It was a state of the union. It's a nationally televised opportunity for the president to toot his own horn. I'm not really a fan of state of the union addresses, largely because the applause and standing ovations are so blatantly partisan, and they happen so frequently that they are meaningless. If something the President happened to say was really significant, or deserved the attention, it would be missed. I have actually had the privilege of sitting in the gallery for a SOTU speech, and I think I broke into a sweat by the time it was over from all of the up and down.
Trump is a very bland, boring, unremarkable speaker with annoying personal habits like squinting (because he won't wear glasses) and applauding his own remarks. Having to use a teleprompter magnifies these habits. I heard nothing but rambling comments, not surprising since he really has only one legislative accomplishment worthy of questionable note. The conservative fact check website more or less matches the New York Times in their analysis that he didn't lie at the rate that he normally does. But compared to his predecessors, his Pinocchio nose is ten times as long.
https://www.factcheck.org/2018/01/factc ... ate-union/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/30/us/p ... -sotu.htmlAnd just for good measure,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fac ... 8d92c04be8The economic and job growth he touts is actually still more of President Obama's than his, since he hasn't yet been able to pass a budget, or any meaningful economic policy or legislation that affects the current economy. And if he wants to take credit for everything that's happened since he's been in office, job growth and economic growth have slowed somewhat since the last months of the Obama presidency. He didn't alter or touch Obama's standing orders, strategy or military command structure in place for fighting ISIS, and 70% of that job was done before his feet touched the White House.
If you're really one of his fans, you might want to hang on to a video recording of this particular address. Given the way the Mueller investigation is going, I predict that this will be the last time you will see Donald Trump addressing a joint session of Congress.