President Donald Trump will deliver his first State of the Union speech on Tuesday, January 30, 2018, at 9 pm. This won’t be his first address before Congress — he made one last year shortly after his inauguration. But it is the first State of the Union speech from America’s first former reality TV star president.
The State of the Union address feels like a very old American ritual, and it is. It’s mandated by the Constitution, which says the president shall “from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”
Thomas Jefferson delivered the speech only in writing — perhaps because he was a terrible public speaker. Woodrow Wilson put his political science theories on presidential rhetoric into practice by reviving the in-person speech. And Ronald Reagan took advantage of television to show off special guests sitting in the crowd, a custom still in practice.
Now, Trump will continue the tradition, and most likely put his own spin on it.
9 questions about North Korea you were too embarrassed to ask
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un salutes at a parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, on October 10, 2015. Wong Maye-E/APPresident Donald Trump is in Hanoi, Vietnam, for a two-day summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss bringing an end to the North’s nuclear and missile programs. It will be Trump’s greatest chance to show the world that his brand of personal diplomacy toward the North Korean dictator is working.
Or it could be a huge disaster.
Read Article >46 million people watched Trump’s State of the Union address on TV
Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump lied about his inauguration crowd size being the biggest ever. Now he appears to be doing the same with his State of the Union numbers.
Trump on Thursday morning tweeted about his State of the Union viewership, which came in at 45.6 million across 12 networks, according to Nielsen. He said it was the “highest number in history.”
Read Article >Trump is replacing Janet Yellen, the woman responsible for the economy he’s so proud of
Alex Wong/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump spent much of his State of the Union address bragging about the United States economy and the stock market. He should really be thanking Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. Instead, he’s replacing her.
“Since the election, we have created 2.4 million jobs,” Trump said during his first State of the Union address on Tuesday. “Unemployment claims have hit a 45-year low.”
Read Article >The 4 foreign policy issues Trump ignored in the State of the Union
Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump’s 2018 State of the Union address focused mostly on domestic issues, leaving comparatively little time for matters of foreign policy.
When he did talk about the world, Trump mostly covered familiar ground. He boasted about America’s successful military campaign against ISIS. He highlighted his displeasure with the Iran nuclear deal. He outlined the brutality of the North Korean regime. He reaffirmed his desire to further fund the military. And he also discussed his new executive order to keep Guantanamo open, a point he’s raised in the past but never acted on until now.
Read Article >How women’s reproductive rights stalled under Trump
While some of the administration’s efforts have failed or been stopped by federal courts, others are marching ahead — and women’s health advocates are bracing for what might come next. Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesWomen’s bodies are a perennial political battleground in the US. This is the only developed country with no universal health coverage and one of only a few with no guaranteed paid maternity leave. Compared to women in Canada or Europe, it’s harder for Americans to take time off work to see a doctor, or get affordable child care. When I asked maternal health experts why American women have a shockingly high risk of dying in childbirth, I was told their health just isn’t valued here.
Many policies hostile to women’s health predate the Trump administration. But President Trump and the Republican-led Congress have made some remarkable moves to reshape women’s health law and policy, and curtail hard-fought access to reproductive health care and family planning services.
Read Article >This was the scariest part of the State of the Union speech
South Korean army soldiers pass by a signboard showing the distance to North Korea’s capital Pyongyang and to South Korea’s capital Seoul from Imjingang Station in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, on January 4, 2018. Seung-il Ryu/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump’s first State of the Union speech concluded with a powerful story about a North Korean defector who was tortured and starved by that country’s brutal government.
The president described Ji Seong Ho’s suffering in excruciating detail, painting the North Korean government as an enemy of humanity — and of Christianity.
Read Article >Trump’s swipe at NFL protesters got a huge applause at the State of the Union
President Trump during the State of the Union address on Capitol Hill on January 30, 2018. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty ImagesOne of the biggest applause lines of President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address came when he mentioned the importance of standing for the national anthem, a remark that served as a subtle jab at NFL players protesting racial injustice and police brutality.
The remarks on the anthem this evening came when Trump spoke about Preston Sharp, a 12-year-old boy from Redding, California, who organized a campaign to place flags on the graves of some 40,000 veterans after noticing that many veterans’ graves were not marked with flags on Veterans Day. Sharp is a guest of first lady Melania Trump at the State of the Union.
Read Article >Trump took credit for defeating ISIS that he doesn’t deserve
Students at the University of Mosul in Mosul, Iraq, on January 21, 2018. Hemn Baban/Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesIn his State of the Union address, President Trump claimed a very clear policy accomplishment: the military defeat of ISIS.
“Last year, I pledged that we would work with our allies to extinguish ISIS from the face of the earth,” the president said. “One year later, I’m proud to report that the coalition to defeat ISIS has liberated very close to 100 percent of the territory just recently held by these killers in Iraq and in Syria.”
Read Article >Trump tried to take credit for the black unemployment rate’s decline
President Donald Trump cited a statistic he was “very proud of” in his State of the Union speech Tuesday: “African-American unemployment stands at the lowest rate ever recorded,” he proclaimed to roaring applause.
But one group of lawmakers was notably not applauding: the Congressional Black Caucus, a group of roughly 49 African-American representatives and senators, many of whom chose to boycott tonight’s event.
Read Article >4 signs that Trump’s furious efforts to save coal are futile
Photo by George Frey/Getty ImagesThe Trump administration may be internally divided about many things, but it is absolutely united around one goal: supporting the US coal industry. “We have ended the war on American energy -- and we have ended the war on beautiful, clean coal,” President Trump said in his State of the Union address. “We are now an exporter of energy to the world.”
It is a goal the administration has pursued with uncharacteristic focus and discipline. On this policy — maybe only on this policy — there is a consistent message and a consistent plan of action, across departments and agencies.
Read Article >Paul Ryan’s Democratic challenger will be in the audience for the State of the Union
Randy Bryce, the Democratic candidate for Wisconsin’s first congressional district. Tom Williams/CQ Roll CallPaul Ryan’s Democratic challenger, iron worker and union organizer Randy Bryce, has come to Washington, DC, to look the House speaker in the eye.
Bryce, whose campaign announcement video honing in on Ryan’s Obamacare repeal effort went viral last June, will be sitting in the room for President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night. As the guest of Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), Bryce is hoping his attendance in the House gallery, juxtaposed with Ryan’s presence behind Trump, will help amplify his campaign message back home.
Read Article >The Trump campaign showing donor names for the SOTU stream is tone-deaf but inconsequential
President Trump’s reelection campaign has announced that, during its broadcast of Trump’s State of the Union address this week, it will display the names of donors.
“Your name deserves to be displayed during tonight’s speech,” the Trump campaign website reads. “Please make a special State of the Union contribution to have your name broadcast on the Official Donald J. Trump for President livestream.”
Read Article >A GOP congressman just made an empty threat to have DREAMer guests arrested
Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll CallThere are 24 young unauthorized immigrants known as DREAMers who will attend President Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night at the invitation of senators and representatives.
But at least one lawmaker, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), sees them as a threat. On Tuesday afternoon, Gosar tweeted that he had contacted US Capitol Police and US Attorney General Jeff Sessions to ask that they arrest any undocumented immigrants attending Trump’s speech.
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