Trump’s Speech to Congress: A Witches’ Brew of Lies and Hatred

President Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress represented another sharp, depressing break with tradition.

The President’s address was the longest ever, clocking in at one hour and 40 minutes. Trump’s remarks were also probably the most vicious diatribe heard in the Senate since the days of Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-WI), who launched the “red scare” persecutions of supposed Communists in government during the 1950s. Like McCarthy, Trump has spewed a web of lies to create a false sense of emergency and danger, which requires immediate, drastic action.

Trump’s speech was a harsh litany of falsehoods and enemies. The President savagely attacked immigrants, transgender Americans, Federal workers, Joe Biden and…the Congressional Democrats in the chamber. The President spoke as though he were attending a MAGA campaign rally, rather than speaking to Congress and the nation.

We all know that Trump is a serial liar. Here’s the danger: Trump is using his false claims to justify policies that are wreaking great damage upon our country. A well-run government makes decisions based on facts, not the ruler’s fantasies.

Dissing Congress

When a President addresses Congress, he usually presents his legislative agenda and asks its members to pass laws that will implement his policies. The President addresses Congress as a co-equal branch of government, at least in theory.

The President also customarily reaches out to the members of the opposition party, in the hope of forging some compromises. In his 2023 State of the Union speech, for example, President Joe Biden cleverly got Congressional Republicans to commit publicly to keeping cuts to Social Security and Medicare off the table in budget negotiations.

Trump took a totally different approach. The President listed, in detail, the “astronomical achievements” he had completed in just six weeks. Trump crowed about how much of his agenda he had already accomplished, while declaring, “We’re just getting started!”

When the President finally mentioned two bills that he wanted---tax cuts and funds for border security--he did not request that Congress pass them. Trump all but ordered the legislators to pass the bills.

Pres. Donald Trump Addressing Congress/photo: Getty Images

Disparaging Biden

Despite Trump’s claim of an historic mandate, he won the popular vote by only 1.5%, one of the narrowest margins since World War II. The Republicans hold very slim majorities in the House and the Senate. A normal President would try to win the backing of at least some Democrats for his agenda.

Instead, this President struck a stridently partisan tone throughout his remarks. From the get-go, Trump repeatedly disparaged former President Biden. He also went out of his way to taunt the Democrats in the chamber. Trump attacked Biden at least eight times, usually on false grounds.

Here are a few examples:

· Biden is “the worst President in our history” (Presidential historians have awarded that title to Trump, by an overwhelming margin).

· “I inherited an economic catastrophe and inflation disaster” caused by Biden’s policies (the US economy outperformed those of all other developed nations during Biden’s administration; his policies had only a minor effect on inflation).

· “I ended Biden’s insane EV mandate” (there is no such mandate, only tax incentives to buy an EV).

And of course, many, many attacks on Biden’s “crazy, dangerous” border policies.

It’s true that Biden was too lax about border security. However, Trump never acknowledged that Biden executed a 180-degree turn last summer, imposing tight controls that reduced illegal border crossings to about the same level as during the first Trump administration. Instead, President Trump claimed that his decision to send troops to the border had caused the sharp drop.

Insulting Democrats

Trump called Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) “Pocahontas”, and he referred dismissively to the former Vice President as “Kamala”. Rubbing it in, Trump chided the Democrats for not celebrating all that he had accomplished so far.

Those “accomplishments” are mostly destructive, such as ending foreign aid, dismantling key government agencies and cutting off scientific research. They are also aimed at reversing Biden’s policies, such as his environmental initiatives, or the “Green New Scam”, as Trump put it.

The President warned the Democrats that if they did not vote for his tax cuts, “nobody will ever vote to put you in office again.” Trump did not appeal for support on the merits; he issued a threat.

In fact, Trump’s tax cuts in 2017 were so unpopular with most voters that Republicans did not mention them at all during the 2018 midterm elections. They ran from the tax cuts, not on them.

The public realized that the tax cuts conferred a huge benefit on the ultra-rich (the top 0.1% of taxpayers) and provided little relief for lower and middle-class Americans. There’s no reason to think that Trump’s next round of tax cuts will be any more popular.

Trump in Wonderland

The President’s remarks had an Orwellian cast, as he flipped reality upside down.

In Trump’s imaginary world:

· Tariffs will bring in “trillions of dollars” and “save the auto industry” (American consumers and companies pay the tariffs; the head of Ford Motor Company has said that the tariffs will “blow a hole” in his industry).

· Canada and Mexico charge the US “very high tariffs” (customs duties are very low among the three countries, pursuant to their trade agreement, which Trump renegotiated in his first term).

· Other countries have flooded the US with criminals and mentally ill people (undocumented immigrants, and immigrants in general, have lower crime rates than native-born Americans).

· “Hundreds of thousands” of Federal employees don’t show up to work (many Federal employees work remotely; the government is understaffed).

· There is “shocking fraud and abuse” in Social Security, which sends money to millions of dead people (less than 1% of payments are mistakes--overpayments to living Americans).

· “The radical left turned law enforcement upside down in major cities…we will restore law and order” (after spiking during Covid, crime levels have fallen in almost all large Democratic-led cities).

None of these statements is true. The last one is particularly ominous. Will Trump send Federal troops into liberal cities to round up undocumented immigrants? To suppress protestors?

Democratic Stunts

Unfortunately, some Democrats were disruptive during the President’s speech. That was not “great television” and reflected poorly upon them.

Republican Representatives such as Joe Wilson (R-SD) and Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) had already breached the rules of decorum, starting years ago. Wilson shouted, “You lie!” at President Barack Obama. MJT called Biden a liar during a State of the Union speech. She wears hats with MAGA slogans during the Presidential address, which is against the rules. Those actions are deplorable.

However, that is no excuse for the behavior of some Democrats during Trump’s speech. Rep. Al Green (D-TX) heckled the President, raising his voice and shaking his cane. After several warnings, Speaker Johnson ordered security officers to remove Green from the chamber. Later, other Democrats shouted at the President and walked out. (Subsequently, House members voted to censure Rep. Green, which was appropriate.)

Several dozen Democrats held paddles that said “Liar” or “False” and held them up when Trump delivered yet another falsehood. That was a somewhat more effective tactic, but still a breach of decorum.

It’s a sad commentary on the current state of our country that Democrats feel free to act that way in Congress…and that they were justified in raising their paddles so often.

The Wall Street Democrat