Tag: SOTU

The “Trap” Is Sprung!

My summation of the SOTU speech was ma bust….but there were things happening that people should know about…..like the devious trap he set for the Dems during his speech….

A clever turn for Little Donny….

Expect one moment from President Trump’s State of the Union to live on repeatedly in political ads as the midterms near, one that involves the volatile issue of immigration. Coverage:

  • The moment: About an hour into his speech, Trump declared: “One of the great things about the State of the Union is how it gives Americans the chance to see clearly what their representatives really believe. So tonight, I’m inviting every legislator to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle: if you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” Watch it here, via NBC News.
  • Split room: Republicans stood en masse and applauded, while Democrats remained seated. “Isn’t that a shame?” Trump said, referring to the Democrats, per Fox News. “You should be ashamed of yourself for not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
  • The trap: The Washington Post reports that Trump himself came up with the idea to create a viral moment. The story uses the word “trap” to describe his plan, as does a New York Times analysis. “Trump set his trap,” writes Shawn McCreesh. “With one maneuver, Mr. Trump divided the room, asking viewers to see the two camps as he saw them: There were the Good Americans and there were those willing to jeopardize the country’s security.”
  • Going viral: Already, the conservative nonprofit American Sovereignty is out with an ad highlighting the moment, reports Politico. “Remember this when you head to the polls in 2026, 2028, and beyond,” tweeted the Trump War Room, along with video. Stephen Miller and Vice President JD Vance also were trumpeting the moment, as were multiple GOP heavyweights.
  • The bet: Even as polls show Trump underwater on immigration and the economy ranking as voters’ top concern, the president’s camp is certain that immigration still motivates the Republican base. As the Politico analysis puts it, “Republicans are betting President Donald Trump just handed them the lifeline they need to win on immigration again.”
  • Democrats: They remain hopeful that Americans will see the administration’s immigration tactics as too harsh, and were shrugging off the criticism. “Of course we support Americans,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters. “We’re not going to be a prop in Donald Trump’s little show.”

This was a genius move especially with an election looming on the horizon….no matter what the Dems would do it will be used against them in campaigns.

There was NO way for the Dems to come out of that theatrical moment unscathed.

At this point it is Donny 1, Dems 0….Dems need to be more prepared for this type of trick from the master scammer.

Maybe this will get people interested in the SOTU speech…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

SOTU–2026

I know I am a glutton for punishment and I suffered through the almost 2 hour speech…..lots of manure was spread and lots of lies were passed on to the viewing audience.

This is a summation for those that want to know what fresh Hell Donny has in store for the nation.

President Trump started in sales mode, using his State of the Union address to deliver an upbeat vision of the US economy. But that portrayal collides with the sentiment of Americans who remain anxious about their finances and feel they haven’t benefited from Trump’s policies. He took the high road to honor the gold medal-winning US men’s Olympic hockey team and a war hero before pivoting abruptly to a darker tone as he ridiculed Democrats. He focused much of the first hour of his record-setting one-hour, 48-minute speech on the economy, something Republicans had urged him to do as they head into the midterm elections. Here are takeaways from the speech from the AP:

  • Economy: Much of the nation is worried about the direction of the economy, but Trump says the good times are here, insisting repeatedly that rising costs are no longer a problem. “The roaring economy is roaring like never before,” he said. He cheered the lower cost of gasoline, mortgage rates, prescription drug prices and the rising stock market: “Millions and millions of Americans are all gaining.” Such optimism, as so many Americans are feeling economic strains, risks painting Trump as out of touch. Just 39% of US adults approved of Trump’s handling of the economy in February, according to AP-NORC polling.
  • Patriotism: For a president who always seems to be spoiling for a fight, Trump also tried to summon Americans’ innate patriotic impulses. In addition to the hockey team, he singled out war heroes and those who had taken brave stands in other countries, using the moment to bestow numerous presidential medals in an effort to give the address a more positive gloss. It underscored the president’s media savvy and understanding that even if a moment isn’t appreciated completely in real time, it can have an afterlife in the days following speech, especially on social media. Yet in one revealing moment, Trump lamented why he couldn’t give a congressional medal to himself.
  • A negative turn: The Republican president soon took aim at Democrats and blamed them for many of the nation’s ills. Trump said rising health care premiums are “caused by you,” suggested Democrats “are not protecting” Social Security and blamed them for the nation’s affordability crunch. “You caused that problem. You caused that problem,” Trump said as he glared at the Democratic side of the room. He seemed to get angrier as the speech progressed. “These people are crazy, I’m telling you, they’re crazy,” he said. “Democrats are destroying this country.”
  • SCOTUS: By Trump’s standards, he held his tongue when it came to the Supreme Court. After the court struck down his tariff policy last week, Trump said the justices who voted against one of his signature issues were an “embarrassment to their families.” By Tuesday, he simply called the ruling “unfortunate.” Trump sought to treat the ruling with indifference, insisting that tariff revenues were “saving” the US, ignoring the fact that the levies haven’t made a significant dent in government debt. He said the tariffs were paid by foreign countries even as virtually every study concludes that costs have been paid by US firms and consumers.
  • Elections: The president also used the speech to reprise his attack on the integrity of US elections. “Cheating is rampant in our elections,” Trump said. Trump has made such claims for years, focused on his 2020 election loss, claims rejected by dozens of courts and his own attorney general at the time. “They want to cheat. They have cheated, and their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat,” Trump said of Democrats. “And we’re going to stop it. We have to stop it.”
  • Minneapolis: Sometimes what’s not said is as notable as what is. Trump has highlighted immigration since the very first speech in which he announced his 2016 presidential campaign. And on Tuesday night, he revived much of the same language he’s used throughout the past decade, blasting “criminal aliens” and warning of “drug lords, murderers all over our country.” What he didn’t mention: the most aggressive immigration enforcement tactics that threatened to bring the US to the brink earlier this year. He didn’t mention the deaths of two US citizens in Minneapolis last month at the hands of federal agents. And he made no acknowledgement of the broad concerns in the US about Trump’s approach on immigration, as demonstrated by the 60% of US adults who disapproved of his handling of the issue in February, according to AP-NORC polling.
  • Iran: Trump has already built up the largest US military presence in the Middle East in decades. And in his speech, he outlined a rationale for using those forces to launch a major military strike against Iran. The president said that Iran and its proxies have “spread nothing but terrorism, death and hate,” adding that its leaders have killed at least 32,000 protesters in recent weeks. He also warned that the nation has developed missiles that can threaten Europe and is working on missiles “that will soon reach” the US.

For those that watched something more special…..Donny hit all his usual high points….Dems did it (whatever it was), still harping on giving himself the medal of honor, massive voter fraud (none has ever been found), justification for starting another conflict with Iran, according to Donny we live in a ‘golden age’….still looking for where my life is golden.

But if you are interested in a fact check on his rambling speech….

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5716277/trump-state-union-fact-check

Or if you do not like NPR there is another….

https://abcnews.com/Politics/fact-checking-trumps-state-union-address/

All in all it was note worthy…..how?  I is amazing that one person can lie and scam for 2 hours straight.

The Dems had their shot, just not as much time as Little Donny to make their case….

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger offered a sharp contrast to President Trump’s depiction of the nation as being in a “golden age” during his State of the Union, arguing in her Democratic rebuttal that costs remain high for many Americans more than a year into his second term. Her message, that families are still struggling under Trump’s policies, is one Democrats plan to carry nationwide ahead of the midterm elections. Party leaders point to Spanberger’s double-digit victory in Virginia last November as validation of a disciplined, cost-focused campaign they now hope to replicate across the country, the AP reports.

Spanberger was flanked by American flags as she delivered the speech from Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum with restored 18th-century buildings, invoking the site’s role at the heart of Virginia’s early opposition to British rule. Spanberger said she wanted to “plainly and honestly” speak to people watching at home. She structured her speech around a series of direct questions: “Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? Is the president working to keep Americans safe, both at home and abroad? Is the president working for you?”

I think she asked the right questions….but is anyone listening?

Sadly I do not think the Dems hit it out of the park with their speech….but I was not expecting them too bring it home.

All in all a wasted night of TV…..but it was interesting for me for I am a sick political junkie.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Big Night For Donny

Tonight we will be subjected to the off topic rants and accusations of our Dear Leader in his SOTU speech….it will be a contentious one….some Dems will opt out and Donny will be still fuming about the SCOTUS decision on his silly tariffs.

President Trump delivers his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, and he’s tipping his hand on only one aspect of it in advance: “It’s going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about,” he told reporters on Monday, reports the New York Times. Tariffs, inflation, immigration, and Iran are just a few of the topics on the agenda as the midterms loom. One other aspect getting attention: the awkwardness of Supreme Court justices attending days after Trump slammed some of them as “disloyal” and “lap dogs” because of their decision to invalidate his tariffs. For Chief Justice John Roberts in particular, it will be quite a contrast from last year’s first joint session of Congress, which was all “warmth and good vibes,” notes USA Today.

This year, Roberts authored the opinion that has led to days of attacks on the court by the president, and Roberts was joined not only by the court’s liberals, but by two Trump appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett—whom Trump called “an embarrassment to their families.” Asked whether those justices were still welcome at Tuesday’s address, Trump answered they were “barely invited” and said, “I couldn’t care less if they come.” Meanwhile, at least half a dozen Democratic lawmakers plan to skip the speech in favor of an alternate event at the National Mall, reports CNN.

I am sure that Donny will have something to say about the decision for he cannot let anything goo especially if someone has defied him in some way and SCOTUS has done just that.

There is word that some Dems will invite some Epstein survivors to the speech….grandstanding  and some prominent people are calling for average viewers to tune out.

I am a political junkie I cannot not watch the speech and write a summary of what I saw and heard….it should be entertaining…..at least for me.

Stay tuned for I will post my thoughts on the disaster that will be the SOTU speech for 2026.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

SOTU–2019

The president get to give his speech to the two Houses of Congress…and I have watched many of Trump’s speeches….I found them infantile, juvenile rhetoric so I will choose to not subject myself to the ramblings of a immature windbag….instead I shall just post the analysis of others that have a better stomach than me.

Sorry I wish I could do better but after two years I am weary with the antics of a windbag……just how many times will he go off script?

esident Trump’s State of the Union address “showed this president growing in this job,” an approving House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said after Trump’s address to Congress Tuesday night. Democrats, however, said Trump’s second SOTU address followed a now-familiar pattern: Soaring calls for bipartisanship coupled with digs at the Democrats and an unyielding stance on major issues. “We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution—and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good,” he said. Some key takeaways:

  • “Harsh lecture” on immigration. After saying Americans hoped “we would govern not as two parties but one nation,” Trump returned to the divisive issue of border security, delivering what the Wall Street Journal calls a “notably harsh lecture on the evils of illegal immigration.” He did not mention any deal involving legal status for Dreamers and did not, as some had expected, declare a national emergency in order to build a border wall, though he promised: “I will get it built.”
  • Possible areas of compromise. Trump highlighted two areas of possible compromise, calling for renewed efforts to fix “crumbling infrastructure” and to do something about prescription drug prices, the Washington Post reports. “It is unacceptable that Americans pay vastly more than people in other countries for the exact same drugs, often made in the exact same place,” he said. “This is wrong, unfair, and together we can stop it.”
  • An appeal to the base. The president gave his conservative Christian base something to cheer about with a call to limit late-term abortions, the AP reports. “These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world,” he said.
  • No more “endless wars.” Trump spoke of peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan and defended his decision to pull US troops from Syria, the Guardian reports. “As a candidate for president, I pledged a new approach,” he said. “Great nations do not fight endless wars.”
  • 2020 preview. In what the Guardian sees as a preview of 2020 election themes, Trump said Americans were “alarmed” by talk of socialism. “Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country,” he said. He also warned that “ridiculous partisan investigations” could hurt America’s prosperity.
  • Good behavior.There was plenty of sighing and eye-rolling among Democrats during some of Trump’s more controversial remarks, but no heckling, the AP reports. Lawmakers from both parties sang “Happy Birthday” to an 82-year-old man who survived both the Holocaust and last year’s mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue. In another light moment, newly elected female House Democrats, dressed in white to honor suffragettes, stood up and cheered when Trump spoke of having created jobs for women. “You weren’t supposed to do that,” the president said.
  • Democrats were not impressed. Democrats slammed the address as very far from bipartisan, Politico reports. “I heard no unity tonight. Even the issues on which I think there should be a bipartisan basis, taking on the high cost of drugs, doing a significant investment in infrastructure, we heard no details and no plan,” said Oregon’s Sen. Jeff Merkley. “We heard the same empty campaign style rhetoric we’ve heard before.” Hawaii’s Sen. Mazie Horono simply said: “WTF.”
  • Neither was Ann Coulter. Ann Coulter, who has recently stepped up her criticism of Trump, slammed the “Oprah-like” speech in numerous scathing tweets, Mediaite reports.”This was the lamest, sappiest, most intentionally tear-jerking SOTU ever,” she tweeted. “Please fire your speechwriter.” She also slammed Trump for not devoting enough time to the border wall, saying he “had better be breaking ground tomorrow.”

(Read more State of the Union Address stories.)

All in all a good example of how to spread fear….other than that I will take vanilla.

SOTU-2019

As we approach the day that the president would stroll over to the Capital and give his SOTU speech before Congress has been “postponed”…..

You see Pelosi sent a letter to Trump about the SOTU……

On Jan. 3 she formally invited him to deliver the State of the Union address on Jan. 29; just shy of two weeks later, Nancy Pelosi wants it rescheduled until after the shutdown ends—or just delivered in writing. In a letter sent to President Trump, Pelosi cited security concerns, noting that in September Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen designated the address as a “National Special Security Event.” That puts it in a category that demands “weeks of detailed planning with dozens of agencies,” in an effort led by the Secret Service.

Except, she writes, the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security have gone 26 days without funding, creating the “security concerns” fueling her request. Barring an end to the shutdown this week, Pelosi asks that the president work with her “to determine another suitable date” to deliver it or just deliver it in writing, as was the practice during the 19th century and up until the presidency of Woodrow Wilson.

Trump got butt hurt and cancelled a scheduled trip by the Speaker to speak to our soldiers serving overseas…..

…Thursday letter announcing he’d cancelled a military flight meant to carry Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers to Brussels and Afghanistan, President Trump noted that the House Speaker was still free to fly commercial. But on Friday, Pelosi shot back that the White House made that impossible, too. “We had the prerogative to travel commercially, and we made plans to do that until the administration then leaked that we were traveling commercially,” Pelosi said, per the Washington Post. “You never give advance notice of going into a battle area—you just never do it,” she said. The White House, however, denied that it leaked any information about a potential commercial flight and called Pelosi’s accusation a “flat-out lie,” reports the Hill. The president, meanwhile, doubled down on his move to cancel the military flight in a Friday morning tweet

What a juvenile bunch of manure!

Trump has threatened to take his SOTU on the road and give it to his supporters in a campaign-esque setting…..

The last time one of his speeches were televised it was a racist rant about the border and not enough people condemned the MSM for carrying it…

After President Donald Trump exploited the enormous free platform he was needlessly granted by America’s major television networks Tuesday night to deliver an immigration address replete with the same disinformation and dehumanizing rhetoric he has deployed since stepping foot on the campaign trail, critics denounced the corporate media’s continued role in amplifying Trump’s speeches despite knowing they will be full of harmful lies.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/09/corporate-media-condemned-handing-trump-megaphone-spout-racist-stream-lies

Hopefully the MSM will not make that mistake again!

I am a political wonk so I will keep an eye on the SOTU if he indeed takes it on the road……but that would just be another rally and would not hold the prestige of an actual SOTU.

For now the rest of the SOTU story…..

Sources say Trump is currently planning to be at the Capitol on the 29th to give the speech. However, contingency plans (including other venues, possibly even outside Washington) and alternatives (a rally, for instance) are also being considered, and all the details remain unclear at this point. “We are still in a holding pattern,” one senior source says. In fact, ABC’s sources say Trump is preparing two different speeches: One for members of Congress, as originally planned, if the speech is given in DC; the other for a rally audience if the speech is given outside DC. White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said Tuesday during an appearance on Fox that if Pelosi ultimately blocks Trump from delivering the address on the House floor, “there are many ways he can” still deliver it.

Breaking News:  After I wrote this draft post word has come out the Pelosi has won the war of wills…..

Unless lawmakers strike a deal to reopen the government by next Tuesday, President Trump’s second State of the Union address will be the first in history to be delayed by a shutdown. The president was the first to blink in his SOTU standoff with Nancy Pelosi Wednesday, the BBC reports. After the House speaker told Trump that he would not be invited to deliver the address in the House chamber until the shutdown was resolved, he announced late Wednesday that he would postpone the speech. “As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address. I agreed,” Trump tweeted. “She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative – I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over.”

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