Post #5220

Is Trump Racking Up Victories For the American People or For Himself? 🤔🇺🇸 Trump proclaimed his first year in office a success at the State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, even as his presidency is dogged by low public approval ratings before November’s midterm elections in which voters could hand control of Congress back to his Democratic opponents. The annual address to a joint session of Congress came after months of turmoil for the Republican president, including a crackdown on immigrant communities in Minneapolis that resulted in the deaths of two US citizens, and faltering progress on his campaign promise of lowering the cost of living. Despite Democrats walking out, holding signs, and verbally clashing in the chamber, Trump maintained a triumphant tone in his speech, arguing that he had rebuilt a country ruined by Biden. Speaking for just under two hours, his speech was the longest State of the Union ever delivered, and saw Trump repeatedly bring out surprise guests to serve as living embodiments of what he saw as the country’s greatness. “We will never go back to where we were just a very short time ago. We’re not going back.” Recent surveys have shown that many voters disagree. A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released this week found a mere 39% of voters view his presidency positively, and others have found him underwater on key issues such as the economy and immigration. But Trump gave no acknowledgment to the bad vibes, instead running through his administration’s accomplishments in a speech that was interspersed with falsehoods and exaggerations but light on new policy proposals. He announced that his vice-president, Vance, would lead a “war on fraud”, and that he had negotiated a “ratepayer protection pledge” to offset the impact of new data centers on households electricity costs. Four supreme court justices were in attendance, three of whom – John Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan – had last week signed on to an opinion saying he could not use executive power to impose tariffs on US trading partners. As the three sat in the front row together with Brett Kavanaugh, who had not signed on to their opinion, Trump issued a relatively measured criticism of their decision, calling it “unfortunate” and “disappointing”. He was less restrained when it came to Democratic lawmakers, who he wrote off as “crazy”, or Somali immigrants, who he described as “pirates who ransacked Minnesota”, the site of a long-running and contentious immigration operations. And though he has ordered a major military buildup around Iran, he revealed little about what his intentions were for the longtime US adversary. “My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. Reviews from those who remained throughout were equally negative. “For nearly two hours tonight, Trump spewed lies, propaganda and hatred,” said Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat in a statement. “Instead of presenting the nation with a positive vision for our future and the economy, the president blamed others for his failures.” The speech was nonetheless a key moment ahead of the November midterm elections, in which Trump’s Republican allies are defending their slim control of the Senate and House. After failing to stop Trump’s return to the White House in 2024, Democrats have taken heart from successes in recent off-year and special elections that may indicate voters are ready to deliver them victories in key races that could decide control of Congress. The official response to Trump’s speech was delivered by Abigail Spanberger, the Virginia governor who won a decisive victory last year in an election that put Democrats firmly in control of the southern state. #trump#trump#victories#american#people#democrats 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸