State of the Union Address

The national State of the Union is a yearly address delivered each January by the president of the US to Congress, giving the administration’s view of the state of the nation and plans for legislation, and this year was President Donald Trump’s first address. The event began at 9:00 p.m. on January 30. President Trump’s speech was a long one, the speech was an hour and twenty minutes which ended up being the third longest speech in the last 50 years, the only person who went longer than him was former President Bill Clinton. During the speech, our president addressed topics such as putting America first and employment rates; however, he left a few things unsaid, like the investigation involving him and Russia.

“Over the last year we have made incredible progress and achieve extraordinary success, we have faced problems we expected, and ones we couldn’t have imagined.” This is what Trump said when he spoke about the many things this country has experienced in the last year, which the president believed showed just how truly beautiful America’s soul is, and just how strong we are. He mentioned how strangers shielded each other during the horrible terror attack in Las Vegas on October 1st and mentioned a coast guard officer- Ashley Leopard- who was efficiently searching from helicopters to aid victims during hurricane Harvey and saved more than 40 lives. As well as firefighter David Dahlberg who saved more than 60 children trapped in a summer camp during the tragic wildfires that occurred in California. He mentioned these great people as examples of how America will always pull through anything, together. This was included throughout the first hour of the speech, which addressed how he, and the other republicans and democrats should set aside their differences, to put America – the people they were elected to serve – first. However, when President Trump mentioned bipartisanship, he failed to elaborate exactly how he planned on doing that and was even booed by some Democrats when he claimed they had agreed on an immigration policy.

The president’s speech then moved on to discuss low employment rates in America or lack thereof.  “Since the election, we have created 2.4 million new jobs… After years and years of wage stagnation, we are finally seeing rising wages. Unemployment rates have hit a 45-year low.” The last statement covered both African Americans as well as Hispanics. The president elaborated on the things his administration has accomplished in the last year by including the flourishment of small businesses’, stock market records, 401k, retirement pensions, and college savings. Were all on the list of things the president claims to have accomplished, but of course, he couldn’t forget the main point of his election. “Just as I promised the American people on this podium eleven months ago, we enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history.” He explained how his “massive” tax cuts benefit everyone in America, and mentioned how he doubled the standard deduction rate, and child tax credit as well. “In April, this will be the last time you will ever file under the old and very broken system, and millions of American will have more take-home pay, starting next month, a lot more.” In the tax cut, the President details about how the business tax cuts were reduced from 35% to 21% to benefit American businesses’.

One of the president’s items on the top of his to-do list is to reduce the cost of prescription drugs in America, explaining that other countries pay a lot less than the citizens of this country. “This is why I’ve directed my administration to make fixing the injustice of high drug prices, one of my top priorities for the year, and priced will come down, watch.” President Donald Trump expressed that these soaring prices were unfair, before going on to mention a few other things he deemed unfair, like trade. “America has also finally turned the page on decades of unfair trade deals that sacrificed our prosperity and chipped away at our companies and our jobs… We will work to fix bad trade deals, and they’ll be good ones, they’ll be fair.” This topic dug up the infrastructure and industrial aspects in our country, which prompted Trump to once more, a plea for bipartisanship. “I am asking both parties to come together to give us safe fast reliable and modern infrastructure…tonight I call on Congress to produce a bill that generates at least 1.5 trillion dollars with a new infrastructure investment that our country so desperately needs.”

From that point, he quickly made his way over to immigration, and the policy surrounding it. “Immigration communities will also be helped by policies that focus on the best interest of workers and families.” And spoke about two teenage girls, who were brutally murdered by six illegal immigrants who were a part of a gang called MS-13 (who have all been charged), who Trump said found their way in through loopholes in American law. Trump says he hopes to prevent this kind of sorrow from falling on any other families, and once again called on Congress to come together and close the loopholes that allow criminals to break into our country. “Tonight, I’m extending a hand, to work with members of both parties…to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion, and creed. My duty…is to defend Americans to protect their safety their families their communities and their right to the American dream.”