Trump delivered a stunner last night to a joint session of Congress. It wasn't the official State of the Union, but it may as well have been. Trump entered the room to chants of USA! USA! Democrats refused to stand, applaud, or do anything other than be recalcitrant irrelevants with no new ideas, no stand-out political talent, and nothing to offer but criticism. "America is back," Trump told the room, as the chants of USA broke out again.
"Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the Golden Age of America. From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country. We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplish in 4 years or 8 years — and we are just getting started." Applause erupted again. His speech clocked in at over 100 minutes, the longest speech a president has given a joint sesh.
"I return to this chamber tonight to report that America's momentum is back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Our confidence is back. And the American Dream is surging - bigger and better than ever before. The American Dream is unstoppable, and our country is on the verge of a comeback the likes of which the world has never witnessed, and perhaps will never witness again. There's never been anything like it," he went on. And he was right. During his last State of the Union under his first term, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up her copy of his speech. This time, Democrat messaging was not even that unified.
Democrats booed and heckled. They didn't stand up—not even for a young man, DJ Daniel, with brain cancer, or the son of a fallen police officer who just got into West Point with a 4.6 GPA, or for the family of Laken Riley, the Georgia nursing student who was raped and murdered by an asylum-seeking Venezuelan man. In fact, after the speech, MSNBC's Nicole Wallace hoped that DJ Daniel, who wants to grow up to be a police officer, doesn't kill himself like other officers do. It was a disgusting display, to be quite honest, and Rachel Maddow was no better. This all came after a day where over 20 Democrats released the same, exact scripted remarks on social media. They likely meant it to show their unity, but it just made them all look like sheep.
Texas Congressman Al Green was ejected from the chamber after he refused to stop yelling at the president while he was speaking. A bunch of Dem lawmakers held signs in their hands about Trump bad, Elon bad, etc. Rep. Melanie Stansbury held up a sign that said "this is not normal," though it was unclear exactly what she was referring to since Dems think it's "normal" to tell little boys that they are girls and encourage them to grow up to be women. Some spectators walked out while wearing shirts that read "resist" as though they believed it was still 2017.
"They heard my words and they chose not to come," Trump said of the many Democrat Party members who declined to attend, "much easier that way. In comparison, under Joe Biden, the worst president in American history, there were hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings a month, and virtually all of them, including murderers, drug dealers, gang members and people from mental institutions and insane asylums, were released into our country. Who would want to do that?"
Trump knew that there was no pleasing the Democrats. "I look at the Democrats in front of me," he said, "and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud, nothing I can do. I could find a cure to the most devastating disease, a disease that would wipe out entire nations, or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history, or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded. And these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements. They won't do it no matter what. Five times I've been up here. It's very sad, and it just shouldn't be this way."
Yet still, he encouraged them to join him, and the Republicans, in celebrating the achievements of the first few months in office. "So Democrats sitting before me for just this one night, why not join us in celebrating so many incredible wins for America, for the good of our nation, let's work together and let's truly make America great again," Trump said. The Democrats sat, many wearing pink blazers to symbolize something about the women's rights they keep squashing in their upholding of the rights of men who think they are women. One Dem lawmaker had the 14th Amendment written in Sharpie on her blazer—that's the one about birthright citizenship.
They would not. They could not. They sat, intractable, resisting everything from the lower numbers of illegal border crossings to the cutting of government waste, to the policies protecting women's rights. For Democrats, Trump is himself something to be protested. It's not just his policies they don't like—many of which are simply liberal policies circa the 1980s and 1990s—but the man himself. They don't like his tone, his demeanor, the way he talks, socializes, or dances. "Every day," Trump went on, "my administration is fighting to deliver the change America needs, to bring a future that America deserves, and we're doing it. This is a time for big dreams and bold action."
Democrats' version of that "bold action" came on Bluesky, the Dem alt X where they rant and rave about Trump being a bad man. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former MSNBC anchor Joy Ann Reid, and others spouted off about how Trump's speech was "evil," or how Trump was literally "Satan" or a "monster." There was talk about how the speech signified the "dying" of the American "empire." Rep. Jasmine Crockett spoke out to say "this is not America. This is a terrible nightmare. Somebody slap me and wake me the f*ck up."
Despite all their protest and agitation, the Democrats' response to Trump's speech, delivered by Rep. Elissa Slotkin, was so far from the mark one imagines they have cut out their own eyes lest they have to look upon Trump's countenance once more. Michigan's Slotkin introduced herself, her 20 years in government, and, like Kamala Harris, leaned into her own personal background. She said "America wants change, but there's a responsible way to make change and a reckless way, and we can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country and as a democracy." But she entirely missed that Americans voted for change, and change is what they're getting.
Then Slotkin laid out much of Trump's plan, claiming that it was not his plan but a Democrat plan, which was just bizarre. "Donald Trump's actions suggest that in his heart he doesn't believe we're an exceptional nation," Slotkin said. "He clearly doesn't think we should lead the world. Look, America is not perfect, but I stand with the majority of Americans who believe we are still exceptional, unparalleled, and I would rather have American leadership over Chinese or Russian leadership any day of the week, because for generations, America has offered something better, our security and our prosperity, yes, but our democracy, our very system of government, has been the aspiration of the world, and right now it's at risk." Even in discussing the need for good, union jobs, Slotkin neglected to mention that the United Auto Workers have praised Trump's tariffs for forcing auto makers to bring manufacturing jobs home.
It looks like the Democrats are gearing up for some kind of resistance again, but they have no new ideas, no ready political talent or leadership, and have offered nothing to the American people but the status quo. They can complain that Trump is doing everything all wrong—and, for sure, time will tell—but they had four years to do something right, and instead they wracked up debt, pushed women out of language, sports, and their own spaces, urged parents to sex change their kids, set priorities based on race, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and allowed a flood of people from around the world into the country, facilitating human trafficking, sex trafficking, and child slavery, and then balked when people complained.
It would be better if both American political parties had the same values, if both were working hard on how to achieve shared goals, but our values are so far apart as to be unrecognizable to each other, and the goals each party is interested in achieving are on opposite sides of the horizon line.
