Opinion: Trump’s State of the Union Address Falls Short
Photo in public domain by Shealah Craighead, official White House photographer
Donald Trump giving his first State of the Union Address.
The first year of the Trump Presidency has passed. In this time-frame, the President has seen his approval rating wane while the Republican-controlled Congress has struggled to agree on any major bills except a tax cut that goes mainly to corporations and the very wealthy. In the wake of this, President Donald J. Trump gave his first State of the Union Address last Tuesday night.
Since Donald Trump took office, it is true that the economy has been booming. Trump claims that he is the reason for this phenomenon, however, the truth is that the economy was already trending upward during Obama Administration. Instead of passing his own agenda, Trump likes to claim the better economic numbers inherited from the Obama Administration for himself, while attempting to completely abolish all of President Obama’s more controversial decisions.
On several occasions in his State of the Union Address, Trump proposed that the two major American political parties should come together. However, his comments and actions throughout this past year do not back up this rhetoric. Donald Trump’s beliefs do not always line up with that of traditional Republicans. What Donald Trump should really be worrying about is aligning himself with his own party before he tries to unite both the parties.
During the Address, Trump also told stories of many courageous acts of heroism. While this was a good aspect of his speech, the President failed to touch upon the average working-class American, with the exception of two small business owners from Ohio. Though the heroic tales were very inspiring, the only stories that I could relate to were the ones about the small business owners.
Another point that President Trump made last Tuesday night was that we should get all the countries in the world together to destroy all nuclear weapons. The President takes a step in the right direction here. Just as quickly as he builds himself up, he brings himself back down by claiming that we should construct more nukes until we reach that goal.
Donald Trump also failed to mend racial wounds by continuing his verbal assault on the Mexican government. He chided them for “sending” their criminals across the border, and he claimed that we should build a wall to block out our neighbors to the south. In reality, a southern border wall will tarnish our reputation abroad and cost us billions, if not trillions, of dollars in tax money. Former two-term governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson once said that a bigger wall will only produce deeper tunnels and taller ladders.
Donald Trump’s first State of the Union Address touched upon several positive aspects of his presidency, such as a strong economy and brave Americans. However, the President failed to bring the two parties together and also failed to calm tensions on many important issues, namely the Russia investigation and his hawkish foreign policy. Donald Trump’s first year in office was definitely combative; only time will tell if, in year two, we will see more cooperative governance.
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Chuck Huff of Ada, Oklahoma • Feb 14, 2018 at 11:13 am
I completely disagree with the huge quote that you have on the article about unity between parties and how Trump hasn’t helped that. Pretty recently in the DACA shenanigans Mr. President has tried to compromise on DACA by offering citizenship to 1.8 million Dreamers, if Congress allows the President to have $25 billion towards a border wall. That would be a win for the current Dreamers (that Democrats say they care so much about) and Trump’s whole base during the Presidential Campaign.
Nick Greene • Feb 6, 2018 at 10:06 am
wrong
Kolby Cowher • Feb 6, 2018 at 1:15 pm
“wrong,” he says, that’s it. That’s a good argument there bud.
Nick Greene • Feb 6, 2018 at 1:48 pm
If the president can use it, I can use it
Kolby Cowher • Feb 8, 2018 at 8:06 am
He also said “I would bomb the s*** out of them” and he called many nations plagued with poverty “s***hole countries.”
Nick • Feb 6, 2018 at 2:33 pm
You say that like he’s making a false claim
Caleb Orr • Feb 5, 2018 at 5:54 pm
I also see an issue where you said that the Mexican government was not sending criminals across the border. An article in the New York Times (posted below) shows that the Mexican government publishes manuals on how to “safely enter the United States illegally and live there without being detected.” That’s right, you heard that right – the Mexican government PUBLISHES manuals on how to live as an illegal immigrant. And if those immigrants chose to live here illegally, then they are technically considered criminals.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/06/world/americas/a-mexican-manual-for-illegal-migrants-upsets-some-in-us.html
Not to mention, I would like to let you know that a border wall (estimated) would cost 0.0338 percent of the U.S. Budget, or $18 billion dollars. (Posted below). According to another article, Illegal immigrants already cost the U.S. $134.9 billion dollars, every year! A border wall would save us money in the span of just one year, assuming at least 7 and a half percent of illegals are stopped from coming into the U.S. (Posted Last).
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jan/10/trumps-border-wall-cost-is-00338-percent-of-federa/
https://fairus.org/issue/publications-resources/fiscal-burden-illegal-immigration-united-states-taxpayers
Kolby Cowher • Feb 5, 2018 at 7:42 pm
While that may be true, but they are not directly “sending” their criminals and rapists.
Caleb Orr • Feb 5, 2018 at 5:37 pm
I really don’t see where you are getting at with Trump not being the reason for the booming economy. Posted below, I have an article with projected GDP growth through all of Obama’s presidency and one year of Trump’s. Let me remind you that this factors in inflation and overall confidence in stock markets. This year, Trump nailed the expected GDP growth and every year of Obama’s presidency failed to or exceeded negative GDP growth shown in the 2009 recession. I really don’t think that it is a good idea to say that it is Obama’s inheritance that the economy is booming without facts. Let me remind you that this factors in inflation and overall confidence in stock markets. Trump’s forecast was higher than Obama’s in 2016, but not higher compared to 14′ and 15′. However, I think it is a fair argument that Trump has been working hard to repeal Obama’s policies this year, so more can be expected from him in his next 3 or 7 years.
The 2018 GDP forecast is significantly higher than 2017 as well.
https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/trump-just-did-something-obama-never-could-deliver-on-promised-gdp-growth/
Kolby Cowher • Feb 5, 2018 at 7:47 pm
Not really, if you saw what the economy was like as Bush left office it was atrocious. When Bush entered office, we had a balanced budget, no debt. He left us in terrible debt and Obama had to clean it all up. Same goes for the economy.