Donald Trump’s State of the Union address was perfectly pitched for the political moment.
He spoke to and for the American people – for all Americans of whatever race, color or creed. He spoke for the poorest and most vulnerable among us, who are the chief victims of the Democrats’ determination to welcome millions upon millions of illegal aliens, who are mainly low wage laborers and who include predatory criminals, to pour into our country; to defy federal law with their “sanctuary” states and cities, and to effectively declare our border and immigration policies null and void.
Trump did not use the word “sedition” to describe the law-breaking and Constitution-negating actions of his Democratic predecessor or the Democrats assembled in the chamber of the House. He provided instead an opening to them to abandon their “resistance” – resistance to the expressed will of the American voting public which has led to a relentless sabotage of the democratic process. In sum, he offered a hand to his Democratic haters, and they slapped it away.
When Trump summarized the successes of his first year in office, he emphasized how the prosperity of his first twelve months impacted the lives and hopes of ordinary Americans, wage laborers and others whom the eight years of the Obama presidency had left behind. In doing so he exposed the Democrats in the most dramatic way imaginable.
Under his policies, he boasted, black and Hispanic unemployment are record lows. As he said this and the Republican side of the house rose to its feet in applause the TV camera panned to the morose members of the Democrats’ Black Caucus, sitting on their hands and showing America that the last thing they care about is their black constituents. What they care about is their hatred for Trump, and about not disturbing the biggest lie of the political season: that the White House is the headquarters of a “white supremacy” movement intent on keeping black Americans down and making them suffer.
This was the Democrats’ reaction throughout the evening. When Trump made eloquent appeals on behalf of the men and women who serve this country in arms; when he praised his newly appointed Veterans Administration chief for firing VA officials who did not have the love for these American heroes that the American people do, the TV camera panned on Republicans rising to their feet and applauding and then to the Democrats reclining listlessly in their chairs and consulting their cell phones. What the images showed was that the Democrats’ hatred of Trump overwhelmed the most patriotic instinct – to care for the people who risk their lives to care for us.
Images like this which continued throughout Trump’s speech tell you everything you need to know about the Democratic Party today. Its representatives rejected – to a man and woman – a tax reform that put money in the pockets of millions of Americans, and is bringing industries and dollars back to the United States. Democrats demanded and support a “sequester” plan that has hog tied America’s military in the face of greater threats than the country has ever faced. Democrats shut the door on Trump’s offer to amnesty 1.8 million illegals in exchange for border security, because keeping the borders open and hatred of Trump are more important to Democrats than the actual DACA “dreamers” whom they claim to care about.
And that’s the bottom line that Trump’s artfully sculpted speech exposed. The Democrats are running on hate – and it is pretty much all they are running on. Their hate has blinded them to the interests of constituencies that used to be theirs; it has blinded them to the interests of the country at large, particularly as pertain to security and jobs; and it has narrowed their base of support to maybe 30% of the electorate, ensuring that come November they will have nowhere to go.