Progressive Woman Responds to SOTU

Last night, I went through a wide range of emotions watching the State of the Union address. I typically enjoy listening to this address, as it provides a high level report card on what the President and Congress have accomplished the previous year. I knew to expect some Republican propaganda, as all State of the Union addresses are heavily influenced by the party of the sitting President. However, something about last night was different causing the up and down of emotions I experienced.

President Trump touched on a wide variety of topics, from taxes to nuclear weapons and immigration to the opioid crisis. Unfortunately the common theme used when talking about the majority of the topics was fear. In his speech, Pres. Trump continuously pitted immigrants against Americans; environmentalists versus the coal industry; and the rich versus those who are less fortunate. Comments such as “Americans are Dreamers too;” “clean coal;” and everything he said about MS-13, though reports show White male Nationalists have killed the most Americans than any other political, ethnic or religious group in recent years, shed light on the fear he is striking in America, but packaging under the “Make America Great Again” theme.

Lastly, the showcasing of the many anomalies with all the guests in the audience he told stories about felt more like reality TV than true appreciation and/or sympathy. The Pres. and his team purposely sought out the most extreme examples and shamelessly used the grief of these families to drive his point home. Why did these families subject themselves to such a spectacle, I will probably never understand.