\nI have watched every State of the Union (SotU) for over 45 years. Over the years, the speech has been widely\nanticipated as the roadmap of government for the next year. Presidents provide their priorities, boast of\ninflated accomplishments, play to supporters watching on TV, and relish in\nplanned accolades by friendly members of Congress in attendance. Most are lengthy, covering many topics,\npausing to recognize guests planted in the viewing balcony, applause lines, and\ntrying to pander to a variety of voters. \nThe Constitution refers to the SotU, but never envisioned its current\nform. It was originally intended in a\nworld without mass media, without instant coverage, and wherein the President\nand Congress did not interact as often or directly as the modern era. The SotU was intended for the President to\nmeet privately with Congress or just send a letter that literally informed\nCongress of the current state of the union. \nIn recent years it became an occasion with pageantry, protocol, and\nhighly political. Most Presidents get a\nbump in the polls after each SotU, but Trump\u2019s won\u2019t last. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nMost anticipated that President Trump would give a more typical speech\nthis year laying out plans for more bipartisanship and cooperation. Everyone knew Trump would focus attention on\nhis plans to build a wall and border crisis. \nAll Presidents offer positive economic news and predictions as a staple\nof the speech. Would Trump discuss\ninfrastructure, viewed by most as a critical need and area of strong\nbipartisanship? Trump offered not a word\nabout an infrastructure plan despite it being a clear path to cooperation with\nCongress and he was ominously silent about the looming government shutdown. These speeches tend to be very long, often exceeding\nan hour. This allows the President to\ninclude a laundry list of topics. Last\nnight, Trump appealed to Republicans, threatened Democrats, covered a range of\ntopics, and as usual kept the fact checkers busy. The speech was a series of contrived phony\napplause lines and ovations. To be fair,\nthis is part of the pageantry we expect from any SotU. Last night was an extreme. Republicans literally stood for every line\nitem in a manufactured display. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nPresident Trump brought up the economy multiple times during the\nspeech. He discussed tax cuts, job\ncreation, rising wages, etc. The U.S. is\nin the 8th<\/sup> year of an economic recovery, not a Trump miracle. Although jobs numbers look good when\nreleased, the reality is grim. As with\nprevious administration, the analytics used in these reports is flawed and\nincomplete. Trump touted manufacturing\njobs, but corporations like GM announced thousands of layoffs. Many companies continue laying off workers\nand even moving their companies out of the country (despite Trump\u2019s promises to\nthe contrary). Corporate tax cuts may\nhave worked if properly drafted to ensure the return of the billions of dollars\nhidden overseas, prevented companies from shifting to foreign countries, or\nbenefitted the workforce. Unfortunately,\nmost corporations used the money for stock buy backs rather than to hire\nadditional workers or raise their pay and benefits. The extremely wealthy got even richer while\nthe rest got nothing. If Trump wants to\ntake credit for an economy that benefits only the top 1%, perhaps top 10%,\nleaving 90% of the country worse off that before, we will discuss that again in\n2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThe country is facing a financial crisis that poses an existential\nthreat to our future, yet Trump never mentioned it despite its importance and\ncentrality to all we do. Our national\ndebt is reaching crippling levels with catastrophic consequences. Forget paying down the huge debt, we are\nbeginning to struggle just to make the interest payments. These payments continue to rise exponentially\neach month as does the debt. We continue\nto borrow more money just to fund the debt. \nThese interest payments are becoming the largest budget expenditure,\nsoon to exceed all defense spending, which has been the largest budget item;\nthreatening our ability to spend money on anything else no matter how important. Calamity ensues when we can\u2019t even make the interest\npayments let alone reduce the mountainous debt. \nAs we rapidly approach this point, the economy will tank and we will\nfall into another depression, causing national and international crises. Everything and everyone will be in\njeopardy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nNevertheless, Trump, the king of bankruptcy, has generated record annual\nbudget deficits over 1 TRILLION dollars per year. That new debt adds to the existing debt that\nis already over 20 trillion dollars. We\nare losing our country and both parties must act quickly. Politicians love to campaign on lowering\ntaxes. It often sells well to the\npublic. The Bush tax cuts were cowardly\nin the face of 9-11, going into huge debt to fund two wars rather than postpone\nthe tax cuts to pay for them. In the\nface of massive deficits, uncontrollable spending, and perilous national debt,\nTrump and the Republicans passed additional tax cuts. These went primarily to the upper echelons of\nwealth who had little real need for tax cuts. \nIt was unconscionable to give them tax cuts, adding significantly to the\ndebt, and further hurting the lower echelons who needed the money and did not\nbenefit from the economic gains of the passed several years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \n Income inequality is not a\nsocialist contrivance. It is the reality\nof today\u2019s economy. The data clearly demonstrates\nthat the rich are becoming increasingly richer while the rest are losing. Health care costs rise while quality care\ndeclines. Wages do not keep pace with\ncosts. Entitlements, which people have\nearned by paying into them for decades, face a perilous future. The top 1% owns over half of the world\u2019s\nwealth. The top 1% owns more wealth than\nthe entire bottom 90% combined. People\nhave the right to benefit from their own innovation and hard work. However, they must recognize they do so while\navailing themselves of the protections and services of society. In order to sustain our system, it is\nimperative to stop giving tax cuts to the extremely wealthy while cutting services\nto the 90% of people who rely upon them. \nThey can enjoy immense wealth but still give back to the society that\nsupported them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nTrump said the U.S. will never be a Socialist country. He is confused between Socialism and Communism. Things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid,\netc., are socialistic protections that we would protect at all costs. However, Democrats must be careful about the\nrising influence of Democratic Socialism and how that impacts their critical 50\nstate strategy and imperatives to win back the Senate and White House. They need to communicate clearly to the American\npeople, so people understand the truth, not Trump smears. This issue is for another time. However, Trump needs to address how he will\nprotect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to ensure their vitality and durability\nso that Americans never doubt they will receive the benefits they earned. Trump did mention health care, vowing to\nreduce costs and cover preexisting conditions. \nHe falsely claimed that the cost of prescription drugs has fallen when\nthe truth is that these costs continue to skyrocket. In any case, if Trump was serious about\nhealth care, he could end the cycle of Republican attempts to eliminate the\nAffordable Care Act and focus more on how to improve the system to fully\nachieve its intended goals of proper coverage for all Americans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nAs part of his economic comments, Trump discussed the rollback of\nregulations. The U.S. certainly had a\ncomplex system of layers of regulations that challenged efficiency. However, the Trump Administration went far\nbeyond the elimination of excessive regulations and took away our ability to properly\nregulate and protect the environment. He\nrendered the EPA and Interior Department completely ineffective by appointing\nthe worst polluters to leadership roles and removing any ability they had to\nprotect our national parks or to ensure clean air, water, and soil for our\npeople and our health. We have the\ntechnology and public support, but the Trumpist Republican party prefers to get\nin bed with polluters and those who deny truth. \nIt is clear Trump has no true confidence or belief in his position when\nhe resorts to banning even the use of the term climate change or any discussion\nof the theory. There may be more than\none response, but to deny conversation and analysis of the key theory is\ndespicable and cowardly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nClimate change consequences are real and costly. We are forced to endure increasing, strengthening\nstorms with expensive government bailouts. \nRising sea levels, declining marine life, catastrophic droughts and\nfamines, and other increasing consequences of inaction threaten the world. The U.S. must be part of the effort to\naddress these issues in a sensible, productive manner. Trump proudly stated our fossil fuel\nstatistics and energy independence but failed to mention clean energy or\nsustainability. First and foremost,\nsustainability and clean energy are huge job creators. Good jobs. \nWe should all be excited about that. \nThis is also a necessary component of proper environmental stewardship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \n As expected, Trump focused\nheavily on the issue of immigration and border security. Unfortunately, he conflated the very real\nhumanitarian crisis with his phony national security crisis to try and justify\nhis giant concrete wall from coast to coast. \nHis justification for the wall was a despicable series of absolute\nlies. Trump spoke of caravans traveling to\nthe border. He described them as\nmarauders intending to illegally enter the country to rape, pillage, and murder\nAmerican citizens. This is not\ntrue. These are exhausted, desperate\npeople who intend to apply for asylum at points of entry. The vast majority are families with young\nchildren, not gang members. They may not\nall ultimately qualify or be approved, but they have the right to apply and be\ntreated humanely in the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThis was a major campaign issue playing to his extremist base. Although he repeatedly said Mexico was going\nto pay for it, he now threatens a second government shutdown to force Congress\nto build his wall. It is true that\nDemocrats have previously supported a wall as part of border security, but neither\nparty has ever previously supported Trump\u2019s idea of a giant concrete wall from\ncoast to coast. Republican leaders\nvoiced opposition to this for the past two years when they controlled Congress. There are areas of the border where various\nforms of fencing are necessary for various reasons and Democrats need to\ncontinue to support it. This is\napproximately 250 miles not 3,000 miles. \nThis is part of an overall comprehensive border protection strategy\ninvolving barriers, technology, equipment, personnel, etc. Most of border security should center on\nports of entry, focusing on detection of smuggling and processing individuals\nseeking entry. Currently, the points of\nentry are woefully inadequately resourced and that is the real crisis. We need additional agents and judges. The U.S. must cease the inhumane practice of\nputting people in cages and separating children from parents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThe Customs and Border Patrol has had over 3,000 vacancies that\ndesperately need to be filled. Immigration\nhas been steadily trending down for years and is at a 50-year low. Data shows that those here illegally commit crimes\nat a much lower rate than citizens. \nTrump\u2019s horror stories of immigrants committing heinous crimes are a\ngross misrepresentation of the facts. Of\ncourse, there are some such cases, but the numbers do not back his rhetoric of\nfear and hate. Additionally, the\noverwhelming number of those here illegally came in properly through ports of\nentry and stayed past their authorization. \nIn the weeks before the 2018 Midterms, Trump abused his authority as\nCommander-in-Chief, not to mention abusing military personnel and their\nfamilies, by sending almost 6,000 troops to the border for a phony, contrived\ncampaign stunt that separated them over the holidays. Now he proposes to send more troops in another\nstunt designed to provide phony support for his politics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nTrump\u2019s campaign promise was for a huge concrete wall from coast to\ncoast. Speaker Pelosi and Democrats rightfully\nrefuse to agree to funding for this. \nHowever, the real issue is border security. No member of Congress is for open\nborders. Certainly, neither party\nespouses something so foolish. The real\nfailure is that of Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform to fix our\nincredibly outdated system. Speaker Ryan\nand Leader McConnell have prevented bipartisan bills from coming up for a vote,\nknowing the bills would pass with bipartisan support, but were opposed by the minority\nof extremists in their party. If Congress\nand the President are doing their job, we will see the Omnibus Immigration and\nBorder Security Act of 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nTrump boldly asserted that if he had not been elected President, the U.S.\nwould be at war right now with North Korea. \nHe is partially right. Trump is\nthe best thing that could have happened \u2013 for North Korea. His first meeting with Kim Jong Un was a\ncomplete disgrace and now there is a second planned later this month in Vietnam. Looks like Trump will finally get to go to\nVietnam\u2026 People have a right to be\nconcerned. The first meeting saw Trump\nimmediately make concessions to Kim while getting nothing in return. His very meeting with Kim gave Kim a huge\nvictory. Then he cancelled all\nU.S.\/South Korea military exercises, another huge win for Kim. U.S. and South Korean military leaders have\nlong since believed these annual exercises to be vital to our defense and\ncooperation. Having personally participated\nin multiple such exercises I can attest to their success. Kim has continued his reign of terror against\nhis own people as well as his ongoing nuclearization efforts, to include missiles\nthat could strike the U.S. There should\nbe no further meetings until and unless Kim halts all such programs and allows\nverification. Instead, Trump claims he\nand Kim, a brutal dictator that starves, oppresses, and murders his own people,\nfell in love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nTrump\u2019s Syria policy is another example of the danger of a willfully\nuninformed and unqualified President. After\na secret phone call with Turkish leader Erdogan, another autocratic leader, Trump\nabruptly announced an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Syria. He proudly declared he had defeated ISIS. ISIS is not defeated. They have over 30,000 fighters dedicated to\nthe Caliphate and the subjugation and oppression of people that ensues. An abrupt U.S. withdrawal cedes Syria to\nRussia, Trump\u2019s real intent in this move, giving Putin a huge victory in a\nlong-sought goal. Trump\u2019s action also acquiesced\nto Turkey\u2019s plans to slaughter the Syrian Kurds (and likely the Iraqi Kurds), who\nhave been critical, steadfast allies of ours in multiple conflicts in Iraq and\nSyria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nTrump has also failed to comprehend the situation with Iran. Prior to the multi-party agreement being\nsigned, there was understandable skepticism and opposition because the\nagreement failed to address Iran\u2019s support for international terrorism and\nregional interference and focused solely on Iran\u2019s nuclear development. However, once enacted, the U.S. complied by returning\nseized Iranian assets as required by international law, so that can\u2019t be\nundone. Additionally, the evidence showed,\nand Trump\u2019s own intelligence advisors confirmed, that Iran was complying. Trump rightfully criticizes Iran and warns of\nIranian actions, but this has no connection to the agreement. He was wrong to unilaterally withdraw the\nU.S. because it did nothing to improve the situation. All his military and intelligence advisors were\nright, he was wrong again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nPresident Trump must cease his willful ignorance, refusal to read, and\nrejection of briefings by his staff, especially on defense, intelligence, and\nnational security matters. These are\ncrucial, potentially dangerous issues facing the country and if Trump continues\nto ignore facts and evaluate policy, he is completely unfit to be President. Instead, he engages in secret phone calls\nwith adversaries and clandestine discussions with cronies, all to the detriment\nof our national security interests. The people\nhave always had a right to know the President\u2019s schedule, but Trump conceals\neven the existence of his meetings, let alone the subjects discussed. This is not the transparency he promised the\nAmerican people. Instead, these dedicated\ncareer professionals and his own political appointees are told not to give him\nthe truth when it contradicts his fanciful, unrealistic vision. If they do not comply, he treats them to\njuvenile tantrums for their efforts to professional and competently advise\nhim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump repeated his controversial announcement\nthat he was withdrawing the U.S. from the INF Treaty with Russia. Putin has wanted to end this treaty for quite\nsome time mostly concerning the threat from Chinese missiles along their extensive\nborder, so Trump was again serving his Russia master. More importantly, Trump seemed to relish in a\nrenewed nuclear arms race. He fails to\nunderstand the substantial threat that poses to our security and the unbearable\nincrease in our debt to develop and produce a new series of missiles. The status quo, while imperfect, served us\nbetter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nPossibly the most controversial and jaw-dropping moment was Trump\u2019s\novert threat to Democrats not to investigate his administration or all\nlegislation and progress would come to a halt. \nLet us not forget the absurd House investigation of Hilary Clinton and\nBenghazi that they intentionally dragged on endlessly for the admittedly sole purpose\nof discrediting Clinton and preventing her from winning the Presidency. For two years of total Republican control,\nthe Trump Administration escaped any semblance of Congressional oversight. This is an important duty required by the\nConstitution and necessary as a check on power. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nAn administration not fraught with corruption, engaging in criminal\nactivity, or acting against the interests of the country has nothing to worry\nabout from oversight. Clearly Trump is\nterrified and that speaks volumes. For\ntwo years, the so-called Freedom Caucus, more aptly referred to as the Russia\nCaucus, strove to cover up Russia\u2019s interference in our election and impropriety\nwithin the Trump campaign and administration. \nTrump and his coverup team in the House have waged a misinformation\ncampaign to discredit and interfere with the Mueller Investigation. Democrats, and any responsible legislators,\nhave a responsibility to reverse the damage done and perform this function\nproperly, fairly, and professionally. In\nany case, Trump\u2019s Nixonian threats were entirely improper and display insight\ninto the dark corners of his administration. \n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nNoticeably missing from the speech was any mention of the ongoing\nscourge of gun violence plaguing our nation. \nEach year approximately 40,000 people die from gun violence. We see mass shootings in schools taking\ninnocent lives in what should be safe places. \nWe can enact gun safety measures to protect society without infringing\non the rights of lawful gun owners. Gun\nsafety and lawful gun ownership are not mutually exclusive, but rather can and\nshould be harmonious. Rather than protect\nour children, President Trump tightly aligns himself with the NRA\u2019s extremist\nrhetoric and agenda. It appears no\nmatter how many mass shootings take innocent lives across the country, Trump and\nhis allies simply do not care. Reasonable\ngun safety legislation could pass both houses, but Leader McConnell will not\nallow a vote in the Senate. Trump and\nMcConnell apparently care about a handful of individuals they claim were\nmurdered by illegal immigrants but care not at all about the innocent children\nslaughtered in schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThe President called for an end to the politics of retribution and\nresistance. This is the ultimate\nirony. Trump has engaged in\nreprehensible conduct with his Tweet storms and relentless, nasty, often\nbaseless attacks on so many people. Trump\nhas continually denigrated the institutions of our government and the dedicated\nprofessionals therein. He obstructed\njustice almost daily with ridiculous attacks on the Special Counsel Mueller\nInvestigation, the FBI, members of Congress, et al. His administration has been the most dangerously\ncorrupt in history. They improperly spent\nvast sums of money and ignored significant financial and business conflicts of\ninterest. The swamp is larger and\nstinkier than ever before. Instead of\nwanting to safeguard the nation from an attack on our democracy, Trump\nendeavored to cover up serious wrongdoing. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nMr. President, white supremacists, Nazis, Klansmen, and other who preach\nhate and violence are not good people. \nThey are evil incarnate. I do not\nlike the concept of an official resistance to elected leadership. However, when a leader appears to engage in\ncriminal activity, unprecedented corruption within the administration, extreme\nsecrecy concerning engagement with our adversaries and enemies, and dangerous policies\nthat hurt the safety, security, people\u2019s well-being, and future of the nation. It is the responsibility of other leaders and\nthe people they serve to stand up and be heard. Trump is the one who initiated a scorched\nearth approach to governance, and he must be the one to lead any effort to stop\nit. He needs to renounce the hate and\ndivision he has sown. Most of all, he\nmust end the campaign of daily dishonesty. \nTrump has taking lying to a disgusting new low, even for\npoliticians. If he does not want to be\nchallenged on everything, he must earn trust by being more honest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \nThe state of the union is disingenuous and divided. The President has a responsibility to lead\nand unite. Trump has utterly failed in\nhis most sacred duties and thus far has shown no interest in doing the\njob. He needs to read and learn the\nmaterial. He needs to make policy\ndecisions that are in the interests of the country, not his personal\ninterests. Hopefully the Mueller\nInvestigation will uncover the truth about the 2016 campaign, Russian\ninterference, and exactly the nature of Trump\u2019s subjugation to Putin. For now, we need both the Republican and\nDemocratic parties to begin the process to nominate a successor to Trump. The country deserves a choice between\nqualified, competent candidates that understand the complex world, the range of\nU.S. policies, will act in the best interests of the country, and who is\nwilling to lead. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have watched every State of the Union (SotU) for over 45 years. 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