The State of Our Union Is Great Again
Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump sought to infuse his maiden Land of the Union address Tuesday with an undercurrent of optimism, issuing a phone call for Democrats and Republicans to look past deep national divisions in order to do good by the American people.
Even equally he worked to span growing national schisms, however, Trump didn't avoid the nighttime warnings about immigrants and nods to populist nationalism that take helped foment disunity over the by year.
Over the course of his fourscore-minute address -- one of the longest-running Land of the Marriage speeches in history -- Trump heralded the economical successes of his offset yr in office, including a soaring stock market and depression unemployment. He trumpeted the large package of tax cuts he signed into law last year and proclaimed that a regulatory rollback has allowed industries to thrive. And he staged several emotional moments with invited guests sitting in the kickoff lady'south box, including the parents of Otto Warmbier, who died after beingness returned to the United States by his North Korean captors.
The evening began with a precedent-breaking motion by Melania Trump: instead of riding to the Capitol with her married man, the starting time lady arrived to the building early to meet privately with her invited guests.
And while Trump offered the traditional assessment of American strength -- "the state of our union is strong because our people are strong" -- Trump did little to admit that his presidency has been incomparably nontraditional. He climbed the dais in the Capitol with one of the lowest approving ratings for whatsoever first-term president. His presidency continues to be overcast past investigations into his campaign'due south ties to Russia.
Trump sought to await past those facts and toward a future marked by unity and inclusion.
"This, in fact, is our new American moment," Trump said in his remarks, which rarely strayed from the prepared text loaded into his teleprompter. "There has never been a meliorate time to kickoff living the American dream."
Tin can optimism last?
The moments of soaring optimism from the President stood in stark contrast to the message he oftentimes delivers on Twitter. It remained an open question how long the applause, which echoed in the House chamber, would linger, given the hard edges surrounding many of his policies.
Simply a month after his commencement address to a joint session of Congress a year ago, Trump accused former President Barack Obama of wiretapping his conversations, a sign that behavior cannot be judged on one speech or i evening alone.
Tuesday'due south spoken language, laced with American stories of triumph and tragedy, did not mask the President'due south priorities or how he views bug like immigration. Even while pledging to extend "an open up paw to work with members of both parties," Trump made articulate his difficult-line on clearing would take precedent over the "bill of love" that he mentioned earlier this calendar month. And he devoted more time to MS-thirteen gang violence than he did to telling the stories of successful immigrants who have thrived in America.
"My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this bedroom, is to defend Americans -- to protect their safety, their families, their communities and their correct to the American Dream," Trump said as he outlined a plan that would allow upwardly to i.eight million undocumented immigrants to remain in the state while funding a edge wall, ending the visa lottery system and reforming family clearing rules.
Only he was booed past Democrats when he used the fraught term "concatenation migration," and he laid bare the nationalist undertones of his policy by declaring "Americans are dreamers, too."
The remarks seemed unlikely to produce understanding between Republicans and Democrats, who volition have to come together in some form to pass an clearing law. He didn't offer a pathway -- or even a caput kickoff -- toward solving the clearing impasse for the "Dreamers," which Democrats have insisted must exist tied to a long-term regime funding bill.
Trump also did not avert oblique references to the divisive topics that have salted his first year in function, including the controversy over football game players kneeling during the National Anthem.
Saluting a 12-year-former guest who spearheaded an effort to place flags on veterans' gravestones, Trump said the student'due south actions reminded all Americans of their "civic duty."
"Preston's reverence for those who accept served our nation reminds u.s.a. why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and why we proudly stand for the National Canticle," he said, to applause from Republican lawmakers in the oversupply.
Highest-profile platform
A president's State of the Union is typically his highest-profile platform of the year, and viewership is generally college in the showtime part of a presidency. Only tv ratings for the speech have steadily fallen over the decades, and Trump has shown a penchant for bypassing traditional communication channels in favor of social media.
If the Land of the Matrimony has assumed a reduced importance, yet, there were no signs the White Firm took it any less seriously. For months, Trump fed handwritten notes with lines for the spoken language to his team of speechwriters, a White House official said.
In his speech, Trump called on lawmakers to approve a $ane.5 trillion infrastructure package and touted his work on health care and in naming a new justice to the US Supreme Court.
Trump spoke most extensively virtually domestic diplomacy, simply did reserve the terminal section of his address for foreign matters. He touted successes in battling back ISIS and again denounced the Islamic republic of iran nuclear bargain. And he warned that North korea could "very shortly" be capable of threatening the U.s.a. homeland with nuclear weapons.
"Past feel has taught us that complacency and concessions only invite assailment and provocation," Trump said of North korea. "I will not repeat the mistakes of the by administrations that got usa into this dangerous position."
Trump skillful delivering the address from the Map Room on Mon, the official said. Trump's predecessors also rehearsed their addresses from a mock podium and teleprompter set up in the White House basement room.
A team of speechwriters and top policy aides helped Trump craft his address, White House officials said. They included National Economical Council director Gary Cohn, national security adviser H.R. McMaster, senior policy adviser Stephen Miller and staff secretary Rob Porter.
Trump first reviewed a typhoon of his State of the Union address in Dec, and has made handwritten edits in recent days with black felt tip pens. In the last several weeks, Trump has workshopped ideas for the speech or edited certain sections while in the residence at night, handing over his changes to staffers the side by side twenty-four hour period.
'United'
Democrats selected Rep. Joe Kennedy III, a grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, to deliver the traditional response to the President'southward speech.
"Bullies may land a dial. They might go out a marker," the lawmaker said before a live audition gathered at a Autumn River, Massachusetts, technical school. "But they take never, non once, in the history of our Usa, managed to match the strength and spirit of a people united in defense of their hereafter."
A number of other responses were besides planned, including past Sen. Bernie Sanders, the contained Vermont senator who ran for President in 2016. A number of Democrats boycotted the speech communication.
Above the House floor, the administration'due south hosted guests in the showtime lady'southward box meant to illustrate policy objectives. This year the roster included a fire fighter who helped battle blazes in California and the parents of teens killed past the MS-xiii gang.
The kickoff lady herself also attended the speech. Ordinarily, Melania Trump'southward presence at the Country of the Spousal relationship would not be notable -- but she hasn't appeared in public with her husband since reports emerged last week that Trump allegedly had an affair with a porn star.
Melania Trump arrived at the Capitol separately from her husband so she could meet 1-on-ane with the invited guests. Presidents and first ladies typically travel to the speech together.
CNN'south Jim Acosta, Kaitlan Collins, and Jeremy Diamond contributed to this study.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/30/politics/state-of-the-union-2018/index.html
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