and a “Rah-Rah” All-American tone.
“Tonight, I want to talk about what kind of future we are going to have, and what kind of Nation we are going to be. All of us, together, as one team, one people, and one American family,” Trump said while promising to champion the agenda of the American people. “We all share the same home, the same heart, the same destiny, and the same great American flag. Together, we are rediscovering the American way.”
He continued:
“Over the last year, the world has seen what we always knew: that no people on Earth are so fearless, or daring, or determined as Americans. If there is a mountain, we climb it. If there is a frontier, we cross it. If there is a challenge, we tame it. If there is an opportunity, we seize it.”
Then, as expected, he flipped from his tone of unity and fell back into typical partisan politics and his millionth attempt to end the Mueller investigation into him and his family.
“We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution,” Trump said as a precursor of what was to come. “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,” he added to tepid applause. “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn’t work that way!”
Next, Trump dove into his continuing demand for a $5 billion border wall — which Democrats have already made crystal clear was a no go then and is still a no go now. However, ‘The Donald’ remained unyielding and vowed to “get it built” while avoiding all mention of the 35-day government shutdown that brought Americans to their knees and still did not get him his beloved wall.
“My administration has sent to Congress a commonsense proposal to end the crisis on our southern border. It includes humanitarian assistance, more law enforcement, drug detection at our ports, closing loopholes that enable child smuggling and plans for a new physical barrier or wall, to secure the vast areas between our ports of entry,” he said. “In the past, most of the people in this room voted for a wall but the proper wall never got built. I will get it built,” he added.
So much for unity.
If Donald Trump truly wants a unified America, he has A LOT of work to do — and most of it starts with him and his base. However, even among all of his pretend talk of “Kumbaya” among Americans, the temporary government spending agreement expires next week and pleas for that damned wall will commence again.
Then we’ll know if Mr. Donald ‘Unity’ Trump was really trying to turn a corner with his words, or was merely blowing a bunch of hot air.
Didn’t watch a minute of that fool last night. However, by most accounts the title of DJ’s post is spot on:
“Unity Message Falls Flat In Trump SOTU Address”
I saw a few highlights of Nancy Pelosi’s reaction during the speech..lol. Priceless!