It feels almost quaint that Donald Trump is still doing State of the Union addresses in this new era. America is being destroyed from within, Trump is alienating all of our allies and partners, he’s tanking the American economy (and by extension, the global economy), and extremely online people are debating what Democratic congresspeople should be doing or wearing. All of this is going to get a hell of a lot worse. The only video I’ll post from this mess is the moment of Rep. Al Green standing in protest and being thrown out by the Sergeant at Arms.
I’ve actually never seen a Speaker of the House stand up mid-SOTU speech to remind a congressman of the rules of decorum. Has that happened in recent history? I know SOTU speeches have been protested and people have been led out before, but did previous speakers ever do that? Anyway, Trump’s speech was despicable. I’m going with People Magazine’s highlights:
The greatest start to a presidency: Early in his speech, Trump compared himself to George Washington, the first person to hold the office of the President of the United States. “It has been stated by many that the first month of our presidency … is the most successful in the history of our nation,” Trump said without citing any source. “And what makes it even more impressive is that, do you know who number two is George Washington? How about that? I don’t know about that list, but we’ll take it.”
Egg prices: “The egg prices are out of control, and we’re working hard to get it back down,” Trump said of inflation. He then instructed the Secretary of Agriculture to “do a good job on that. You inherited a total mess from the previous administration. Do a good job.” Trump did not include context around bird flu, which Politifact notes heavily impacted egg prices during the previous administration led by President Biden.
More tariffs: Trump says he is “very superstitious,” so he will be enacting reciprocal tariffs on April 2, not April 1. Speaking about reciprocal tariffs, Trump says they will make American businesses more competitive with those of other countries. He says the tariffs will increase prices on foreign goods to make domestic goods more appealing to U.S. consumers. The president noted that because he is “very superstitious,” he will be enacting those tariffs on April 2, presumably a reference to April Fool’s Day.
On Ukraine: “Earlier today, I received an important letter from President Zelensky of Ukraine,” Trump said. “The letter reads, ‘Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians.’ [Zelenskyy] said, ‘My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts. We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence.’ ” Trump added that “simultaneously, we’ve had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. It’s time to stop this madness. It’s time to halt the killing. It’s time to end the senseless war. If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides.”
The United States is going to get Greenland “one way or another”: Trump directly addressed the citizens of Greenland, which he said has “a very small population, but very, very large piece of land and very, very important for military security. We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America,” he said to its people, who are technically Danish citizens. “We need Greenland for national security and even international security, and we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it. But we need it really for international world security. And I think we’re going to get it one way or the other. “
The thing about Trump wanting to single-handedly “end the war” between Ukraine and Russia is where the EU will step in – Trump’s Russian-focused negotiations will go nowhere with Ukraine, NATO and Europe. That’s why the actions taken by European leaders after the disaster in the Oval Office last Friday were so important. The sh-t about Greenland is just f–king bonkers and I genuinely can’t believe this is real life. A script with this plotline would be rejected as too stupid. The egg price thing… yeah, I can’t believe that all of those “soaring grocery/egg price” people from last year just completely disappeared.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
