Recap: The State of the Union Address
“The Great American Comeback”
Welcome to ... America
As President Trump headed for the podium from which he would deliver the 2020 State of the Union address, he received a standing ovation.He began by saying,” Three years ago we shared the great American comeback.” He elaborated by stating the following: “ America’s enemies are on the run. The years of economic decay are over. The days of our country being scorned by other nations are long behind us.”
The President went on to say that the U.S. economy is flourishing, our borders are secure, the economy has been revived, there have been record-setting tax cuts and “fair and reciprocal trade agreements.” He also noted that seven million new jobs have been created, and the unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in over fifty years. He added that the unemployment rates for minorities is the lowest ever, and last year women filled 72% of all the new jobs that had been added. In addition, unemployment rates for disabled people is at an all-time low, and “ a record number of young Americans are now employed.”
Continuing with a focus on the job market, the President noted that many people no longer need to be on food stamps, and 10 million people are no longer on the welfare rolls. He added that the bottom half of wage earners have increased their net worth by 47%, and “the median household income is at the highest level ever recorded.”
Only In America
President Trump punctuated his State of the Union Address with introductions of a compendium of exemplary American citizens, the first of whom was Lony Rankins, from Cincinatti, Ohio. Ms. Rankins is an army veteran and former drug addict who now is working for criminal justice reform. He also recognized an eighth grade student from from Arizona named Ian who is hoping at some point in his life to go into space: “Most people want to look up into space. I want to look down upon the world.” The President went on to honor the young man’s one hundred-year-old great grandfather, Charles McGee, a Tuskegee airman who had flown 130 combat missions during World War II, with a promotion to Brigadier General.
To emphasize his support of school choice, Trump introduced Janiyah Davis, a fourth grade student from Philadelphia, and her mother. Noting that the governor of Pennsylvania had denied school choice, the president assured Janiyah that he had secured an “opportunity scholarship“ for her and assured her, “ You will soon be heading to the school of your choice.”
To back up the fact that he is a supporter of medical advances and is asking Congress for $50 million to go towards neonatal research for America’s younger patients, the President introduced Ellie Schneider, who was born at 21 weeks in 2017. He added that he also supports a bill to ban late-term abortion.
” If you come illegally, you will now be promptly removed from our country.” Reinforcing this statement was the introduction of the brother of a man who had been fatally shot by an illegal immigrant and of Raul Ortiz, Chief of the Border Patrol. Trump stated, “We want to welcome those who follow the rules, support themselves financially, (and) uphold our values.”
Etc.
Focusing on health care, President Trump said,” We will always protect patriots with pre-existing conditions.” Also, he said that he had signed an executive order requiring price transparency for drugs that will go into full effect at the beginning of next year and adamantly proclaimed that ” free government healthcare for illegal aliens” would not become a reality. He assured the country that the opioid epidemic would be conquered and added,“ We will eradicate the AIDS epidemic in America by the end of this decade.” He made an indirect reference to the platform of some of the democratic candidates for President when he said, “ We will never let socialism destroy American healthcare.”
President Trump touched on a variety of issues of national concern, including the contentious issue of gun control. He pledged to “always protect the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.” He also promised to defend religious liberty, including “The Constitutional right to prayer in public schools.” In the area of space exploration, he claimed that the United States will be the first nation to “plants its flag on Mars.”
At one point, President Trump recognized Marsha and Carl Mueller, whose daughter was kept as an ISIS prisoner and eventually murdered, to emphasize his promise to combat “radical Islamic terrorism.” After introducing Kelli and Gage Hake, whose son Chris was killed in Baghdad, Trump noted that Solimei had been killed and added, “ if you attack our citizens, you forfeit your life.”
On a bright note, the president surprised a woman and her two young children when her husband/their father, who had just completed his fourth deployment to Afghanistan, appeared.
President Trump concluded his State of the Union Address with references to many well-known American patriots and then declared, “Our ancestors built the most exceptional republic ever to exist, and we are making it greater than ever before. This nation is our canvas, and this country is our masterpiece.”
*Please note: I have included quite a few direct quotes in this article so it did not appear that I was opinionated in reporting the content of the State of the Union Address. I bear full responsibility for the content of the conclusion to this article, however.
The Current State of Our “Union”
When the Speaker of the House of Representatives can barely contain her disgust during the Predident’s State of the Union Address and at the conclusion makes a spectacle of tearing up her copy of the speech...When the Address is delivered in the midst of an impeachment trial... When both of the major political parties seem to be trying to outdo one another in verbal attacks and polarized voting:
it all seems to make a mockery of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union...“
