Originally published on February 7th, 2019
Before we get around to Trump’s State of the Union address, I wanted to say a few words about Stacey Abrams’ rebuttal. It was a pleasure actually watching someone give an address that didn’t look like a hostage video. She was warm, engaging and made a compelling case for Democrats going into the most consequential election in more than a generation. It was also quite clear from her demeanor that she not only has a future in the party, for all intents and purposes she represents the fastest growing segment of it.
Now onto the Liar in Chief. Let’s just cut to the chase: it’s easier keeping track of the few truths that emanate from Trump’s mouth than the many lies. In just under two hours, this president outdid even himself. It’s a wonder Nancy Pelosi didn’t keel over from laughter during his speech.
I did my best to list the more egregious offenses, and, surprise, surprise, almost all of them had to do with the border and illegal immigration. But a few had to do with another pet peeve of his: tariffs and trade.
The border city of El Paso, Texas, used to have extremely high rates of violent crime — one of the highest in the country, and considered one of our nation’s most dangerous cities. Now, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of our safest cities.
Between 1993 and 2006, violent crime in El Paso fell 34 percent. In fact, the city had the third lowest violent crime rate prior to the construction of a 57-mile border fence, which was not completed until 2010.
Tens of thousands of innocent Americans are killed by lethal drugs that cross our border and flood into our cities, including meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl.
The lawless state of our southern border is a threat to the safety, security and financial well-being of all Americans. We have a moral duty to create an immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens.
Therefore, we recently imposed tariffs on $250 billion dollars of Chinese goods — and now our Treasury is receiving billions of dollars.
Our new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement — or USMCA — will replace NAFTA and deliver for American workers: bringing back our manufacturing jobs, expanding American agriculture, protecting intellectual property, and ensuring that more cars are proudly stamped with the four beautiful words: Made in the USA.
In just over two years since the election, we have launched an unprecedented economic boom — a boom that has rarely been seen before.
The U.S. economy is growing almost twice as fast today as when I took office, and we are considered far and away the hottest economy anywhere in the world.
If you subtract the 2nd quarter of 2018, the economy has grown pretty much at the same pace as it did under the Obama Administration. Indeed, Trump’s biggest accomplishment appears to be not completely screwing up the recovery that began under Obama. But give him time; I’m sure he’ll get around to it.
If I had not been elected President of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea.
There were a few more beauties in the speech, but I think you get the point. It was a bad night for the truth and an even worse one for this president, who seems to not care in the slightest that he is destroying the very nation he bragged he would make great again and which he also swore an oath to defend.