Trump delivered his second State of the Union Address on Tuesday, February 5th. Unlike previous presidents, Trump did not acknowledge the Democrats new control of the House and instead, mainly focused on agenda. He bounced around topics, addressing some bipartisan issues but also making vague assurances and continuing to stir fears about the Southern border. He mentioned he was meeting with the North Korean leader and then moved on to border security and reaffirmed his intentions to fund a wall without mentioning the shutdown or the government workers who suffered. Much of the speech felt like he was campaigning for 2020 as he threw around slogans and criticized democrats for hindering progress in many areas. Much of the speech was pro-Israel and focused around national security. In response to the address, Democratic women wore white in memory of the suffragettes and Georgia Democrat, Stacy Abrahams delivered a formidable response, criticizing him for the shut down but not wishing for his failure.
Questions:
1) What do you think Trump should have addressed in the State of the Union?
2) How did Trump's State of the Union differ from previous presidents?
3) Was repeating his previous legislative focuses' a good way to set goals for the year?
4) Should both sides have focused more on unity?
I understand that a president would want to talk about their agenda in the State of the Union address, but I also think that Trump made the wrong choice to not addressing the government shutdown at all. This particular government shutdown had drastic effects on the economy and federal workers, both of which should have been at least mentioned in his speech. Moreover, the things that Trump did not address, the new Democrat control of the House and the shutdown, make him seem less professional and more self centered. As Rojean said, the speech felt more like a campaign effort for 2020 which is not what the State of the Union address is suppose to be about. What I believe was really important for Trump to address is the need for unity in our government. In order to achieve his own goals and work effectively with members of different political parties to avoid another devastating shutdown, Trump has to learn to compromise and be respectful and open towards others.
ReplyDeleteI think there's not much else Trump should have addressed in the State of the Union, I think he stated his policies and objectives, however I do think a greater emphasis on the practicalities of these changes would be better, so that a consistent plan on how to execute government policy would be outlined to the United States and Congress. Trump's state of the Union was quite a bit less future facing, with fewer new issues being mentioned and a greater emphasis on positions (anti-abortion pro Israel etc) instead, as well as focusing on calling out the investigation into his campaign. The state of the union is a time for outlining future goals, not reflecting on past achievements. I don't think a focus on unity in the state of the union would be particularly important, considering that neither side has shown themselves open to actual cooperation, so only paying lip service to the idea would be disingenuous. (A side note, Trump really padded out the kids with cancer angle, I mean jeez, a state of the union has better issues to address than 500 million dollars in spending over 10 years, that's chump change.)
ReplyDeleteI think Trump addressed many of the most pressing issues, but of course he definitely should have at least mentioned the Democratic advance in the House or even notion to the government shutdown. Personally, I would have loved to hear his thoughts on the environment and climate change. With the planet in increasingly poor shape, I find that it is one of the most pressing issue we face, though I do understand it is not on his immediate agenda (although I think it should be). Also, many of the ideas and goals he had discussed were just a repeat of the previous years without much discussion or hope for unity. In the past, presidents use this speaking opportunity to inspire hope in the people and it generally serves as a general reflection. Unfortunately, Trump has decided to use the state of the union to further his campaign efforts. I would have liked to also see either side show more sympathy and understanding for the motives and goals of the other party because that should really be the spirit of politics instead of purposefully forging a partisan divide.
ReplyDeleteIn his 80 minute speech, Trump managed to address many of the current pressing issues, but failed to explicitly mention the government shutdown that delayed the speech in the first place and he failed to acknowledge the advance of the Democrats in the House. In general, his speech was a positive one, but it forced on the audience a lot of slogans and repeated what has happened in the past. This was an opportunity to inform the public about future plans with the country and provide a sense of unity. I do not believe Trump was successful in this sense. In addition, another pressing matter that Trump didn't mention, as Anna stated above, is Climate Change. This should be concerning to the people of this country, and especially to those struggling out in the Mid West. Hopefully they noticed Trump's evasion of this topic and will make their voices heard. He seemed a little hypocritical with the "compromise" portion of the address. I also agree that Trump sounded like he was campaigning for 2020 and gave a sense of division: for after his presentation I felt as though I needed to choose between either him or democrats, and did not feel unity whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anna that Trump did address many pressing issues that seem to be on what he is focusing to accomplish. Trump stayed mostly on the immigration and foregin policies throughout the speech, but I think more about healthcare could have been more useful/beneficial. Trump seemed more focus and prepared for this SOTU than last years, as his demeanor seemed more calm, which could have been to look calm after the chaos of the govt. shutdown. I believe it is really important for Trump to emphasize unity because this nation seems more divided in the recent years, and unity would help to have a better functioning govt.,and the govt. shutdown proves that without unity it causes more trouble.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think that Trump addressed a wide range of issues during his speech, some of the things he addressed did not necessarily imply political unity. Towards the end of his speech, he called for unity and the transcendence of partisan issues. However, he also emphasized his strong stance on border control and abortion, and only little about the government shutdown itself. Although he rigorously stated that he would get the wall built, he did not once mention how he could do this. Fact is that our government was shut down for the longest time in history over this particular issue, yet he continues to believe that building a wall will be feasible for him to accomplish. In my opinion, all his talk about immigration only served to function as a campaign strategy, since he is trying to assure voters once again that he is capable of change. I think that it would have been beneficial for Trump to address the government shutdown in general since it has impacted so many Americans personally, and continues to demonstrates how divided the current political climate is.
ReplyDeleteI think it was very wrong that Trump failed to mention the government shutdown or the majority of Dem's in the House. Trump has a pattern of only mentioning topics that flatter him and make him seem like a put together president. Thousands of American's lives were affected by the shutdown, and for their own president to not acknowledge their sacrifice is disappointing. Moreover, instead of criticizing democrats, Trump should have focused on acknowledging the power the Dem's have now in Congress and find ways to emphasize bipartisanship. I suppose discussing his legislative focus' was good so that everyone understood what is coming, but it simultaneously may have pushed the Democratic Party farther away.
ReplyDeleteAlthough summarizing his goals and previous legislative focuses was a good start, I don't believe he should have focused completely on the same topics he's been discussing throughout his presidency. What has he truly accomplished? What are some new ideas and goals for the future? I believe those are the questions he should have asked himself and answered, in order to display the progress of our country (if any) and to introduce some new and different policy ideas. I do believe both sides should have focused more on unity, and it was especially disappointing to see our Speaker of the House displaying sarcasm sitting right behind him when they both talk about how the other needs to compromise. I loved all the women wearing white, however, I think that displayed an amazing sense of unity that Trump couldn't fail to address. All I could think about was a broken record throughout his entire speech, unfortunately, because all he did was repeat the same things he's been saying since his campaign.
ReplyDeleteI believe he should have addressed the government shutdown, after taking credit for the millions of federal workers that did not get paid during that time. Kayla is right that it is good to keep with the agenda with the many problems in the government and the nation. Usually, this speech is to show the outcome that will occur over this year. Trump using it to promote his presidential campaign in any way is not right because his job as the president is more important than that. When he doesn't even discuss the political change in the government, it proves that he has not stayed focused on the political change around him.
ReplyDeleteSomething that bothered me about Trump's State of the Union address was that his claims weren't consistent. In the beginning of his speech, he talked about national unity, compromise, and reaching across the aisle. However, he proceeded to continue his firm stance on the wall dilemma without a hint of compromise, stating "I will get that wall built." He also used Venezuela to insult socialist-leaning Democrats in the U.S. His half-hearted, contradictory attempts at bringing the parties together were quite frankly, disappointing.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with most people's comments. I thought that most of Trump's points were hypocritical, he would bring up a polarizing topic then not offer concrete solutions as to how Congress can come together to fix them. One of his biggest points was unity and bipartisan cooperation, but his whole speech seemed to separate rather than unite. When he was talking about national defense and North Korea, he basically just said no war will happen because he's "friends" with Kim Jong-Un without recognizing the serious implications of the obvious animosity between North Korea and the US (as well as most of the nations in the world). I just found his speech ridiculous at some points since he stated things without going into detail on his policies. I just hoped that he would've taken this opportunity to actually offer compromises and solutions to the chaos in Congress at this time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with much of the other comments above that said Trump should have addressed the government shutdown, especially since it was the longest government shutdown in history and due to the fact that so many federal employees were struggling financially due to the shutdown. Also, Trump should have mentioned healthcare somewhere in his State of the Union. Instead, he mainly focused on issues involving immigration, abortion, and foreign policy in his speech which are all topics he obviously continues to have strong opinions about. I also found most of Trump’s speech extremely hypocritical. During the beginning of his speech, he emphasized the need for unity and compromise; yet, he is still unwilling to compromise over issues such as the wall along the southern border and other immigration policies. Additionally, he also criticized the Democrats over the various investigations they conducted in the government.
ReplyDeleteI think that Trump should have acknowledged the shutdown because it is the longest in history and had a giant impact on many people in America. There were many people lives that were paused for this issue within the government. I agree with the other comments above that his speech really jumped around to many different topics, and while they were still relevant I think he should have focused on a few more of the major social issues that are happening. I agree with Jessica that he should have addressed more about immigration, abortion, and foreign policy and what he is going to do with it because of his original campaign surrounding those aspects of our country's policy. I think it is ironic and hypocritical that he talks about unity and relations with North Korea when we have so much conflict within our own government.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Trump was justified in addressing his agenda during the state of the union speech. It is how he wants to see the country run, so I don't really blame him for addressing a lot of his ideals during the speech. However, I do find it weird that he didn't address the government shut down. I understand that not addressing it probably brings more positivity and takes others minds off of it, however, it was the longest government shutdown in history and the idea that he skated around it is a bit weird. In addition, I think that Trump should focus more on realistic goals and actually delivering on them. He tends to speak in generalities and it's sometimes hard to really see what his vision is and how much thought he's put into it. He was able to focus a lot on the issues that he sees important, but I feel like he ignored other issues that are just as important. I think that him focusing more on the positive and what he'll do about it will benefit him in the next election, but it doesn't address all issues that needed to be addressed. I think that Trump should have focused more on unity because if we want our country to go anywhere and advance, we need to strive for a more unified government.
ReplyDeleteI am quite appalled at the way President Trump addressed the rise of democratic socialist support in the United States. Mr. Trump reverted to a Red Scare era rhetoric, describing Socialism as if it were a consciously malicious entity bent on the destruction of everything America holds dear. The president clearly wants to rally value-based fundamentalist citizens to his cause, and he has often had success using such tactics. However, Mr. Trumps use of such inflammatory speech only serves to foment the already-heated political situation in the United States, deepening divides between the liberal and conservative voting blocs. The rhetoric used by President Trump in his State of the Union speech does not bode well at all for the political situation in our ideologically-torn country.
ReplyDeleteI believe that President Trump's emphasis on unity and bipartisan support and cooperation is admirable and demonstrates signs of compromise. However, many of his statements regarding immigration and border control seem to contradict his previous notions of unity. His adamant argument for the wall best demonstrates his contradiction. I believe that his bold statements promoting bipartisanship were a superficial attempt to gain popularity, when in reality, his true intentions were to further the passage of legislation he supports.
ReplyDeleteTrump's speech just didn't work. He emphasized his want for unity. Yet, instead of focusing issues that plague both parties (like infrastructure, roads, e.t.c.), he decided to spend almost a fifth of his speech talking about the border and immigration. Furthermore, he used the entire speech almost as a way to belittle the democrats, implying they were socialists and how they were the root cause of a lack of progress. But I think the most insulting part of the speech was the lack of mention about the government shutdown. Despite many US workers not being paid, the fact that he didn't even acknowledge those workers showed that he really doesn't care about them, and that he will sacrifice anything to build the wall.
ReplyDeleteI think the President Trump's call for unity and his emphasis on bipartisan support and cooperation is a step in the right direction. However, other parts of his speech about immigration, border control and his call for a border wall seems to undermine his call for unity, and instead built tensions between the two parties. While he has widely spoken about his large goals, we have not yet seen them be put in action. Furthermore, I find it weird that he did not address the recent government shutout at all, instead focusing most of his attention on immigration.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Trump's original position for unity and bipartisan support was good, however his stance on immigration and his commitment to the border wall definitely undermines that. Trump talked about improving communications with countries such as North Korea, but he also spent time talking about the wall and how immigrants are taking away jobs, pay away from the middle class. As for the government shutdown, Trump missed a crucial opportunity to bring it up. He also focused too much on immigration, rather than other important topics like infrastructure and health care.
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