If you watched last night’s State of the Union, two things were clear: the Democrats are petulant children and the country had a great year. Over three million workers have benefitted from bonuses, thanks to the GOP tax bill. Over 250 companies have doled out bonuses from anywhere from $1,000-to-$3,000, increased employee investment, and plan to boost charitable giving. President Trump laid out a lofty plan for infrastructure, declared victory over ISIS, laid out his intention to tackle the opioid epidemic, gave a shout out to our heroes in law enforcement, and continued his pledge to take care of our veterans. Apparently, all of these areas, economic growth, and historic unemployment rates were terrible news for Democrats who sat fuming in silence because it was Trump, not Hillary giving the address. These people have to move on, but that’s a different matter. Days, even hours, prior to the address, the liberal media was getting huffy and puffy, saying that no matter what—Trump’s speech is not presidential. Well, they were wrong…again. Watching the president’s amazing speech last night, one thing was clear: MSNBC would have to work overtime to keep those liberal blood pressures at healthy levels.
Well, as Katie wrote yesterday, host Joy Reid pretty much had a meltdown over the address, saying, “Church ... family ... police ... military ... the national anthem ... Trump trying to call on all the tropes of 1950s-era nationalism.” Right, because honoring cops and first responders is horrific ethno-nationalism, as is fighting opioid addiction, defeating ISIS, laying out an extensive infrastructure plan, fighting the high cost of prescription drugs, and making sure our veterans get quality care. Yeah—you really got a finger on the pulse, there Joy.
Church ... family ... police ... military ... the national anthem ... Trump trying to call on all the tropes of 1950s-era nationalism. The goal of this speech appears to be to force the normalization of Trump on the terms of the bygone era his supporters are nostalgic for. #SOTU
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 31, 2018
The fun part is, Trump doesn’t actually embody any of the values he’s harkening back to. Faith? He panders to the religious far right but claims he’s never even asked God for forgiveness. Family? He has flouted his marriage vows with porn stars and is accused by multiple women
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 31, 2018
of sexual harassment and worse. Law enforcement? Sure, he is leading the culture war against NFL players who kneel to oppose police killing black civilians, but he and House Republicans are also waging war on federal law enforcement.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 31, 2018
And as for the military, Trump’s seeming eagerness to flirt with war with North Korea can’t be heartening. Trump is putting on a show; allowing his base to reminisce about an Ozzie and Harriet past they don’t even really value anymore based on their support for his “values.”
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 31, 2018
He offers a promise to bring back the past, but no vision for the future. And strangely, his version of “family values” excludes the families of immigrants.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 31, 2018
Bottom line: the first half of Trump’s #SOTU speech was pure pabulum: GOP family values boilerplate that the party traded in for demographic rage and reality show vulgarity by backing him. The second half was the dark matter Trumpism actually represents:
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 31, 2018
Anti-immigrant, backward looking, anti-innovation, and anti-progress. And of course his base loved every minute of it.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 31, 2018
Host Chris Hayes was upset about the speech as well.
This is upsetting in every direction.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) January 31, 2018
Over to Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews, that panel had the bizarre take of saying that mentioning Otto Warmbier and pledging to honor his memory was somehow a saber rattling cry for war. Warmbier detained by North Korea, beaten, and later died of his head injuries upon release last June (via Free Beacon):
Matthews sounded irritated as he pointed out that Americans don't care for North Korea, a dictatorship with one of the worst human rights records on the planet.
"We don't like them. We've never liked them," he said. "Why did he stoke the fires tonight? Why did he bring out the really tough case of the family losing their kid who was hiking through the mountains there? What was the whole point of that? Are we getting ready for war? What are we getting ready for?"
"It's no departure from how he's been for the last eight months toward North Korea," MSNBC host Rachel Maddow said. "He's been threatening, all but promising—"
"Why'd he bring it up?" Matthews asked.
"Because he wants a war with North Korea, if you take him by what he says," Maddow said.
Doesn’t this come off as slightly desperate? The Left has been hammering away at the whole ‘Trump’s Twitter activity will cause a nuclear war,’ but that narrative got its throat slit when the South Korean president gave Trump big credit for bringing North Korea to the first inter-Korean talks in at least two years. De-escalation was the goal, and it was achieved prior to the 2018 Winter Olympics. There will be no military drills during the Olympics. Recently, South Korea sent its Olympic delegation to a North Korean ski resort to train.
The speech was well received. With numbers like this, given MSNBC's de facto mission statement of keeping progressives from going nuts, you’d have to throw everything against the wall. there a bubble mentality, which the liberal media acknowledges, but for some reason don’t want to deal with—and these antics which is just a disassociation with reality.
Three in four Americans who tuned in to President Trump's #SOTU address tonight approved of the speech he gave, CBS News poll finds https://t.co/TO7jbkP2qA pic.twitter.com/aQREkOrQIG
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 31, 2018
After hearing Pres. Trump's #SOTU address, most viewers think the policies they heard tonight would help them personally, though Democrats disagree. https://t.co/poE2UDMjg3 pic.twitter.com/mNtCLLKm8Z
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 31, 2018
8 in 10 Americans who watched Pres. Trump's #SOTU address felt he was trying to unite the country, rather than divide it. Two-thirds said the speech made them feel proud, though just a third said it made them feel safer, CBS News poll finds https://t.co/SRoN9NzmKE pic.twitter.com/bvyG3myhgt
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 31, 2018
Honorable Mentions: CNN’s Van Jones saying Trump’s State of the Union was poisonous.
“He was selling sweet-tasting candy with poison in it,” he said.
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