Webersown.weebly.com



First Trump State of the Union Address Makes Appeal for UnityBy JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and MICHAEL D. SHEARJAN. 30, 2018 WASHINGTON — President Trump challenged Democrats on Tuesday night to join him in overhauling immigration policies and in rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure in his first State of the Union address.Speaking to a joint session of Congress, Mr. Trump hailed what he called the “extraordinary success” of his administration’s first year, and largely steered clear of the nationalist rhetoric, political attacks and confrontational tone that have been his calling cards both as a candidate and as a commander in chief.“Tonight, I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people,” Mr. Trump said to raucous applause from many Republicans, as Democratic leaders who have bitterly criticized his policies and messaging sat stone-faced in their seats.“This, in fact, is our new American moment,” Mr. Trump said. “There has never been a better time to start living the American dream.”In an address remarkably devoid of new policies, Mr. Trump instead recited what he described as his greatest accomplishments and laid out an improbable agenda for a Congress facing midterm elections in the fall.He said he would bring Republicans and Democrats together around a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan to “give us the safe, fast, reliable and modern infrastructure our economy needs and our people deserve.” And he dared Democrats to reject what he called a “down-the-middle compromise” on immigration where “nobody gets everything they want, but where our country gets the critical reforms it needs.”“For over 30 years, Washington has tried and failed to solve this problem,” Mr. Trump declared. “This Congress can be the one that finally makes it happen.”The president avoided the most controversial elements of his presidency, saying nothing about the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Mr. Trump or his associates helped the effort or obstructed justice.The president did not acknowledge the “Me Too” movement of women speaking out against sexual harassment and assault. He also left out some standard grievances. He did not renew his threats to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities that decline to work with federal immigration authorities, nor did he devote much time to promising to rip up trade agreements.Democrats in the chamber spent much of the speech refraining from applause, scowling at his boasts, and at one point hissing in disapproval at his proposal for restricting the number of family members immigrants can bring to the United States. As he took the dais at the Capitol, Mr. Trump had the weakest approval rating of any president of the modern era entering his second year in office, with 37 percent of Americans approving of his performance in the job.But Mr. Trump stepped behind the lectern still popular with his most ardent supporters, who see him as an unpredictable and entertaining commander in chief who posts vitriol on Twitter against the advice of the White House staff, the Republican leadership and those closest to him.Mr. Trump built his speech around the theme of heroes, using the stories of ordinary people who had overcome extraordinary challenges — a police officer who adopted the child of a heroin-addicted mother, an Army staff sergeant who won the Bronze Star while fighting in Syria, a North Korean defector who now rescues other defectors — to argue that “the state of our union is strong because our people are strong.”Most presidents have made sure that there is a choreographed rollout of political messages and policy prescriptions before a State of the Union address. But Mr. Trump’s past week has been consumed by the revelation that he sought last year to fire Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel leading a Russia investigation, and by the abrupt departure of the F.B.I. deputy director, Andrew G. McCabe, whom the president had railed against as politically corrupt.At the same time, Republicans are pushing to make public a classified memo that they say shows a politically driven effort by the F.B.I. and the Justice Department to malign Mr. Trump with manufactured allegations of links to Moscow. Democrats say the memo is a set of cherry-picked facts to distort the origins of the Russia investigation and undermine the inquiry. On his way out of the chamber, Mr. Trump could be heard reassuring a Republican congressman that he supports the release of the memo “100 percent.”Presidents historically use the annual State of the Union address to tout the successes of their administrations. Mr. Trump went even further, using his time in the spotlight to describe what he views as his major successes during his first year in office: job growth, the confirmation of Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, the rollback of regulations, a $1.5 trillion tax cut, the defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and historic gains in the stock market.“Just as I promised the American people from this podium 11 months ago, we enacted the biggest tax cuts and reform in American history,” Mr. Trump said.Mr. Trump delivered his roughly 80-minute speech — the longest since President Bill Clinton in 2000 — almost verbatim from a teleprompter, staying uncharacteristically faithful to his prepared script as he paused for ovations, savoring an opportunity to promote his agenda and reaching for lofty statements about the strength of what he called “one American family.”Yet similar rhetoric by Mr. Trump has not lasted long. When he addressed a joint session of Congress weeks after his inauguration last year, Mr. Trump called for an end to “trivial fights.” Days later, he was on Twitter charging that President Barack Obama had tapped his phones in Trump Tower.Mr. Trump’s tone became markedly sharper as he turned to the issue of immigration, seeking to link crime and terrorism to the United States’ immigration policies. He highlighted the parents of young girls killed by immigrants who entered the country as “illegal, unaccompanied alien minors,” saying it was time for Congress to “finally close the deadly loopholes that have allowed MS-13 and other criminal gangs to break into our country.”The president delivered his speech in the middle of an intense immigration debate in Congress about the fate of the so-called Dreamers, young people who were brought illegally to the United States as children. Mr. Trump has repeatedly expressed sympathy for the Dreamers and used the speech to reiterate his proposal to grant them legal status, including a path to citizenship, in exchange for stepped-up enforcement, the building of a wall on the southern border with Mexico and a reordering of immigration laws that gives priority to higher-skilled immigrants.“It is time to reform these outdated immigration rules, and finally bring our immigration system into the 21st century,” Mr. Trump said.The president, who shocked lawmakers this month at an Oval Office meeting by using a vulgar term to disparage African nations, went out of his way to present himself as tolerant and appreciative of the nation’s diverse people.“So tonight I am extending an open hand to work with members of both parties, Democrats and Republicans, to protect our citizens, of every background, color, religion and creed,” he said.But the proposal has drawn condemnation from Democrats who call it meanspirited and anti-immigration activists who see it as an unacceptable grant of amnesty.Democrats used the occasion to send their own message to Mr. Trump on the matter: They invited Dreamers who were to lose their protections from deportation — as well as family members of people the Trump administration has detained and deported — to sit with them in the House chamber as the president spoke.Mr. Trump provided little in the way of specifics on the infrastructure proposal, other than to say that it should tap into private-sector and state and local funds in addition to federal dollars for a national initiative to “reclaim our building heritage.” Although the idea has wide bipartisan appeal, the details have the potential to start regional battles among lawmakers and partisan fights over how to pay for it.The president also promoted what he called his achievements around the world, calling for steep investments to make the American military “so strong and powerful” and hailing victories against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, as a vindication of his pledge last year to extinguish the group “from the face of the earth.”“One year later, I am proud to report that the coalition to defeat ISIS has liberated very close to 100 percent of the territory just recently held by these killers in Iraq and Syria,” Mr. Trump said.Mr. Trump touted his decision to move the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and he announced, as expected, that he has signed an executive order to keep operating the Guantánamo Bay prison — a symbolic act that effectively keeps the detention facility open for business.He also called on Congress to make sure that foreign assistance dollars “only go to America’s friends.”The president included a tough message to the North Korean government and a denunciation of Kim Jong-un as a leader who has brutalized his own people and must be made to relinquish his nuclear program.Adding drama to moment, he paid tribute to previously unannounced guests who wept in the gallery: the parents of Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student who died after being detained for 17 months in North Korea. And he hailed the escape of Ji Seong-ho, a North Korean defector who lost his leg before his harrowing journey.“Today he has a new leg, but Seong-ho, I understand you still keep those crutches,” Mr. Trump said as the young man triumphantly waved the crutches over his head.State of the Union: Trump extends ‘open hand’ to Dems on immigration, touts tax cuts, warns N. KoreaPresident Trump appealed for common ground in the immigration debate at his first State of the Union address Tuesday night, while holding firm on his demands for border security and using the grand setting to tout his economic accomplishments and declare a “new American moment.”?At a critical time when the political divide over immigration has held up essential government funding, the president called to put politics aside and "get the job done."?"Tonight, I am extending an open hand to work with members of both parties -- Democrats and Republicans -- to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion, and creed," he said.?It remains unclear whether Democrats are ready to deal on immigration, but the issue could hang over a looming Feb. 8 deadline to pass a new spending bill. With that in mind, Trump used his hour and 20-minute speech to signal a willingness to make bipartisan deals on second-year-agenda priorities like immigration as well as infrastructure.“Tonight, I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground, and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people we were elected to serve,” the president said.?The president described his recent offer on immigration as a "fair compromise" for both sides.?The White House is pushing a plan to broaden eligibility for the DACA program – which gives a reprieve to illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, and which Trump is planning to end absent a legislative solution – in exchange for border wall funding and other big changes.He described his offer of a path to citizenship for 1.8 million DACA recipients, or DREAMers.“We presented the Congress with a detailed proposal that should be supported by both parties as a fair compromise -- one where nobody gets everything they want, but where our country gets the critical reforms it needs and must have,” he said.Even as he pushed for an immigration deal, the president didn’t stray from messaging aimed at his base. Trump said his “highest loyalty, my greatest compassion, and my constant concern is for America's children, America's struggling workers, and America's forgotten communities.”?“Americans are dreamers too,” he said.He also called on Congress to "finally close the deadly loopholes" that have allowed MS-13 to flourish inside the country.TRUMP HONORS PARENTS OF MS-13 VICTIMS: 'AMERICA IS GRIEVING FOR YOU'The president tackled national security toward the end of the speech, specifically warning that North Korea's “reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles” could “very soon” threaten the United States.“We are waging a campaign of maximum pressure to prevent that from happening,” he said. “Past experience has taught us that complacency and concessions only invite aggression and provocation. I will not repeat the mistakes of past administrations that got us into this dangerous position.”During the speech, the president recognized the parents of Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student who died over the summer after being injured while imprisoned in North Korea, who attended Tuesday’s address.Vowing to fight terrorism, the president said he ordered Defense Secretary James Mattis to reexamine the military’s detention policy toward terrorists and keep open the detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay.The president called for bipartisan cooperation on infrastructure, saying "together, we can reclaim our great building heritage."?He said every federal dollar for infrastructure projects should be “leveraged” by partnering with state and local governments and private sector investors for projects."We will build gleaming new roads, bridges, highways, railways and waterways all across our land, and we will do it with American heart, and American hands, and American grit," Trump said.Like other presidents before him, Trump used the address to tout first-year accomplishments like the GOP tax cut bill, regulation rollbacks, the elimination of ObamaCare’s individual mandate and gains made over the last year against the Islamic State.Insisting that the “era of economic surrender is over,” Trump reiterated his campaign promises to fix bad trade deals and negotiate new ones. And he celebrated the stock market gains during his first year in office.“The stock market has smashed one record after another, gaining $8 trillion in value,” he said. “That is great news for Americans' 401k, retirement, pension, and college savings accounts.”“This is our new American moment,” Trump said. “There has never been a better time to start living the American dream.”?He began his speech by praising heroes during natural disasters and tragedies over the last year, including during the summer shooting of Republican lawmakers at a baseball practice.“With us tonight is one of the toughest people ever to serve in this House -- a guy who took a bullet, almost died, and was back to work three and a half months later: the legend from Louisiana, Congressman Steve Scalise,” Trump said.Earlier Tuesday, during a pre-speech lunch with television anchors, Trump -- who does not shy away from conflict with his detractors -- said “unity is really what I'm striving for, to bring the country together.""If I could unite this country, I would consider it a tremendous success,” Trump said. “I would love to be able to bring back our country in a great form of unity, without a major event - very tough to do. I would like to do it without a major event, because that major event is usually a bad thing.”The address comes after a year of partisan clashes in Washington over health care, the 'travel ban,' regulations and more.?Ahead of the speech, leaders were bracing for potential conflicts.House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi delivered a stern warning to House Democrats attending the speech during a closed-door caucus meeting on Tuesday, imploring them to play nice.Pelosi advised Democrats against a walk-out, with sources in the room saying Pelosi told members “if you want to walk out, don’t come” and to let Trump be “his slobbering self.”Members of the Congressional Black Caucus wore traditional Kente cloth in protest of Trump's reported comments about immigration from “s---hole countries.”During the speech, some caucus members declined to stand even to honor a 12-year-old guest of the first family who was recognized for gathering flags for veterans' graves.?Trump praised Preston Sharp, a boy from California, who started a movement to place flags at the graves of fallen service members.“Preston's reverence for those who have served our nation reminds us why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and why we proudly stand for the national anthem,” he said.Trump's comments were aimed at the NFL football players who have been kneeling during the national anthem as a protest against police shootings of African-Americans.Democrats tapped Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., the grandson of Sen. Robert Kennedy, to deliver the party’s official response to Trump. In remarks before a small audience in Massachusetts, Kennedy said many in the country have spent Trump’s first year in office “anxious, angry, afraid.”“Folks, it would be easy to dismiss this past year as chaos,” he said. “As partisanship, as politics. But it's far, far bigger than that. This administration isn't just targeting the laws that protect us, they're targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection.”Trump, though, struck a positive and optimistic note in his speech, ending his address to Congress by saying: “Americans fill the world with art and music. They push the bounds of science and discovery.”?“And they forever remind us of what we should never forget: The people dreamed this country," Trump continued. "The people built this country. And it is the people who are making America great again." ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download