What the transcripts won’t show
by Tom Sullivan
When President Trump was not applauding his own lines during his State of the Union speech, or suggesting that immigrants, even the children, are murderous criminals, he was taunting Democrats, gesturing like a conductor for them to stand and applaud him. That won’t show up in the transcripts.
The first half of the speech was fairly conventional boilerplate: how well the economy is faring under his administration and the president taking credit for things he did not do.
But his tone and body language stiffened once he began fear-mongering about murderous immigrant and non-immigrant foreigners. The swagger and “Mussolini chin jut” (Dennis Hartley) appeared. Phrases such as “extinguish ISIS from the face of the Earth” and promises to keep open detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay and the thought of meting out punishment drew applause from Republicans. But Trump seemed to enjoy the prospect of sending more ISIS and al-Qa’ida fighters there, going off-script to add, “and in many cases, for them it will now be Guantánamo Bay.”
My mom is an immigrant
My dad is an immigrant
I am an immigrant
My mother's 6 brothers came to America too
It is a deeply interdependent family
All successful
All tax-paying (one is an accountant!)
All proud & contributing Americans
Call it #ChainMigration
Or call it America— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) January 31, 2018
Las Vegas Shooter:
Not an immigrant
Sandy Hook Shooter:
Not an immigrant.
Charleston Church Shooter:
Not an immigrant.
Aurora Movie Theater Shooter:
Not an immigrant.
Texas Church Shooter:
Not an immigrant
Columbine Shooters:
Not immigrants.#SOTU— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) January 31, 2018
Trump was not limiting his list of enemies to terrorists and Latino immigrants, through. Commenting on his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capitol, he called out those countries (128 of them) who voted against the decision in the United Nations General Assembly:
In 2016, American taxpayers generously sent those same countries more than $20 billion in aid.
That is why, tonight, I am asking Congress to pass legislation to help ensure American foreign assistance dollars always serve American interests and only go to friends of America, not enemies of America.
“Not enemies of America” does not seem to be in the as-written speech. Trump last night publicly declared most of the world — and most of NATO — America’s enemies.
Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Illinois issued this jab in response:
Even though I disagreed with almost everything he said, for Trump, the speech was clear and well-delivered. Whoever translated it for him from Russian did a good job.
I am still hopeful, but I don’t see this Congress and this President coming to an agreement that prevents the deportation of the Dreamers. The White House agenda is to gut legal immigration in exchange for allowing some of the Dreamers to live here. For those of us who support legal immigration, and that’s most Democrats and many Republicans, it won’t fly. And the Dreamers themselves have said they do not want legal status if it comes at the expense of others who will suffer more as part of the bargain. The speech did nothing to bring the pro- and anti-immigrant sides closer together.
I was hoping for some sort of apology on Puerto Rico, but I heard nothing. Puerto Rico is a metaphor for how this President sees all Latinos and people of color: he does not see us as his equals and he does not see us as fellow human beings. If you look at how the President has treated Puerto Rico, you have to conclude that he just doesn’t care and probably thinks of Puerto Rico as just another shithole country.
I was born in 1953 in the U.S. when separate but equal was the law of the land. I am proud of the progress the United States has made as a nation on issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, and many other areas where we have advanced. I was hoping to get through my life without having to witness an outwardly, explicitly racist American President, but my luck ran out.
In the official Democratic response, Massachusetts Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III (why not a woman?) offered a speech of values, but clearly defining the divide between Trump’s vision and Democrats’:
It would be easy to dismiss the past year as chaos. Partisanship. Politics.
But it’s far bigger than that. This administration isn’t just targeting the laws that protect us — they are targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection.
For them, dignity isn’t something you’re born with but something you measure.
By your net worth, your celebrity, your headlines, your crowd size.
Not to mention, the gender of your spouse. The country of your birth. The color of your skin. The God of your prayers.
Their record is a rebuke of our highest American ideal: the belief that we are all worthy, we are all equal and we all count. In the eyes of our law and our leaders, our God and our government.
It was a good speech. Uplifting. A speech more Democrats ought to be able to deliver off the cuff instead of falling into policy-speak.
Kennedy’s characterization also had the virtue of being right. Trump and his enablers don’t believe in equality except as a marketing tool. And easy or not, his last year has been chaos. “Chaos is a really useful word for Trump’s first year. Dems’d be good to incorporate it,” tweeted Marcy Wheeler.
They would also be well-served by losing their nostalgia for resurrecting long-gone political dynasties. The party needs not just fresher faces, but fresher ideas.
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