Lower gas prices, falling mortage rates, rising stocks–all of this is true and worth touting.
The year-over-year inflation rate as of January, based on the Consumer Price Index, is 2.4 percent. Not, as Trump claims, 1.7 percent. The president is likely referencing another price metric — the lowest one his team could find.
This slow opening is a symptom of the State of the Union’s accelerating weaknesses as rhetoric and theater. A gifted orator with a firm, focused sense of coherent message could overcome this. Trump, four months shy of his 80th birthday, cannot.
He is leading with his strongest claim for a “turnaround”: the secure southern border. The problem for him is that with the problem apparently solved, the public doesn’t invest the same importance in the issue that it once did.
“Our nation is back, bigger, better, richer, and stronger than ever before,” the president began.
“This is the golden age of America,” he added of the “turnaround for the ages” he and his administration engineered.
Many prospective midterm voters do not feel like they are experiencing a golden age, and some Republicans have lobbied the president to back off the triumphalist rhetoric. But Trump’s goal tonight is to give Republican base voters something to get excited to vote for.
I’d say $1 million is the over/under for how much money Al Green raises overnight.
Green was just escorted out of the chamber. If my lip-reading skills are on point this evening, a congresswoman just told him he’s an “embarrassment” to this country on his way out. This is an unsurprising stunt from Green, who waved his cane in protest during Trump’s joint address before Congress last year.
Congress is absolutely smitten with the head of the executive branch. They are giddy to receive him. James Madison would be amazed at this and every other modern State of the Union address.
Congressman Al Green is holding up a sign that reads “Black people aren’t apes!” It’s a reference to a Lion King themed video Trump reposted on X earlier this month in which the Obamas were depicted as monkeys. He remains standing in protest as Trump kicks off his speech. A gallery staffer is currently speaking with him, presumably telling him he needs to sit down.
I can already tell this speech is going to interrupted by a truly obnoxious amount of time-wasting applause.