In State of the Union Address, Trump's Attempts at Bipartisanship Fall Flat

By Khushbu Shah


Thanks to the longest-ever partial government shutdown in U.S. History, President Donald J. Trump delivered his second State of the Union address to members of Congress a week later than expected. Earlier this month, the President told reporters the speech would give attention to the theme of bipartisanship, even because the threat of another shutdown deadline looms, and just weeks immediately after one that left more than 800,000 federal personnel without pay for more than calendar month immediately after Congress resisted to support funding Trump’s $5 billion wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.


He stuck to the theme of unity Tuesday night, despite the reception he faced from a sea of Congressional Democrats in the room. “The agenda I plan to lay out this evening isn't a Republican Agenda or a Democrat Agenda. It is the agenda of the American People,” he insisted.


At some points, his agenda was successful — as an example, he acquired applause from both sides of the aisle once discussing criminal justice reform, and the commutation of Alice Johnson’s sentence soon after a visit from Kim Kardashian West to the White Residence last year. Johnson had served more than 20 years of a life sentence soon after being convicted on expenses of conspiracy to possess coke and attempted possession of coke.


"In June, I commuted Alice's sentence,” Trump mentioned. “When I saw Alice's cute family member greet her at the prison gates, hugging and kissing and crying and laughing, I knew I did the correct thing.”


Alice Johnson attends President Trump's second State of the Union address.


And another announcement he made to the room earned extra praise from all in attendance. “We also have more females serving in the Congress than ever before," he mentioned, as a sea of females from the Home cheered one other before the chamber broke out into a chant of “U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” What Trump didn’t say, though, is most of the elected females are Democrats — 89 in all. According to Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post, the “[n]umber of Republican ladies serving in the Home dropped soon following the 2018 election, from 23 to 13."


In most other instances, he visibly failed to inspire any goodwill from the Democrats. As soon as he talked the significance of rejecting “the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution and [embracing] the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the normal good,” a CNN camera panned over to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who remained stoic in her seat, her mouth set in a grim line. It wasn’t the only moment where Trump would stumble, either.


“In just over two years since the election, we have launched a unprecedented economic boom — a boom that has rarely been seen before,” he mentioned in a show of support for the normal man. “We have created 5.3 million new jobs and importantly added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs — something which almost each person mentioned was impossible to do, yet the fact is, we are just getting began. Wages are rising at the fastest pace in decades, and growing for blue collar workers, who I promised to fight for, faster than anyone else. Nearly 5 million Residents of the
U.S. Have been lifted off food stamps.”


Except the Trump Administration’s planned amendment to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) plan would take away food stamp advantages from more than 750,000 people. And 450,000 manufacturing jobs have been added, not 600,000, according to a fact check from NBC News.


He followed this statement shortly soon after by declaring, “The state of our union is strong.” Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t clap.


Unsurprisingly, it was even worse any time whenever he began to discuss the impetus for the shutdown and his failed proposal for billions to fund his border wall.


“As we speak, large, organized caravans are on the march to the United States,” he mentioned. “We have just heard that Mexican cities, categorize in attempt to remove the unlawful immigrants from their communities, are getting trucks and buses to bring them up to our nation in areas where there really is little border protection. I have categorized another 3,750 troops to our Southern Border to create for the tremendous onslaught. This is a moral distribute. The lawless state of our Southern Border is a threat to the safety, security and financial well-being of all Americans.”


Senator Kamala Harris shook her head. Pelosi motioned for the Democrats to quiet down as murmur rose through their side of the chamber.


Vice President Mike Pence, President Donald Trump, and Residence Speaker Nancy Pelosi at Trump's second State of the Union address.


Trump has repeatedly brought up what he has called the “border crisis,” referring to it as a “national emergency,” which he referenced again in his description of the caravans. Though he claimed most people in the room supported him in making a wall, a recently-released Gallup poll revealed most Residents of the United States oppose its construction.


The end of his remarks zigzagged across themes, with unpredictable transitions between NAFTA, healthcare, paid parental leave, and late-term abortions before finally resting on North Korea, Venezuela, and ISIS. Near the end of the address, the President reported a meeting in Vietnam with Kim Jong Un at the end of February to a smattering of stilted, confused clapping from the Republican side of the room.


“If I had not been elected president of the United States,” he mentioned, “we would now, in my advice, be in a major war with North Korea.”


In the end, before the stream-of-consciousness State of the Union concluded, there was one more unifying moment: A handful of people sang “Happy Birthday” for Pittsburgh synagogue shooting survivor Judah Samet.


President Trump — the same man who declared in the aftermath of 2017's "Unite The correct white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that there were "fine people on both sides" — punctuated the celebration with a remark each person in the room could agree with: "They wouldn't do that for me, Judah."