Donald Trump’s address to Congress really did highlight the state of the Union, and it isn’t good.
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In many ways, Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress won’t matter at all. Sure, clips of this made-for-social media event will float around the Internet for some time, but the address will soon be overtaken by other crazy stuff the president says and does. What does matter is that it represents a microcosm of where the country stands.
The US is not doing well, and it is ill-equipped to deal with the domestic and international problems of today and tomorrow.
When clear-eyed leadership and a functioning moral compass would be needed to stand up to the likes of China and Russia, the US can provide neither, having traded them for a form of nationalist isolationism that is more often than not an obstacle to tackling major issues like climate change, achieving peace, creating a fair global economy, and helping lift others out of poverty (in part to ward of future conflicts).
And back home, the US is more divided than at any time in the past 150 years… not just among party lines but also between rich and poor.
Corporate greed is getting so out of hand that it threatens all of the good that can come from the kind of functioning capitalism that benefits most Americans and not just a few.
And, the way things are going, it’ll all get worse.
Tuesday night reminded us of how deeply troubling it is that, at a time of grave domestic and international challenges, the United States is run by its most unserious president (and his sidekick, to whom all of this is just some game).
It is also disturbing that he is being cheered on by power-hungry hangers-on who either know that his policies are catastrophic (which is bad) or actually think those policies are great (which is worse).
Finally, it is also disconcerting that, after a decade of this clown show, Democrats have come up with nothing to counter this un-American cult.
All of the above were on full display Tuesday night when the Donald Trump Show hit the Capitol once again… albeit in less dramatic fashion than on January 6.
Everybody played their part: In between the usual lies and boasts, Trump laid out an agenda that puts the US in economic peril and on a path toward war with NATO.
In sum, the proposed policies will do nothing to address the high prices that Americans have been suffering from (and that got him elected in the first place).
If they truly understood what’s coming their way, Trump voters would be extremely worried. Of course, we are only talking about regular folks. To his billionaire backers and the government demolition crew at the Heritage Foundation, the president’s special version of Project 2025 — i.e., all of that right-wing libertarian stuff combined with red, white, and blue-branded fascism — is like a dream come true.
Which brings us to all of those sycophants who heaped praise on Trump and his speech as though he were a visionary statesman and had just delivered a masterpiece instead of a lie-filled rant.
When the president was finally done droning on about how great he was and how great America would be (again), Republicans and right-wing influencers fell all over themselves to proclaim that the address was exceptional, and that, depending on their MAGAness, Trump either was the best president in their lifetimes or in history.
That’s high praise for a guy who just told the country that he would take a NATO territory “one way or another” and who used playground nicknames for Democrats in attendance.
Which brings us to the opposition party. What a hapless bunch.
No member of the anti-Trump resistance movement could be blamed for being discouraged by their sad displays of protest.
There are a million more effective things they could have done other than holding up signs that, according to one commentator, made them “look like they are bidding on fascism at a silent auction.”
One of them would have been to just stay home and hold virtual rallies.
Or they could have caused a real ruckus.
However, by choosing to sit there in silence, the Democrats allowed themselves to become props for Trump… and easy targets for right-wing propagandists who cast them as heartless and unpatriotic for not, for example, clapping for a kid with cancer who became an honorary Secret Service agent.
All of it was classic Trump.
He loves the pomp and circumstance of the office as much as he loves the power that comes with it.
And, as we were reminded when he greeted and thanked Supreme Court justices, that power is now fit for a king.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
