President Donald Trump’s State of Disunion speech will be little remembered and soon forgotten.
It was actually two speeches in a mashup that was both contradictory and ironic.
The opening and closing sections of the speech were soaring patriotic paeans to the “Greatest Generation” that liberated the world from fascism for the 75th anniversary year of D-Day this June — ironic for a Russian asset who has threatened to pull the U.S. out of NATO, for which he has been rebuked by his own party, US Senate votes to defend NATO as Trump attacks alliance, and who has vigorously attacked our European allies while currying favor with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. And Trumpism is the new American fascism.
While feigning calls for unity and bipartisanship — Before Expected Call for Unity, Trump Laced Into Democrats at Lunch for TV Anchors — the middle part of his speech was actually his campaign themes for 2020, a rehash of his divisive 2016 campaign — build the wall, make abortions illegal, tax cuts for plutocrats, eliminate consumer protection regulations, repeal and replace “Obamacare,” and an “America First” foreign policy withdrawing America from its role as the leader of the free world. Trump also made the fantastical claim that the U.S. would be at war with North Korea today if he had not been elected president — this from the man who elevated war tensions with North Korea with his “rocket man” insults until he sought to curry favor with another dictator, Kim Jong-un.