SOTU Reactions

[KeithE]

I’ll start out with a positive (a big one, imo) in Trump’s speech last night:

He is absolutely right that we should aim to get out of Afghanistan very soon.

The big negative in my view was the implicit threat (?) that tied much needed bipartisan legislation to ending the investigations. Time will tell if Trump stops bills like universal health care and a robust infrastructure program (both of which he gave voice for last night, sans policy details) as the investigations continue (and they should continue).

I have more to say (some positive, most negative) but

what do ya’ll think.

[Sandy]

The most awkward moment, one that drew strange looks from Republicans and moans from Democrats was the statement about war and political investigations. If you don't want to be investigated, then don't do things that are illegal. Clearly Trump thinks the president is above the law and acts that way. Maybe he needs to be reminded that the Mueller investigation wasn't "political," and the instigators of it were members of his party. As far as I'm concerned, investigate everything from his ***** grabbing sexual assaults on women to his use of campaign and foundation money to bribe women he's assaulted, to his tax evasion, fraud and collusion with the Russians to steal the election.

I would have to agree that withdrawing from Afghanistan and from the Middle East are both positives, though I don't think now is the time to get out of Syria. Neither does Israel and I think they're probably behind some of the pressure on the Senate and the Senate leadership's determination to take back some of its constitutional power over foreign relations. Given that the gallery was full of federal employees who didn't get a paycheck, he didn't say anything about that. But then, he knows full well that there are only three or four of them out of the thousands that were left high and dry who support his border wall or his policy and I'm sure a lot of them would have broken the gallery rules and booed his pants down if he'd said anything. I've noticed the "reduced prescription drug prices" about as much as I've noticed the "tax cut," not having seen the results of either. It's been two years and he hasn't yet come up with anything to replace Obamacare, except to try to gut it or get it repealed, which is why medical care costs are soaring.

He keeps telling big whoppers. The biggest ones were about the southern border. He really angered officials of both parties in El Paso, Texas' fourth largest city, by errantly claiming that El Paso was one of the "most dangerous cities" in the country until the new border barrier was built. El Paso was never among the most dangerous cities, even in Texas. Violent crime in El Paso did drop, but the biggest decline came in the years before the current border barrier was built, and since the barrier went up, the violent crime rate has ticked back up 17%. https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/t ... s-el-paso/ . That goes hand in hand with his continuously false claims about the "lawless southern border." The facts don't bear that out. He brought a couple of victim's family members as a display, but it is still pretty clear that immigrants, even those here illegally, commit far fewer crimes, including violent crime, than Americans do. Border cities, including El Paso, tend to be safer in this regard than most other large cities. And the Border Patrol, in cooperation with local and state law enforcement agencies in the border states, have created major drops in the number of illegal crossings, and have made major strides in seizure of illegal drugs coming through ports of entry and across the border.

His claim that he "launched an unprecedented economic boom" is bogus. The Obama administration added more jobs per month by average than the Trump administration and while economic growth did achieve a 4.2% rate in the early part of 2018, the growth started during Obama's second term. And since the second quarter of 2018, it has dropped to 3.4% in the third quarter and while the fourth quarter numbers aren't out yet, the drops in the stock market and the increases in unemployment may actually take the growth rate down below 1%. He pointed out that the economy added 300,000+ jobs last month, but failed to mention that the unemployment rate went back up above 4% because of layoffs and job losses. GM was a big culprit. Good thing federal employees can't be counted in those totals.

Even if he hadn't colluded with the Russians, paid off porn stars with campaign funds, lied through his teeth, admitted to grabbing and assaulting women, cheated on his taxes and committed fraud, I wouldn't have liked this president and this SOTU is a good outline of why.

[Rvaughn]

I don't have a reaction; I didn't watch or listen. I don't pay attention to the SOTUs of any of the Presidents because I view them as more political stump speechs than the actual state of the union. I noticed Trump put up high approval numbers in polls by CBS and CNN. At least some of this is explained by the fact that more of a President's party usually watch the SOTU than members of the opposition party.

CNN: 76 percent approval and 59 percent “very positive.”
CBS: 76% approve; 24% disapprove
( said "CBS provided approval by party ID: Republicans 97%, Democrats 30% and Independents 82%." I didn't notice if anyone gave this for the CNN poll.)

[William Thornton]

I never watch it. Judging from reactions it looks like he helped himself.

[Haruo]

So when and where is he meeting Mr. Kim this year? Did he say?

[KeithE]

[Haruo]

[KeithE]

[Haruo]

Most of the time people just say Trump, but I like "Mister".