'Never let the facts get in the way of a good story': US expert on Trump's State of the Union
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A President with the lowest approval rating in decades attempted to present an optimistic message that echoed his campaign slogan to ‘Make America Great Again’, in a State of the Union speech that one US politics expert summarised as “never let the facts get in the way of a good story”.
Dr Gorana Grgic from the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney told SBS News that Trump’s advisers would be pleased that the President had mainly stayed with the teleprompter in delivering a lengthy, buoyant account of his first year in office, in which he claimed credit for strong jobs growth and defeating ISIS, and repeatedly clapped himself.
“For instance the way the economy has been going is merely continuing the positive recovery trend that was there under Obama, there was larger job growth under Obama than the past year in terms of absolute number of added jobs,” Dr Grgic said.
“Another example would be defeating ISIS, this is a policy inherited from Obama.”
Conservative Fox News commentator Juan Williams told the network there was no meaningful attempt to reach out to the Democrats or to a deeply divided America.
“He took credit for everything… He was going tonight to come right into this and offer some healing and some positive reinforcement. I think he gave Democrats every reason to sit on their hands and walk out early,” Mr Williams said.
What we saw from the President tonight was more propaganda, demagoguery, and bluster.
What we needed was leadership, character, and courage. #SOTU
— Sen. Cory Booker (@SenBooker) January 31, 2018
Dr Grgic said the President sought throughout the speech to frame issues in a way that suited the administration’s agenda, such as linking violent crime with illegal immigration by inviting the family members of murder victims killed by “alien minors”.
An international audience seeking reassurance of US re-engagement with the world might be disappointed.
The President said he would take executive action to reopen Guantanamo Bay, and repeated his threat to cut US aid to countries that did not vote with the US in the United Nations, but Dr Grgic said such a threat would require Congress to act, which was unlikely.
“This is something the senators especially in foreign affairs are cautious about because they know how valuable alliances are. I would be surprised if we see any further shifts on that front. It’s a rhetorical tool, something he can tell his base that he’s doing to save America’s face. It is strictly for political purposes.”
Dr Grgic said there was one notable omission from the speech: despite praising the courage of Americans and first responders impacted by the California wildfires, the Houston floods and the Puerto Rican hurricane, Mr Trump made no mention of climate change.
Instead he said the administration had brought back “beautiful clean coal” and made the US “an energy exporter again”.
However, Trump supporters were buoyed by the speech. Fox News presenter Sean Hannity called it an “amazing, inspirational speech.”
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