Fake News in the SOTU

Fox News

Mackenzie Riley, Editor

President Trump spoke to the American public in his State of the Union Address Tuesday, February 5th. The President’s speech featured our political sphere’s normative over exaggeration and a well-planned step towards his bid for reelection next year. Still, the President’s blatant neglect for fact, modesty, nor bipartisanship cannot be ignored.

The President admittedly made it his mission to mark his speech as not an opportunity for the Democrats nor Republicans, but rather an opportunity for the American people, “if only we have the courage together to seize it.” Yes, inspirational, but far from reality. The President was divisive with his inclusion of information and topics, spending the majority of his time addressing the infamous wall and immigration, but still embedding it within talk of cures for cancer and World War II. In a Gallup poll it was reported that 60% of Americans do not support the construction of a border wall and with only 21% of Americans believing immigration is the nation’s top issue. Still, the President put the highlight on immigration, disproportionately speaking on the wall and his plans for the expansion of ICE. There is a crisis at our border and his crisis runs deeper than, “not just a simple concrete wall.” The President cited the Texan city of El Paso as an example for the success of a border wall–El Paseos were not happy. Representative Veronica Escobar Tweeted:

He lies. @POTUS is once again lying and using the #SOTU address to spread falsehoods about  our beloved city of El Paso.

Fact is that El Paso has been one of the safest cities in the nation long before the wall was built in 2008. #WallsDontWork”.

This is not bipartisan spirt and this is not a democratic resolution. Amid vying for applauds on hotbed issues, the President failed to address problems concerning the American people: gun control, foreign intervention, and equality. When the President did attempt to address important topics, his statistics were far off. The President claimed that the United States was the “hottest economy”, but our nation only grew by 3.5% in the most recent economic quarter. The growth of Poland, Lativa, China, India, and even the troubled Greek economy were stronger than this. The American people have a right to know where they stand internationally. In addition, President Trump has raved about the number of manufacturing jobs he has added to the American economy, “600,000”, while relatively close, the U.S. has only added 454,000 manufacturing jobs since January 2017. The Trump administration came into office in an already booming economy and according to economists have had little hand in the expansion of industry and economics.

The President also choose to spend a large amount of his speech references U.S. involvement in WWII and the actions of our heroic veterans. While the actions of such honorable people should be respected, many were confused as to why the president took so much of his time reemphasizing our actions in WWII. President Trump stated that through this war, “(we) have triumphed over communism”. Such a statement completely contradicted a large portion of the president’s speech where he condemns socialism within our own nation and emphasizes the need for less restrictive economic policy. In addition, the president’s comment demonstrates a blatant lack of knowledge for the international community and the communist regimes that still dominate certain nations. This is particularly ironic after the President stated that he respects both the Chinese and North Korean leaders, whom lead communist nations.

Overall, President Trump did what he needed to do to further secure his reelction: he appealed to the masses. While not the precedented purpose of the State of the Union Address President Trump was able to instill a sense of patroitism in Americans, leading Republican audience members to chant U.S.A., earning standing ovations from both sides of the house, and still making himself look good. It may not have been done honestly, but it was a strong strategic move.