Too Little, Too Late in Trump's State of the Union Speech
We saw a low-energy president ducking his own agenda.
I predicted Tuesday night’s State of the Union would run two hours and twenty-one minutes. I was wrong. The President wrapped up at one hour and forty-eight. It still felt like a marathon.
Trump leaned on his guests and the podium like a crutch. By his standards, he was restrained. A barrage of crises has wounded him, and he sees it in the polling — even from his favored pollsters.
Despite some childlike petulance over the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling and the usual ugly rhetoric on immigration, he spent much of the speech on thoroughly poll-tested terrain.
As of late last year, the U.S. was home to well over 5,000 AI-related facilities and counting. A recent Morgan Stanley Wealth Management report found that communities near data centers could see electricity costs rise by as much as 267%. A recent Politico survey found voters were willing to tolerate $5 or $10 monthly increases tied to nearby data centers, but $25 was unacceptable.
Trump announced “ratepayer protection pledges” requiring tech companies to provide for their own energy needs. Several companies are already doing that. Like many of his campaign promises, skepticism is warranted. In fact, another Politico poll earlier this month found Americans are more likely to trust Democrats to reduce energy prices.
Trump also turned to congressional stock trading, another issue well-known in the polling. He berated Nancy Pelosi and Democrats, omitting his own party’s participation in the practice. Well over 80% of Americans say members of Congress should be banned from trading individual stocks. Trump, his family, and much of his administration operate in a haze of conflicts of interest. Banning this particularly ugly form of insider trading is the obvious moral step — which is precisely why congressional Republicans are unlikely to lead on it.
Then came voter ID. Trump delivered his usual tirade about 2020 and alleged Democratic cheating. Pew and Gallup have both found that over 80% of voters support requiring some form of government ID to vote. Trump demanded passage of the SAVE Act. According to the Brennan Center, the legislation could disenfranchise 21 million Americans. It would require voters to present a passport — which many Americans do not have and which is not free — or a birth certificate, which is not always readily accessible, especially for younger voters.
Trump again floated banning private equity firms from purchasing single-family homes. Earlier this month, a National Association of Realtors–backed survey found 52% of voters list housing affordability as a top concern, and 76% of renters and non-homeowners worry they will never be able to buy a home. This comes as the average age of first-time homeownership hits record highs and the share of first-time buyers has dropped sharply.
Each of these poll-tested proposals was buffered by a parade of guests of honor. The effect was unmistakable: a president seeking insulation. All he had to do was avoid landmines, control the weave, and fill the chamber by taking credit for others’ achievements.
Did he move the needle? Barely, if at all. A handful of Americans may have walked away satisfied. I saw a low-energy president ducking his own agenda.
Representative Ilhan Omar shouted during the speech, “You killed American citizens.” And many Americans remember Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, and Ruben Ray Martinez. The state of the union is dire — and will remain so as long as a corrupt, lying president can stand before Congress and deliver bloodless speeches about problems of his own making.
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I was hoping he'd drop dead on live TV. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow.
I don’t know when the maggots will wake up, but he just promises the moon. He did it when he’s running as a candidate and he’s still doing it and then, he does nothing except line his pockets that’s it. It’s the same story every time and yet they still buy his shit.