President Biden delivered his second State of the Union address last night with the usual pomp and circumstance.
The last State of the Union speech, well, kind of left most Americans a little confused as congress waived Ukrainian flags, welcomed the ambassador from Ukraine, and talked mostly about the Russian Ukrainian war with a few tidbits about the United States thrown in here and there.
This year, there he simply patted his administration on the back for all the support he gave to Ukraine, and reaffirmed America’s commitment to peace.
As Biden struggles with much lower approval ratings than even those reported, the realities of a divided congress, and the looming start of the 2024 election campaign what exactly was his approach to bolster support for his administration?
Speaking of a divided congress, Biden actually attacked republican congressional members during his speech.
There was a huge backlash.
Republican representative Green even called Biden a liar, we can’t argue there, while other members simply looked stunned. One can only assume Biden’s math skills are being called into question once again as those numbers just don’t add up.
Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered her response to the speech saying “she doesn’t believe a word the president had to say”. Sanders focused her response on many of the “culture war” issues that have motivated conservatives, and largely bucked the message of unity and bipartisanship the president claimed during the address. She also said quote “the dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy.”
Former president Trump also had something to say.
In his latest campaign commercial launched last night the former president claimed “this is the real State of the Union”, and he also accused Biden of mutilating children and bringing America to the brink of World War three. The fact is trump has no greater hope than Biden of making America great. During his administration the whole country was shut down, he introduced operation warp speed which brought us the vaccines that have harmed many people. We also lost around 20 percent of small businesses in America due to his handling of the pandemic. Our stock markets plummeted and the American people lost millions in retirement savings in IRAs and 401k accounts.
All of this while claiming he was draining the swamp and saving babies, neither of which is true.
In the State of the Union address, Biden also claimed the inflation reduction act is “the most significant investment in climate change” he goes on further to blame inflation on natural disasters, such as wildfires, storms and droughts. Biden also tried to gain some bipartisan support by saying cutting “Medicare and social security” was off the table, and we must support our seniors which garnered support from both sides of the isle. While we are unsure how investing in climate change has anything to do with inflation, apparently that is the new plan. Biden also offered some other areas where there might be hope for bipartisan agreement, such as fighting the opioid epidemic and bolstering mental health care.
But he also leaned hard into a democratic Wishlist.
He proposed an assault weapons ban, the codification of abortion rights, a new tax on billionaires, and labor union protections, none of which has any realistic chance of passage while the gap holds the house majority. Republicans made their dismay vocally obvious at several points. It was a far more aggressive display of dissent than the simple silence the opposition party has traditionally deployed during past State of the Union addresses.
At the end of the address, Biden claimed the state of the union is strong.
He claims the nation is strong because the backbone of this nation is strong. We the people are the backbone of this country. We the people aren’t seeing anything he had to say in our day today life. Climbing prices on food, gas, goods, utility bills and unnatural disasters. Taxes, rents and interest rates on mortgages are going up leaving millions homeless.
The view from the White House most certainly looks different than the one we, the American people see through our eyes.
