State of The Union: Here's Everything
- mountroyaltimes
- Jan 31, 2018
- 6 min read

PHOTO: Owned by VOA News.
Trump's first state of the union. Filled with tears, cheers, boos, outrage, protest, boycotts, pushbacks, retaliations, arguments, partisanship, bipartisanship, and so much more. The President was focused on delivering his SOTU speech without doubt very politically, all the meanwhile calling for absolute unity of America.
His speech commenced at around 9:06 P.M. ET, and lasted over one hour and twenty minutes; making it one of the longest State of the Union addresses in American history. His speech was historic for other reasons, too.
The night began with the question of the traditional break that Melania Trump formed. After weeks-long rumors of arguments and disagreements between the first lady and the President in regards to a recently-publicized story regarding a potential Trump affair with a porn star while Melania was pregnant, the night showcased the 'hatred'.
Melania arrived at the House Chamber earlier than the President, in a different vehicle, something that doesn't naturally happen. The White House said she rode earlier to greet guests, and that there wasn't anything unusual with the move.
He began his speech, after walking in and being greeted, by talking about dangerous natural disasters that gripped the nation within recent months. He began with honoring a hero that helped throughout Hurricane Harvey in Texas. He didn't fail to recognize the catastrophe in Puerto Rico as well, mentioning the US territory.
Then, Trump switched the topic to praising Steve Scalise, a Republican official of which was shot in an apparent politically-motivated terror attack in a Virginia baseball field last year throughout 2017. Scalise recieved a standing ovation from the crowd.
As Trump began talking about unity and bipartisanship, wide-shots of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, both heads of the House and Senate Democratic parties, showed 'anger' and 'bitterness' in the leaders' faces. They didn't clap, or stand.
One quote followed as he spoke of unity and bipartisanship, and was praised publicly by Fox News: "And together we are building a safe, strong, and proud America."
That's when Trump went into his self-praising of his administrations' success stories in relation to the economy, his job creations, saying it came after "years of wage stagnation" during the Obama presidency. He didn't forget to mention the long-time shrinking unemployement rate for the African-American and Hispanic communities.
Even after a somewhat-rocky day for the stock markets of which the Dow Jones took a 1.4% crash of nearly 400 points, Trump prasied the market growth during his time as President since last year in January, of which grew from 19K to 26K points.
As Trump continued speaking of his governments' success stories, we began seeing some wide shots of the entire Democratic aisle staying seated while Republicans consistently stood up and clapped. One person who wasn't really standing? Melania.
Trump then began attacking Obamacare, praising their recent repeal of the Obama-era health care reform. Pictures showed direct anger in Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi. All Democrats stayed seated, clearly not happy with the partisan attack.
Trump also didn't forget to mention and praise himself and his administrations' moves that have prompted Apple to move 20,000 jobs back into the United States.
After excerpts had been released by the White House prior to the speech, his iconic quote of the night made it's appearance. It was the headline on pro-Trump media sources for a solid three hours after that. "This is our new American moment. There has never been a better time to live the American dream."
The US President didn't forget to include a narly poke and slight attack towards the NFL, America's national football league, for allowing their team members to kneel or sit-out the national anthem. It was seen as an un-presidential move in the SOTU.
Presidents acknowledging and praising veterans is definitely not a rare thing during a State of the Union address, and this president was no different. "All Americans deserve accountability and respect. And that's what we are giving to our ... veterans."
Then, in a shocking and yet-again very partisan slam against the Democratic party, the President praised the fact that he's eliminated more legislation in his first year in office. Virtually no claps came from anybody across the GOP's aisle.
In another shocking event, Trump also praised his administration's moves and stances on global warming as well as climate change and clean energy; praising his move for the U.S. to leave the Paris Climate Accord. "We have ended the war on our energy. We have ended the war on our beautiful and clean coal."
Trump, in coordination with his statements regarding coal, also falsely stated that the United States was selling a lot of energy to other nations. He was already under criticism for his attacks on Obamacare, and now the climate as well.
"People who are terminally ill should not have to go from country to country to find a cure", Trump said in what was thought out to be a move to encourage Congress to come up with a solution on healthcare.
As Democrats stayed seated, and a minimal amount decided to clap and applaud the President unless he was presenting an invited guest, Trump gestured to them to 'get up' with his hands. None of them did.
Trump then began speaking about trade, saying that the United States has "lost its wealth" in recent administrations. He indicated the need for reciprocity in any trade agreements, indicate he'd end any of them that were unfair to the US and make new ones. This was seen as a potential attack on the NAFTA free trade agreement as negotiations continue in Montreal, Canada.
The President came forward with calls for Congress members on both sides of the aisle to come together to make a bipartisan effort to fix America's "crumbling infrastructure", something most Democrats agreed with in general.
He then went on to speak about prisons, something many Democrats and many people around the world were dreading. He first stated he wished to reform some of the laws in terms of the justice systems in jails, giving inmates a 'second chance at life'.
He was also speaking about MS-13, which Dems didn't disagree with. As he introduced a family of which lost their daughter to violence from the street gang, the family recieved a long standing ovation from the entire House Chamber.
Trump then issued yet another quote; however this time, went under criticism for it. "Americans are dreamers too" was praised by the right, and slammed by the left.
A shot of Sen. minority leader Chuck Schumer 'chuckling' and sighing as Trump began talking about a bipartisan negotiation of immigration reform. It comes after numerous arguments, even prompting a government shutdown, regarding what Schumer called Trump's "Jell-O"-like attempt to negotiate with Democrats.
The President began speaking more in depth about his plot for immigration negotiations, providing a pathway for legal citizenship for dreamers and DACA recipients over the course of twelve years in exchange for border control (including a wall), the end of visa lottery programs and the end of chain migration.
Trump was booed by Democrats and a large portion of the House Chamber while speaking about the end to chain migration.
He then switched the topic of discussion; talking about a former opiod-addicted mother and a police officer of which adopted the mother's child after discovering she was injecting herself with heroin while pregnant. The report came to life by CNN.
As he began switching his course to talking about politics worldwide, he mentioned Russia and China calling them 'rivals' to America's economy and values.
Going against an international non-nuclear profileration treaty, Trump suggested that America must continue building and enhancing their nuclear arsenal as North Korea continues to threaten the American homeland. Democrats disagreed.
Then, as he began speaking about his success story with ISIS (of which has lost nearly all of their territory since Trump's inauguration), the President once again gestured towards the Democratic aisle to stand up and applaud him. They didn't.
"Terrorists are not nearly criminals, but are unlawful enemy combatants." Trump said about the ISIS and similar terror groups.
He then spoke about Guantanamo Bay, the entire world was dreading this part of his speech and hoping he wouldn't do it. The area, attached to Cuba, holds a jail cell that hasn't been active since 2008. Obama had ordered to have it eventually shut down, and Trump rolled that back - saying the detention center would remain open.
His 'international' part of his SOTU speech went under criticism as he began talking about Jerusalem. He called all nations that voted against the US in favor of condemning Trump's move of the US embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem 'enemies of America'. Many NATO members also condemned the US in that UN resolution.
Trump then slammed communist nations like Venezuela and Cuba, before he began his critical speech about North Korea. He began talking about Otto Warmbier's story, an American who was tortured in North Korea and then died when he arrived in the US. He also invited a North Korean defect to his speech.
He said North Korea's regime has a "depraved character", something that the DPRK later replied to with a threat to the American state before the SK olympics.
"The people dreamed this country, the people built this country, and it is the people who are making America great again" - another quote praised by Trump supporters.
And that was it, and how it ended. We then awaited the Democratic response, something that was also seen as a huge success. Read that on our main page.
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