I’m a big fan of President Trump. I love his attitude, I love his demeanor, I love the fact that he’s a billionaire that eats steak well done with ketchup and lives off of McDonald’s and that there are WWE clips of him. He’s the gift that never stops giving. He’s hilarious, he’s absurd, he’s my President. But he isn’t always right. I’ve criticized him time and time again, because Im honest with myself and I’m honest on my blog. I know that he makes mistakes, and I’m happy to admit them and discuss them.
But last night wasn’t one of them.
That was one of the best State of the Union speeches I’ve ever seen in my life. Granted, I only recently started watching them. I think I watched Obama’s last 2, Trump’s first and I skipped the last one because I was just politicked out for the day and opted for wine, a bath, and silence instead. But last night blew everything I’d seen out of the water. It was phenomenal.
I’m sure there are parts of the speech that Democrats found incendiary — and I honestly understand where they’re coming from even if I don’t agree with them.
Many Democrats thought it was unpresidential of Trump to snub Pelosi’s handshake. I can see how they’d take issue with Rush Limbaugh of all people being awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I’m sure many were enraged by his rhetoric on immigration even though he was right.
But it was still an amazing speech. Granted, a lot of people feel strongly one way or the other about the President — and those people were probably more likely to tune in last night than the rest of the population. But there are people out there that don’t think he’s literally Hitler or the second coming or Christ. And I think those people came away feeling like the best really was yet to come.
I went to Twitter after the fact looking for hot takes from the other side, and none of the criticism I saw really struck me as a strong point that would discount the overwhelming success of his speech in a significant way. If I’m being frank, a lot of what I read and saw seemed like desperate attempts to spin a State of the Union that the Democrats knew he knocked out of the park. There was just too much red meat, and too many actual accomplishments in the speech to ignore or manipulate.
A lot of pundits and “public figures” said it seemed more like a Trump rally than a State of the Union, and I’ll give them that — but also, like, if we’re trying to look at things from an unbiased perspective I think it’s hard to say that that hurts him with a straight face. Think about the production of a Trump rally. Think about the amount of people that show up to a Trump rally. Think about the ENERGY of a Trump rally. Trump delivered a State of the Union that was so engaging you didn’t have to be a current or former Swamp resident to enjoy it. Pardon my French; one of my goals in 2020 is to stop swearing — but he had a fucking surprise military family reunion and surprised a waitlisted little black girl from Philadelphia with an Opportunity Scholarship so she could go to a better school. Even the CBS anchors after the fact couldn’t help but acknowledge the sheer thrill of his address. I’m honestly surprised he didn’t have Toby Keith break out in Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue for a halftime show.
I think Nancy Pelosi’s stunt proved just how much work the Democrats have left to do. I don’t think it was an act of defiance, or bravery, or taking a “stand.” I think she saw just what kind of fight she had ahead of her in 2020, and threw a tantrum.
I’ll close this out by saying that as impressed as I was with Trump’s State of the Union, and as entertained as I was by the circus in Iowa, I don’t think 2020 is anywhere near in the bag. But the Democrats should know by now that finger pointing at Trump isn’t going to cut it for their voters anymore — and I think Gretchen Whitmer’s response was a testament to that. It was clear that while she took shots at Trump and the Republicans, she was making a conscious effort to highlight their own positives and objectives as opposed to what they’ve been doing: attacking Trump and calling it policy.
what do you think?