It's All About The Show

State of the Union speeches have historically been boring. The president says something - and then members of his party stand up and applaud while members of the other party sit resolutely silent. Blah-blah-blah.  I cannot ever remember a president mentioning something bad that he or we (as a country) did. Generally, presidents have kept emotion out of their speeches. Next day, you can be sure that you'll see stories titled: "Fact Checking the President's SOTU Speech."

Well President Trump turned that all upside down, of course. Whether you like him or not, you have to admit that he is a great showman. The SOTU was perhaps his Master Class. You knew...come on, you KNEW that he'd turn it into a campaign speech, right? Because that's exactly what he did. Nancy Pelosi probably tore up those papers after the speech, thinking, "Goddammit, he just got himself reelected, and I had to sit through it. Well this will show him!” Very disrespectful, sweetie, but nothing we didn’t expect from the likes of you.

This was the first State of the Union message I've ever watched that did not bore me to tears. Not because of the content, but because of the show. From that perspective, it was awesome! 

Whether he does or not, Trump gives people the impression that he loves America and loves Americans. This is huge, because people want to believe it. America is the best and strongest country on the planet, agreed? Are we perfect? No. Will we ever be? No. But in spite of our imperfections, the U.S. is still the place where everyone wants to come to pursue "The American Dream." Do you not find it ironic that neither Russia nor Iran, Mexico or even Canada has a problem with keeping illegal aliens out? No! That is a uniquely American problem. 

There are a lot of people like me who disagree with the idea that we should throw open our borders and let anyone in. No! We have immigration policies for a reason; let’s keep them and make immigrants abide by them – as my grandparents had to do. 

There are also a lot of people like me who don’t think that illegal aliens should get free health care and the right to vote. No! If I don’t get it, they don’t get it, period.

And there are a lot of people like me who don’t believe that we have a “gun problem” in America, and that the solution to this phony bullshit issue is confiscation of guns. No! Instead, let’s put some money and effort into figuring out why people are so angry these days and why more and more of us are inclined to use violence as an expression of that outrage. 

What’s my point? It is on those particular issues that President Trump is more closely aligned with my own personal beliefs than any other candidate. People claim that he is a hateful, divisive racist. I don’t see it that way. Very simply, the State of the Union message emphasized our strengths as a nation and as a people. 

It’s too bad that the Democrats could not celebrate the verbalizing of those special qualities that make us who we are.  They showed us who they are.  In the end, it really was all about the show, wasn't it?