Tag: State of the Union

Trump’s State of the Union Address: Some Good Points, but his Lies should Worry all Americans

In Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday evening, he was preaching to the choir. His MAGA base loved it. Republican leaders who were present got plenty of exercise as they stood up and applauded dozens of times during his 99 minute speech. He was disciplined in sticking to his text instead of his more typical going off script. He highlighted his “successes” and generally omitted his failed promises. Nevertheless, he made many claims that were totally false. I lay out some of the evidence below. I ask my readers, especially MAGA folk, to pursue the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If the following information is inaccurate in any detail, please let me know. If Trump communicated false information, please speak truth to power.

 Trump – “The presidential election of November 5th was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades…. We won the popular vote by big numbers.”

The Truth – Trump truly won the election, but it was not a mandate. He did not even receive a majority of the popular vote, just 49.8% of those who voted. In fact, it was the smallest margin of victory since the year 2000.

Trump – “Now, for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is headed in the right direction than the wrong direction — in fact it’s an astonishing record, 27-point swing — the most ever.”

The Truth – “Thirty-four percent of Americans say that the country is headed in the right direction, compared to 49% who say it is off on the wrong track. When it comes to several specific issues, Americans are more likely to say things are off on the wrong track than going in the right direction: cost of living (22% right direction / 60% wrong track), the national economy (31% right direction / 51% wrong track), national politics (33% right direction / 50% wrong track), American foreign policy (33% right direction / 49% wrong track), and employment and jobs (33% right direction / 47% wrong track). Immigration policy is the only specific issue where more Americans say it is going in the right direction (48%) than off on the wrong track (39%).” (most recent Reuters/IPSOS poll)

Trump – “It has been stated by many that the first month of our presidency, it’s our presidency, is the most successful in the history of our nation. By many. And what makes it even more impressive, is that you know who number two is? George Washington. How about that? I don’t know about that list but we’ll take it.”

The Truth – We should be cautious when politicians (or anyone else) refuse to identify their sources. Who are the “many”? Where is the list? Was Trump really ahead of George Washington? According to the FiveThirtyEight average of national polls, only 46.1% of the U.S. citizens currently approve of the job Trump is doing, a decline of over 3% in these first six weeks of his presidency. (Donald Trump : Favorability Polls | FiveThirtyEight

Trump – “The United States has spent perhaps $350 billion on supporting Ukraine’s defense.” He also claimed that Europe has only spent $100 billion in aid to Ukraine.

The Truth – “According to the special inspector general responsible for overseeing the spending related to the war in Ukraine, Congress has appropriated or otherwise made available $182.75 billion for the overall U.S. response to the war since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Of that money, about $119 billion has been for the direct benefit of Ukraine, including approximately $65.9 billion in military assistance…. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, European countries have spent around $140 billion to back Kyiv, and pledged another roughly $120 billion to the cause.” (Shannon Kingston in Fact-checking Trump’s speech to Congress)

Trump – “Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control. The egg prices are out of control. And we are working hard to get it back down.”

The Truth – Egg prices rose under Biden. They have continued to rise sharply during Trump’s first six weeks. This is the same Trump who campaigned with the promise “I will bring down egg prices on Day One.” When I was a kid, we would hear the slogan “Boys make excuses, men make good.” I hear a lot of excuses coming out of the White House. Excuses need to be quite solid in order to justify failed promises.

Trump – “the next phase of our plan to deliver the greatest economy in history is for this Congress to pass tax cuts for everybody.”

The Truth – During his first administration, Trump amassed the largest federal debt in U.S. history, $7.8 trillion. This does not lead to “the greatest economy in history”.  This debt was largely due to his tax cut that primarily benefited the very rich. It was not a tax cut “for everybody”.

Trump – Although barely mentioned in his election campaign, tariffs have played a large role in these six weeks of his presidency. He called tariffs a “beautiful word”, his “favorite word”. On Tuesday Trump proclaimed that due to tariffs, “we will take in trillions and trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before.”

The Truth – “The substantial tariffs that Mr. Trump is imposing on foreign products will raise revenue for the government. But total U.S. imports last year were about $3.3 trillion, meaning that tariffs would have to be incredibly high to generate the trillions of dollars of revenue that Mr. Trump claims.” (Fact-Checking Trump’s Address to Congress – The New York Times)

Trump – The specific special tariffs on Mexico and Canada (of 25%) were included in the written script of his address, but Trump (conveniently) skipped over these items in his oral remarks. Why?

The Truth – The conservative Wall Street Journal described these massive tariffs as the “Dumbest Trade War in History”. These tariffs took effect on Tuesday. In two days, the Dow Jones level fell some 1200 points (about 3% of its total value)! Mexico and Canada announced reciprocal, retaliatory tariffs. GOP leaders and the Big Three Automobile producers voiced their concerns to the White House. Faced with this bad news, Trump caved. On Wednesday he announced a one month “pause” on automobile tariffs with our two neighbors.

I could go on and on, but these lies are enough for now. The next big event is the budget that needs to be approved by Congress and signed into law by Trump. He says he wants a “balanced budget”. He has also promised not to touch Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. This is impossible. Republicans plan on cutting $880 billion from Medicaid which would lead to the closing of hundreds of nursing homes across the country and additional pain for millions of our citizens. Readers, what should we do with all these lies?

The State of the Union address last night and the Republican response: Facts and Fiction

Last night, President Biden gave his State of the Union address. Before (and during?) his speech, Democrats were anxious that the president would make many gaffes, would come across as out of touch, and would appear a bit senile. Nevertheless, he surpassed the expectations of his friends and foes alike. He was coherent, fiery, and passionate. His frequent ad libs were on target. He even joked about his age.

In these addresses, presidents highlight their successes. Biden did this with a long litany of achievements, and his fellow Democrats roared their approval. Most of his affirmations were factually accurate, although some were misleading (example, taxes paid by corporations. See Fact checking Biden’s State of the Union | CNN Politics for the evidence that overwhelmingly confirms (and occasionally challenges) the accuracy of his statements.

Biden also tackled immigration, one of his weakest issues. He advocated for the immigration bill passed by the Senate and waiting for a vote in the House. It is a bipartisan bill, largely written by conservative Republican Senator James Lankford from Oklahoma. What are the facts?

  1. Is it the toughest immigration bill of our generation? Yes.
  2. Did Republicans originally support it? Yes.
  3. Is it supported by the union of Border Patrol officers? Yes.
  4. Did former President Trump communicate with Republican congressional representatives to not vote on the bill?
  5. Is this because immigration is his best campaign issue and not a challenge to be resolved? Yes.
  6. Is calling it a crisis and not voting on it in Congress hypocrisy? Yes.
  7. Let’s have the vote!

The Republican response was delivered by Katie Britt, a Senator from Alabama. It was good to see an elected official from a younger generation. Although she was too dramatic for my taste, I agree with her statement that people are only as good as their word. Is our word honest, accurate, full of integrity? Sadly, her few affirmations did not match the truth. She said, “We have the worst inflation in 40 years” (present tense). That is false. Although inflation rose to 9.1% in June 2022, it is now 3.1%. Instead of criticizing Biden on this issue, she should have given him credit. On the topic of immigration, she conveniently forgot to mention that Trump had promised he would “build the wall and make Mexico pay for it”. Of course, the former president did not keep either promise.

The Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, was sitting behind the President and was in clear view the entire evening. He has been roundly criticized for not applauding enough. Although I strongly disagree with him on some issues (for example, not bringing the Senate foreign aid bill up for a vote in the House), last night he did urge members of his own party to show respect for the office of the presidency. He applauded when he agreed with Biden and respectfully kept quiet when he did not.

We the people have the responsibility to seek and speak “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. Although our political preferences do shape what we see, if we work hard enough, we can overcome our biases, and reach some common ground of truth. For the sake of future generations, let’s seek those truths.