The Anthem and Unity: Takeaways from Trump’s State of the Union address
The US President, Donald Trump trends every day on twitter, but today he is trending for his 80-minute address which was on the script and to discuss a “safe, strong, and proud America,” in his State of the Union address.
The third-longest State of the Union address Tuesday night was a pretty traditional presidential performance. Here are a few key takeaways from the speech:
The national anthem
Throughout the football season, Trump has been bashing away at NFL players who kneeled during the national anthem to protest police violence against black, a theme he reprised during the State of the Union speech.
Colin Kaepernick National Anthem Protest Catches On in NFL | Image: NBC News
President Trump pointed out Preston Sharp – a 12-year-old who has planted flags at the graves of veterans and said:
Young patriots like Preston teach all of us about our civic duty as Americans. Preston’s reverence for those who have served our Nation reminds us 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 anthem.
The line got a huge roar inside the chamber as well as Twitter making it the most tweeted moment of the night.
Elections and its consequences
State of the Union speech gives a clear distillation of how different Trump’s and Obama’s world-views are, making a shut-up call to one who observes the politics of both the leaders quite identical.
Trump’s speech was charged with nationalism and it was pushed more to improve care for veterans, taxes, immigration and American strength. Trump mentioned Mexico only once and health care only once.
Also, he echoed the words of former president Ronald Reagan’s “Peace through strength”, when he said,
“we know that weakness is the surest path to conflict, and unmatched power is the surest means of our defense.”
The Dreamers
American Congress is witnessing another deadline to pass a budget to avoid another government shutdown — this time the money runs out Feb 8, 2018 — and yet Republicans and Democrats are no closer to solving the key sticking point: what to do about the so-called “DREAMers,” immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
Trump grabbed hold of this subject with a line that received applause from his supporters and infuriated Democrats:
My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans — to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream. Because Americans are dreamers too.
Leading with fear
It was an optimistic address about the strength of the United States and its roaring economy, but a large part of the speech was about fear: fear of gangs, fear of criminal immigrants, fear of foreign threats.
Trump mentioned the Central American gang MS-13 a half dozen times in his speech, He invited as guests the parents of two friends who were killed by MS-13 gang members; the parents of Otto Warmbier, the late Ohio student who was arrested in North Korea and returned to the U.S. in a coma from which he never recovered; and an immigration officer who has spent his career “fighting gang violence and getting dangerous criminals off our streets.”
Politically motivated fashion statements
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (C), D-CA, poses with members of Congress wearing black in support of the “metoo” movement in the Rayburn Room of the US Capitol in Washington, DC on January 30, 2018. / Photo credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
The Congress witnesses a high number of politically motivated fashion statements by lawmakers this State of the Union address. Democratic women wore black to symbolize the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment. On the other hand, some Republicans wore red, white and blue to honour the troops.
Some lawmakers were spotted with purple lapel ribbons to represent the opioid epidemic. And Congressional Black Caucus member wore kente cloths to protest Trump’s recently reported disparaging remarks about African countries.
Here is the link to full speech by President Trump
Also read:
The U.S. government Shutdown ends with a deal: The Key Takeaway
