North Carolina former Republican Gov. and Donald Trump supporter Pat McCrory says he is dreading what’s going to come out of Trump’s mouth at his State of the Union address Tuesday night.
“We've got to get back to statesman like behavior, and I'm scared to death of tomorrow night — Tuesday night — both of what's going to be said at the podium and what the reaction is going to be, because it's everything that goes against my instincts of why I got into public service,” McCrory told MS NOW anchor Katy Tur.
McCrory, who supported Trump during his campaign, said Trump’s rhetoric has become too vicious, which spurs ferocity from his critics on the other side of the political spectrum.
“When I was on the campaign trail as governor with president elect Trump, or candidate Trump, I never wore a MAGA hat because I never knew what it meant. … And we still use the term MAGA without understanding what it is. Just like I was suddenly called a RINO (Republican in Name Only) and I still don't know what a RINO is, but it's the terms flung out there so easily. And this name calling and immaturity on both sides of the aisle is just got to end," McCrory said.
McCrory admitted additional anguish at the way the Republican Party has flipped its position on countless topics that once defined it.
“I don't want to give up on my party, even though I think the party is just flip flopped on about every issue,” McCrory told Tur. “The Republicans [used to be] against tariffs. Just five years ago, the Club for Growth was giving millions of dollars to the Freedom Caucus to get them elected, and the Freedom Caucus was against all tariffs. And now all of a sudden, the Republican Party is the pro tariff party. And the Democratic Party is the anti-tariff party.”
“It used to be the Democrats said the federal government needs to step in. Republicans said ‘let's leave it to the state and local level.’ They have completely flip flopped without admitting it, by the way,” McCrory continued. “So I don't even know what the definition of MAGA is, or RINO or the Democratic and Republican Party anymore. I don't think there is any clear definition of even the term ‘conservative’ or ‘Republican’ or ‘Democrat’ or ‘progressive’ anymore because they're flip flopping on issues based upon one word. And that is ‘power,’ because that's what they're interested in.”
Pete Buttigieg, fresh off a clash with his successor, Sean Duffy—who, just days into his new job, lashed out at the Democratic former U.S. Secretary of Transportation after a series of air travel crises—joined The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night to discuss—and denounce—President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, and his own—and the nation’s—political future.
Buttigieg blasted Trump’s speech, the longest of its kind in recent history, declaring it was filled with “darkness” and “dazzle,” while decrying the President’s refusal to understand and promote the role of government. He described the state of our union as “complicated,” “roiling,” and “confused about why our leaders are talking about renaming things on a map instead of getting the price of eggs down.”
And he lamented that “there was very, very little” in Trump’s speech “about the things that most affect our lives.”
“I believe politics is about everyday life,” Buttigieg continued. “It’s about what government can and must do to make our everyday lives better. And the biggest issue on people’s minds, the affordability of everyday life is not something that got more than a a few seconds of mention in his speech, nor did he mention some of the biggest things in dollar terms that he’s doing.”
“I mean, objectively , the biggest thing that he’s working on is tax cuts for the rich. $5 trillion, minimum. No mention in a speech that was what, two hours?”
“But it’s always like this, right? It’s always gonna be about—they’re gonna talk about Greenland, and about pronouns, and about mice, and not about what’s gonna actually make our lives better.”
As it turns out, with many Democratic voters grappling with a party they feel has lost its way amid the onslaught of President Donald Trump’s takeover, transformation, and demolition of the federal government—and, as Buttigieg mentioned, with Americans struggling to pay their bills, even ahead of Trump’s sweeping and unpredictable tariffs—the former Secretary of Transportation finds himself in an enviable position, boasting a wealth of political opportunities ahead.
A father of two who often talks about raising two young children—twins—with his husband, Buttigieg and his family moved to the Great Lakes State to be closer to Chasten’s parents.
Last week, Buttigieg sat down with Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to discuss a possible run for a seat opening in his home state of Michigan. Democratic U.S. Senator Gary Peters is not seeking a third term, setting off what is expected to be a closely watched and pivotal race in 2026—one that could help swing control of the U.S. Senate back to the Democrats.
But Buttigieg’s name has also been tossed around for a gubernatorial run: Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, is term limited. While he has not officially weighed in, The Detroit News, which broke the story of Senator Peters’ retirement, says one source indicates Buttigieg is “very seriously focused” on a potential run for the Senate, not the governor’s mansion.
While Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential run did not get him a seat behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, it cemented a close relationship with President Joe Biden, who declared publicly that Buttigieg reminds him of his late son, Beau.
Some say Buttigieg could run again for the White House in 2028, although it’s far too early for him to make that decision. And some believe he has the clout, experience, and support that few other Democrats can currently boast, given the state of the party. There’s even an active Reddit page for his fans, which apparently number around 31,000 on the platform.
But he also has concerns, which he shared Tuesday night.
After Colbert blasted the President’s message from earlier on Tuesday—during which Trumpappeared to ignore the First Amendment and declared anyone on a college campus engaging in “illegal protests” will be deported or imprisoned, Buttigieg denounced the broader problem.
“We have to stand up to this, and by we I don’t just mean Democrats. Like, freedom loving conservatives, libertarians, where are you?” Buttigieg, once known as “Mayor Pete,” declared. “We might not agree on everything, but if you are so committed to liberty, as a libertarian or a freedom loving conservative, that you think the clean air act is ‘tyranny,’ then what do you have to say about the head of your government threatening to expel or imprison people who protest in disagreement with his politics?”
“Where are you? We should be able to come together around that,” he insisted.
“Our nation has always been at its best when it widens the circle of belonging and equality to take care of more people and not less,” he continued, when asked about Trump’s anti-LGBTQ remarks Tuesday night. “And our nation’s been at its worst when we’ve been discriminating.”
Asked point-blank if he has any concerns about the Roberts Supreme Court overturning Obergefell, the landmark 2015 ruling that recognized same-sex couples have the same rights and responsibilities as different-sex couples when it comes to marriage, Buttigieg definitively replied: “Sure.”
Buttigieg insisted that Democrats have “got to focus.”
“You gotta be engaged. Doesn’t mean being online every minute, but you gotta be engaged. You’ve got to hold elected officials accountable, like, what’s going on at these town halls, and you’ve got to be organized.”
“I campaigned on freedom, security and democracy back when I was running for president, and I still believe that is the core that should drive our message,” he said, speaking of Democrats. “And we need to take that message everywhere.”
“It’s not just what we say, it’s not just how we say it, it’s where we say it,” he continued.
And he predicted Trump will continue to lose support, which he has already since entering the Oval Office for a second time.
Colbert, hoping to make some political news, asked Buttigieg, “Is there anything you’d like to tell us?”
“Not tonight,” the former Secretary replied. “I’ve been looking at it,” he said of the Michigan Senate race, where currently there are several possible Democratic contenders and a Republican who, according to the polls, holds a lead over him.
“I’ve decided that I’m going to continue to work on the things that I care about, to defend the values, that I was just talking about. I have not decided what that means professionally, whether that means running for office soon or not, but, I will make myself useful.”
On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump gave his first joint address to Congress. He was almost immediately picked apart by journalists, fact-checkers, elected officials and others for his rapid pace of outright lies and false claims.
In just the first few minutes of the speech, Trump proclaimed that he won the 2024 election with "a mandate like has not been seen in many decades." New York Times reporter Kenneth Vogel pointed out that Trump won the popular vote by just a 1.48% margin, while Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama each had margins of victory of 4.45% and 7.27%, respectively.
This led Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) to stand up and shout that he has "no mandate to cut Medicaid." House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) then ordered the House sergeant-at-arms to remove the longtime lawmaker from the chamber. Aaron Fritschner, who is the deputy chief of staff for Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) posted the viral photo of Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) shouting during Biden's State of the Union address with the text: "They weren't removed."
Trump also used a significant portion of his speech to falsely assert there was widespread fraud in the Social Security Administration (SSA), arguing that people well over 100 years old were receiving benefits. On Bluesky, Washington Post columnist Philip Bump called that claim "total horses---" and posted a link showing that Trump was misreading data from the SSA. The agency has a database of every American who has been issued a Social Security number, but many of them don't have a date of death listed, as they passed away before electronic records were put in place.
Kansas University law professor Corey Rayburn Yung described the president's remarks about Social Security as "a lengthy diatribe that is all false." And Social Security Works executive director Alex Lawson called Trump a "f---ing liar" who is "coming to steal our Social Security."
"Trump is making up stats about Social Security so he has an excuse to cut your benefits," Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) wrote on Bluesky.
At one point, Trump gave a shout-out to centibillionaire Elon Musk, and mentioned that he leads the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Multiple legal experts immediately flagged this claim and pointed out that the Trump administration has argued in federal court that Musk does not lead DOGE. This may result in legal problems down the road, with Tech Policy Press journalist Cristiano Lima-Strong reminding his Bluesky followers: "This is a point of contention in ongoing lawsuits over its work."
Trump also promised to cut Americans' taxes. But as Brendan Duke of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities pointed out, Trump's new 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico "would wipe out any tax cuts the bottom of 40% of Americans would receive." And he noted that this "doesn’t count additional import taxes he’s considering or the cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance."
"Donald Trump, who is trying right now to pass a $4 trillion tax cut that would give households in the 0.1% a $278k tax cut, says he's going to balance the budget," wrote Center for American Progress senior director of federal budget policy Bobby Kogan.
Other journalists were amazed at the dizzying speed at which Trump lied. Journalist Mythili Sampathkumar observed that "quite literally every line of this State of the Union is a lie and/or has factual error." Former CBS News journalist Zev Shalev wrote: "The litany of lies is endless — it's impossible to keep track of."
"This is a rally speech, but it's also a list of things he claims to have done that he actually hasn't done," tweeted Atlantic contributor Tom Nichols. "It's utterly bonkers."
Some Democratic lawmakers attending President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress on Tuesday night are planning to protest by wearing pink.
MSNBC is reporting that the 96- member Democratic Women's Caucus will be wearing hot pink in the House of Representatives chamber tonight. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) said the all-pink presence is meant to draw attention to "Trump’s policies which are negatively impacting women and families."
The color pink has particular significance in relation to Trump: At the start of his first term in the White House, the "Women's March" movement brought out hundreds of thousands of Americans into the streets with hot pink "pussyhats" as a universal signifier. The name of the hat came from Trump's widely maligned 2005 comments in which he described groping women without their consent.
MSNBC contributor Hannah Holland also wrote about how the color pink has been used by the LGBTQ+ community as a symbol of resistance. Holland described how the Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler labeled gay and transgender prisoners with a pink triangle to single them out for particularly harsh treatment. But in the 1970s, the gay rights movement took ownership of the pink triangle as a symbol of community and activism.
Women in Congress have previously used color coordination to send a message during Trump's prior State of the Union addresses. During one address in his first term, female lawmakers wore white to the House chamber, which is a throwback to the Suffragette movement of the 1920s when women fought for the right to vote.
Holland acknowledged that the decision to color-coordinate in response to Trump appears meaningless and performative on its surface. However, she opined that Trump seeing the wave of pink-clad lawmakers is a powerful signal to him that there is a unified opposition to his agenda.
"[T]hese pink outfits, steeped in subversive symbolism and made significant by generations of sexism and organized resistance against it, are a symbol of unity, a visible show of resistance, and, certainly most importantly, a sign to every American watching Tuesday night that these lawmakers haven’t given up," she wrote.
As President Donald Trump prepares to deliver his second Address to a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday night, he faces a barrage of warning signs from all sides. Public polls show declining approval, congressional town halls are boiling over with frustration, nationwide protests continue to mount, and economic reports paint a troubling picture. Internationally, his Oval Office attack on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sparked a global wave of support for Ukraine. At home, federal judges have repeatedly struck down his executive orders as unlawful, unconstitutional, and overreaching. Meanwhile, Elon Musk and his widely unpopular “Department of Government Efficiency” are adding to the administration’s troubles, and deepening fractures within Trump’s own party threaten to undermine his agenda.
Trump is also facing a high bar — one he himself set: nearly 48 million people watched his first Address to a Joint Session of Congress eight years ago.
Apparently aware of the stakes, Trump on Monday, in an all-caps post declared, “Tomorrow night will be big. I will tell it like it is!” And appearing to want to tamp down the viral videos of town halls across the nation being inundated with — often Republican — voters blasting their Republican members of Congress, Trump wrote: “Paid ‘troublemakers’ are attending Republican Town Hall Meetings. It is all part of the game for the Democrats, but just like our big LANDSLIDE ELECTION, it’s not going to work for them!”
(There was no “landslide election” — Trump won by a mere 1.5 percentage points, in one of the smallest popular vote margins in modern history. According to numbers from The American Presidency Project, Trump’s “mandate” ranks 32nd out of 51 elections.)
ECONOMY
Signs are pointing to an imminent recession — something President Joe Biden never had.
“The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s running forecast for first-quarter gross domestic product slid again on Monday,” Barron’s reported. “The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow estimate now calls for a first-quarter GDP decline of 2.8%, down from a decline of 1.5% on Friday. As recently as Feb. 19, GDPNow predicted growth of 2.3%.”
That means that there economy under President Trump is expected to contract. Earlier Monday, citing a contraction, Barron’s also reported that “it boils down to expectations that President Donald Trump’s plans to introduce tariffs will push imports way down, and the difference between exports and imports is a key part of the GDP calculator.”
President Trump campaigned on lowering the cost of “groceries” — a word he very proudly used repeatedly — on his first day. That has not come to pass, and Americans are angry about it.
Reporting that Trump’s approval rating is already falling and could “collapse” over inflation, New York magazine’s “Intelligencer” notes that “by far Trump’s greatest vulnerability is over his management of an economy where renewed signs of inflation are evident, and where his policies, once implemented, could make conditions worse.”
The Intelligencer’s Ed Kilgore writes that a Reuters-Ipsos poll “found that only 32 percent of respondents gave Trump a positive assessment on his handling of inflation. A mid-February Gallup survey found 54 percent of Americans disapproving Trump’s handling of the economy and 53 percent disapproving his handling of foreign trade. A February 24 American Research Group poll found 38 percent of registered voters approved of Trump’s handling of the economy and 57 percent disapprove, with this more specific data point: ‘Unprompted, voters disapproving of Trump’s handling of the economy complain that Trump has not reduced grocery, gasoline, and/or energy prices as he promised during the campaign.'”
On Monday, the financial markets reacted to Trump’s affirmation that his announced tariffs on Canada and Mexico will go into effect at midnight, tariffs that are being described as “one of the most self destructive economic policy steps in recent history.” The DOW plummeted nearly 700 points (1.58%), after dropping over 800 points in the hours before trading ended. The tech-heavy NASDAQ did even worse, dropping almost 500 points, or, 2.61%. CNBC reported the S&P posted its “biggest loss since December,” after Trump’s tariffs message.
The issues that voters think Trump is focusing on the most (the border, tariffs, and the federal workforce/DOGE) are dramatically different from those they want him to focus on (the economy, inflation, government spending.)
Worse, the majority of respondents believe Trump’s policies are “making the price you pay for food go up.”
They are likely correct.
Trump’s tariffs are widely expected to dramatically increase to price of food. But instead of acknowledging that fact, Trump Monday afternoon gleefully declared, “To the Great Farmers of the United States: Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States. Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!”
According to the USDA in January, “Imports play an increasingly important role in ensuring that fresh fruit and vegetables are available year-round in the United States.” Through 2023, “the percent of U.S. fresh fruit and vegetable availability supplied by imports grew from 50 percent to 59 percent for fresh fruit and from 20 percent to 35 percent for fresh vegetables.”
On another topic, the CBS/YouGov poll found that the vast majority of Americans (78%) want the U.S. to stay in NATO — something Trump has suggested he opposes. Elon Musk has stated outright he thinks the U.S. should pull out of NATO, and the United Nations.
“Senior White House adviser Elon Musk said on Saturday that he believes the United States should leave the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization—two of the world’s most important intergovernmental bodies,” The Daily Beast reported.
DEMOCRATS
One other warning sign: President Trump may face is a decidedly less-packed house.
Some, including The Nation‘s Elie Mystal, are calling for Democrats to boycott Trump’s address.
So has U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), who told CNN Trump’s address will be a “farce” during which he will “spew a series of lies.”
“We have to fight every single day. Every single day,” Murphy declared. Republicans flood the zone, Democrats have to flood the zone. They flood the zone with lies, we flood the zone with truth.”
Ezra Klein, the Times columnist, has been one of the leading liberal voices urging the Democratic Party to please please please pick someone other than the president to be the party’s nominee, not just because he’s old but because “the presidency is a performance.”
The presidency isn’t a performance, but the person holding the office does occasionally perform. To that effect, Joe Biden gave a command performance during the State of the Union address. That probably won’t stop pundits from concern-trolling about his age. However, it should stop Democratic voters from worrying. Joe’s gonna be all right.
According to a CNN flash poll taken of speech watchers before the speech, just 45 percent said Biden’s policies would move the country in the right direction. Afterward? That number went up to 62 percent.
It’s just one poll, of course, but I think it suggests to us two things. One is that many Democratic voters have been wringing their hands about the president’s age. Two is that they’ve been wringing their hands, because the Washington press corps, by putting the president’s age at the center of our political discourse, keeps suggesting they should. Remove the press corps’ influence on people’s thinking and voilà!
If nothing else, that might be the story of the evening.
Pay attention to the timing. The State of the Union address came two days after Super Tuesday, the moment when it was clear he’s going to be the Democratic Party’s nominee and Donald Trump is going to the Republicans’. These are related events. Biden won’t be seen in isolation anymore. From now on, he’ll be compared to Trump. He’s now reassured Democrats. He’s the same old Joe. Before long, we could see a widening gap in polling in which they had been neck-and-neck.
Biden communicated to Democratic voters in another way.
In an unorthodox move, he kept bringing up Trump, though never by name. Over and over, the president said, “unlike my predecessor, who said …” and then he’d say what Trump said in order to make sure we understood they represent polar views that voters must choose from.
This decision grabbed headlines. Some Republicans said Biden turned a presidential speech into a campaign speech. That was a risk he took, but I suspect Biden did it for a good reason – lots of voters, lots of Democratic voters, don’t know what Trump has been saying, and they don’t know, in part, because Biden’s age has taken on such a large presence in our political discourse it overshadows everything.
Consider this striking moment when the president said this: “If my predecessor is watching, instead of playing politics and pressuring members of Congress to block the [bipartisan immigration reform] bill, join me in telling the Congress to pass it. We can do it together. But he apparently hears what he will not do. … I will not demonize immigrants, saying they are ‘poison in the blood of our country’” (my italics.)
Like I said, striking. If you’re going to ask your opponent to join you in solving a problem, you’re probably not going to bring up perhaps the ugliest thing he’s ever said. Biden, of course, does not expect Trump to join him. Trump doesn’t care about solving the “border crisis,” only exploiting it. Biden’s goal was probably telling Democratic voters, or swing voters generally, this is who Trump is. I’m old, but he’s evil.
In closing, Biden delivered a speech-in-a-speech, and with it, he turned worry about his age upside down. Suddenly, in the context of the larger speech, being 81 years old didn’t feel like a liability. It felt like the very asset Americans need to bring the country into the future.
And he started with a joke.
“I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while. When you get to my age, certain things become clearer than ever before.
“I know the American story,” he went on to say. “Again and again I’ve seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation. Between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future.
“The issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are, it’s how old are our ideas. Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are the oldest of ideas. But you can’t lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back.
“My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on core values. … Honesty, decency, dignity, equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor. Now, other people my age see it differently. The American story of resentment, revenge and retribution — that’s not me.”
I’ll have more to say about this extraordinary speech later. Hint: It was a class warrior’s speech. So much so, that should have been the headline. For now, however, here’s the rest. It’s worth your time.
"I was born amid World War II when America stood for the freedom of the world. I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, among working-class people who built this country."
"I watched in horror as two of my heroes, like many of you did — Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy — were assassinated, and their legacies inspired me to pursue a career of service."
"I left a law firm, became a public defender, because my city of Wilmington was the only city in America occupied by the National Guard after Dr. King was assassinated because of the riots."
"I became a county councilman almost by accident. I got elected to the United States Senate when I had no intention of running at age 29, then vice president to our first Black president, now president to our first woman vice president."
"In my career, I’ve been told I was too young. … And I’ve been told I am too old. Whether young or old, I’ve always known what endures. I’ve known our North Star."
"The very idea of America is that we are all created equal, deserves to be treated equally throughout our lives. We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either."
"And I won’t walk away from it now. I’m optimistic. I really am."
"My fellow Americans, the issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are, it’s how old are our ideas."
"Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are the oldest of ideas. But you can’t lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back."
"To lead America, the land of possibilities, you need a vision for the future and what can and should be done. Tonight, you’ve heard mine."
"I see a future where defending democracy, you don’t diminish it. I see a future where we restore the right to choose and protect other freedoms, not take them away."
"I see a future where the middle class finally has a fair shot and the wealthy have to pay their fair share in taxes."
"I see a future where we save the planet from the climate crisis and our country from gun violence."
"Above all, I see a future for all Americans. I see a country for all Americans. And I will always be a president for all Americans because I believe in America."
"I believe in you, the American people."
"You’re the reason we’ve never been more optimistic about our future than I am now. So let’s build the future together. Let’s remember who we are. We are the United States of America! And there is nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we act together."
"God bless you all, and may God protect our troops. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
The President’s speech was widely praised by the left, and by some on the right, while many Trump-supporting Republicans declared Biden was too “loud,” or appeared to be “angry” and “shouting.” Others called the address too “political.”
“President Biden showed up, delivered a forceful speech and smoked the MAGA extremists. My dude,” Leader Jeffries said on X late Thursday night.
Friday, at a press conference, Jeffries called House Repubicans’ behavior during the State of the Union, “a complete embarrassment.”
“Marjorie Taylor Greene,” he continued, “who’s basically running the House Republican Conference, shows up in campaign paraphernalia.”
Greene indeed showed up with a red MAGA hat and other political accessories and clothing, as the video below shows.
U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin remarked that Green was “in direct violation of the rules of the House by wearing campaign insignia on the House floor.”
“And then these people want to lecture Joe Biden because he delivered a strong and forceful speech that made them uncomfortable because he exposed their lies and shamelessness,” Jeffries added. “We have one message for extreme MAGA Republicans who want to lecture us about decorum: Get lost. You’re a joke.”
“Exhibit A. Marjorie Taylor Greene,” he said, pointing to a poster of Congresswoman Greene in full regalia, acting out at the State of the Union. “Exhibit B. George Santos.”
Santos is the expelled, Republican former U.S. Congressman who has been criminally indicted on charges including conspiracy, wire fraud, false statements, falsification of records, aggravated identity theft, and credit card fraud, according to DOJ.
Donald Trump is a prince of lies. possessed of a blinding lack of self-awareness and totally devoid of a capacity for critical self-reflection.
As the Washington Post has exhaustively documented, Trump has told at least 8,000 lies as president. Tuesday night's State of the Union address added to this total.
Contrary to Trump's claims, the state of the union is not strong. American democracy is imperiled by him and his party -- by their authoritarianism, petit-fascism, and total and utter disregard for the rule of law.
Trump wants Congress (read: the Democratic House majority) and the country (read: people who voted against him and continue to oppose him) to "reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution."
This is the opposite of Donald Trump's own personal life mantra and decades-long pattern of living.
Throughout his State of the Union speech Trump either lied outright or distorted the facts on a wide range of issues, including immigration, his imaginary border wall, crime, the economy, the war against ISIS, North Korea, women's rights and the drug crisis.
In his flaccid and boring address he also called back to tired Republican talking points about the evils of "socialism." Perhaps White House senior adviser Stephen Miller played the infamous 1961 recording "Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine" for our current president before his speech.
Trump also hung up political red meat for his white evangelical supporters, who are among the most devout and loyal members of the cult of Trumpism.
Throughout his State of the Union speech Trump either lied outright or distorted the facts on a wide range of issues, including immigration, his imaginary border wall, crime, the economy, the war against ISIS, North Korea, women's rights and the drug crisis.
In his flaccid and boring address he also called back to tired Republican talking points about the evils of "socialism." Perhaps White House senior adviser Stephen Miller played the infamous 1961 recording "Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine" for our current president before his speech.
Trump also hung up political red meat for his white evangelical supporters, who are among the most devout and loyal members of the cult of Trumpism.
Perhaps most important, Donald Trump believes he is above the law. He suggested that the safety and security of the United States depends on not holding him accountable for his likely collusion with Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election, as well as his many other apparent crimes:
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. If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn't work that way!
Commentator Van Jones described Trump's address afterward as "a psychotically incoherent speech mixing cookies with dog poop." That is largely accurate, yet Trump supporters and Republican voters in general will devour it as though it were a wonderful meal.
Part of the explanation can be found in Donald Trump's hostage-taking of the U.S. government to get money for his wall. The conventional political wisdom is that Trump "lost": His disapproval numbers increased among the general public and he was apparently forced to capitulate Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats "won" by forcing Trump to end the shutdown, at least temporarily.
Some observers have suggested that the longest government shutdown in U.S. history was the result of an inexperienced White House which had "miscalculated." This is one example among many where, in my judgment, Trump and his agents are playing a different game than the political pundits and so-called experts realize or want to accept.
Trump is not a video-game boss or comic-book supervillain possessed of amazing genius. Rather he and the conservative movement are simply playing a different game with different criteria for victory.
Their goal is not consensus, serving the common good or ensuring that the general will is served in the interest of democracy. It is victory at any cost for their "team" -- democracy and the American people be damned.
Trump's State of the Union address spoke exclusively to his right-wing public and the most extreme elements of the conservative movement, the only audience he cares about. It was successful on those terms.
As stated amid the mountain of lies that was this speech, Trump will try to give right-wing Christians a country where women do not have reproductive rights and the divide between church and state is torn away.
Huge corporations will be further empowered to despoil the earth for profits while workers are left more vulnerable. The social safety net will be cut still more.
Racist, bigots and nativists are empowered with hopes that they will get their wall, immigration "reform" and other policies designed to ensure, both symbolically and literally, that white Americans control every major aspect of the country's political, economic and social life.
The right-wing agenda has other elements as well, which Trump has masterfully advanced. Again, those who focus on the "horse race" aspect of American politics, and who still have faith in the power of previously-existing norms and traditions, are not looking in the correct place for answers. They made this mistake in the 2016 presidential race and continue to do so now.
One of this agenda's guiding principles is that government is illegitimate in itself. It is to be destroyed from within so it can be stripped away and sold off to the highest corporate bidder. The American people are just another product to be monetized and exploited under gangster capitalism.
Trump has appointed corporate executives, incompetents, and other self-interested actors to destroy the very federal agencies they ostensibly "lead." The shutdown and Trump's other policies are designed to undermine faith in the usefulness and legitimacy of the federal government when it comes to solving collective problems and enhancing the lives of the American people.
Contrary to Trump's lies about serving the common good and ensuring "prosperity" and "progress," his policies are designed to cause pain and harm to the American people in general, and particularly to nonwhite people and others viewed as not being "real Americans."
In Trump's State of the Union speech he continued to threaten that he may declare a "national emergency" if he does not get money for his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. This will be another way for Trump to further cement his power and to weaken the country's democracy in the service of an extreme right-wing agenda.. Vijay Prashad expands on this in a recent essay at CounterPunch:
It will all make a mockery of the judicial process. Trump the destroyer would have then galloped through the institutions of the state — setting them aflame with the fires of illegitimacy. The executive branch, the presidency, is already the font of mockery. His acting secretaries are going to deepen the distrust with government. The legislature, already low in public trust, will find its legitimacy eroded further. And then, the judiciary, the final branch of government, will be set aflame. At the end of Trump’s first term in office, it is likely that trust in government will be as low as it could possibly go. If Trump is re-elected, it is likely that during the second term, the government might wither away … leaving behind a police force to patrol the disaffected U.S. population and a military to discipline the world.
Will Donald Trump's government shutdown hurt him at the polls in 2020? Likely not.
Trump's Republican supporters will never abandon him. Those Americans hurt by the government shutdown were already predisposed to vote against Trump and are not going to support him for any reason. As political scientists and others have repeatedly shown, the American people are not very sophisticated politically. A broad swath of undecided and independent voters will no longer remember the shutdown or include it in their decision-making. And if low information and independent voters do actually think about the government shutdown relative to "pocketbook voting" they may not attribute the blame correctly. They may instead choose to punish the Democrats and not Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
In Trump's State of the Union speech he continued to threaten that he may declare a "national emergency" if he does not get money for his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. This will be another way for Trump to further cement his power and to weaken the country's democracy in the service of an extreme right-wing agenda.. Vijay Prashad expands on this in a recent essay at CounterPunch:
It will all make a mockery of the judicial process. Trump the destroyer would have then galloped through the institutions of the state — setting them aflame with the fires of illegitimacy. The executive branch, the presidency, is already the font of mockery. His acting secretaries are going to deepen the distrust with government. The legislature, already low in public trust, will find its legitimacy eroded further. And then, the judiciary, the final branch of government, will be set aflame. At the end of Trump’s first term in office, it is likely that trust in government will be as low as it could possibly go. If Trump is re-elected, it is likely that during the second term, the government might wither away … leaving behind a police force to patrol the disaffected U.S. population and a military to discipline the world.
Will Donald Trump's government shutdown hurt him at the polls in 2020? Likely not.
Trump's Republican supporters will never abandon him. Those Americans hurt by the government shutdown were already predisposed to vote against Trump and are not going to support him for any reason. As political scientists and others have repeatedly shown, the American people are not very sophisticated politically. A broad swath of undecided and independent voters will no longer remember the shutdown or include it in their decision-making. And if low information and independent voters do actually think about the government shutdown relative to "pocketbook voting" they may not attribute the blame correctly. They may instead choose to punish the Democrats and not Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump's State of the Union address was a confusing jumble of lies wrapped in an awkward, poorly-delivered plea for bipartisanship from the newly divided Congress. The speech posed a stark contrast to former Georgia House Minority Leader and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams' response, in which she passionately laid out a competing agenda and made a call to arms to protect voting rights and democracy.
The difference was so plain that on a CNN panel afterward, when former Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-MI) pointed it out, even former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) agreed.
"I have to speak next, because I agree with Jennifer Granholm," said Santorum, as his fellow panelists looked taken aback. "Stacey Abrams gave a great speech, she delivered it well. This was probably the worst-delivered speech I've heard Donald Trump give. He ran over his lines, he mixed up the language, he didn't deliver his punchlines. He — he would deliver a line, and go to the next issue, and I don't think he even realized he was moving on to the next issue. Someone didn't do a good job of breaking his speech so he knew what to do. That was a problem."
Santorum did proceed to defend the "things the president proposed on domestic policy." But he broadly agreed the speech didn't land.
The likely reason Santorum's fellow panelists were surprised is that Santorum has been one of Trump's most reliable on-air surrogates. In January, when Trump had shut down the government and was making ham-handed threats from the Oval Office, Santorum called his speeches "compassionate" and said they revealed a "softer side." He has defended Trump and the GOP at every turn, from saying the climate scientists contradicting Trump fabricate their results for grant money, to demanding the Parkland shooting survivors take CPR rather than urge the GOP to pass gun control.
If even Santorum believes Trump's speech was upstaged by the Democratic response, there are few ways to spin last night as a positive for the president.
President Donald Trump spoke from prepared remarks Tuesday night as he delivered the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress.
As Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale has noted, Trump's on-script speeches tend to be much more accurate than his off-the-cuff rally tirades, which are filled to the brim with lies and distortions. When he speaks from a teleprompter, his staff produce formalized comments that sometimes withstand fact-checking scrutiny better than his usual claims.
But he still made many specific, demonstrably false claims. The greatest lie, though, was the basic premise of his speech: a supposed call for unity. Instead of a unifying rallying cry, it was filled with much of his typical divisive attacks and vicious fearmongering, particularly about immigrants.
Here are seven of his other false claims and distortions Tuesday night:
1. "After 24 months of rapid progress, our economy is the envy of the world, our military is the most powerful on earth, and America is winning each and every day."
The implication here that Trump's presidency oversaw a huge resurgence in the military and the economy is just flat-out false. The United States' military has been the world's biggest (and most wildly expensive) for generations long before Trump came around. And while the economy has continued to grow under this president, it has essentially carried on the trajectory it started under President Barack Obama.
2. Trump claimed that the United States' economy is the "hottest economy anywhere in the world."
While "hottest" is a vague term, many economies are in fact growing much faster than the United States'. The New York Times explained:
The American economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018, the most recent available data. Growth in Latvia and Poland was almost twice as fast. Same for China and India. Even the troubled Greek economy posted stronger growth. And a wide range of economic analysts estimate that the growth of the American economy slowed in the fourth quarter, and slowed even further in the first month of 2019.
3. He said that under his administration, the country has "added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs."
This is false, as Dale explained:
4. Under his administration, Trump said, the economy added 5.3 million jobs.
In fact, the economy has added 4.9 million jobs in the past two years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
5. Trump said there is an "urgent national crisis" of illegal crossings at the border.
Under Trump, border crossings have actually been at record lows for recent decades. He used to boast about this fact until he realized he needed to drum up a rationalization for his border wall.
While that is an uptick from the monthly average in the fiscal year that ended in September 2017, the numbers pale in comparison to early 2000s, when border arrests averaged about 100,000 per month.
A record number of families have tried to cross the border in recent months, overwhelming officials at the border and creating a new kind of humanitarian crisis.
6. Trump falsely said that, after having an extremely high crime rate, El Paso became "one of the safest cities" because of a border wall.
Trump has said this many times before, and it is absolutely false.
"That is a straight-up lie about El Paso, which was one of America’s safest large cities for violent crime before the fencing was erected and did not immediately see crime fall after the fence was built," said Dale.
7. "I want people to come into our country in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally."
This was a brazen obfuscation of his own views. Trump has previously promoted the RAISE Act, which would cut legal immigration rates in half. He has also railed against so-called "chain migration" — immigration based on family ties — and the visa lottery, and he has fought to reduce both.
President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continue to go back and forth about whether she will allow him to give the State of the Union address in Congress on Jan. 29 — though ultimately, she has the final say on whether it happens. She has rescinded his invitation to deliver the speech, saying it would be inappropriate as long as the government shutdown continues.
But on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House." host Nicolle Wallace presented an alternative strategy for Pelosi that could be even more humiliating to Trump than not being allowed to give the speech.
"OK, I have an idea. I used to dabble in politics a little bit," she said. "Why doesn't Nancy Pelosi say: 'You can come. I'm going to be at the food bank that the FBI has set up because you're not paying them, and so they can't feed their families. And here's what we're going to do with all our seats: As Democrats, we're going to give all of our seats to furloughed federal workers. And you look them in the eye — you coward! — and you tell them why they don't have two paychecks.'"
Her panelists were enthusiastic about the idea.
"But why doesn't she call his bluff?" Wallace added.
Reporter Jonathan Lemire of the Associated Press agreed it was a strong plan, adding: "At the very least, the Democratic response after the State of the Union, if he gives a speech, shouldn't be Schumer and Pelosi — it should be these workers. It should be people telling their stories."
