In the most made-for-TV of many made-for-TV moments in Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, President Donald Trump urged every member of Congress to “stand up and show your support” for the statement: “The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” Cameras panned to show nearly the entire left-hand side of the chamber awkwardly remaining in their seats. After two minutes of Republican cheering and Democrat scowling, Trump suggested that Democrats should “be ashamed of yourselves,” and the cameras showed Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Mogadishu, shouting angrily in response.
Sure, the question was a setup, but it was a really, really easy setup, the kind of statement you might assume was a trick question if it showed up on a civics exam. Democrats could easily have neutered the stunt just by agreeing that a government’s primary duty is to its citizens, a concept that even the known right-wing radicals at the World Economic Forum recognize in word if not in practice.
Instead, they took the bait, affirming to constituents and voters everywhere that they do not view your interests and rights as their concern and are put out by the suggestion that they should.
In April, Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen made a special trip to El Salvador to gaze into the eyes of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien who has been found to be a member of MS-13 and is suspected of human trafficking. Van Hollen referred to the El Salvador native as his “constituent,” to the ire of some of his actual constituents back in Maryland. Tuesday night, scowling in their seats, his congressional colleagues sent the same message.
It was a spectacular gift to GOP midterm campaign ads everywhere, and it wasn’t the only point in the speech where Democrats set themselves up as foils to an evening program of feel-good American patriotism. Early on in the evening, Trump paraded out the victorious Team USA hockey champions with a dramatic entrance in the press gallery, in a spectacle that should have been a bipartisan moment of celebration. A handful of Democrats couldn’t bring themselves to join the prolonged standing ovation, taking cues from the corporate media guilt-tripping of the team for accepting kudos from the president and laughing at his joke.
Throughout the address, Trump handed out medals to American heroes left and right: Medals of Honor to 100-year-old war hero Navy Captain Royce Williams and to Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover, a pilot in the recent capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. The Presidential Medal of Freedom to Team USA goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, and the Legion of Merit to Petty Officer Scott Ruskan, who saved 165 lives during a deadly flood in Texas last year. And Purple Hearts to the parents of National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and to Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, for wounds inflicted when Beckstrom and Wolfe were attacked while peacefully patrolling in the nation’s capital, allegedly by an Afghan national. Wolfe’s smile of surprise at the honor — and his appearance after surviving a gunshot to the head — was one of several tearjerker moments of the night.
The White House even found a World War II veteran, Buddy Taggart, who will celebrate his 100th birthday on July 4 of this year, as the country celebrates her 250th anniversary. America 250 was the theme of the night, and Trump managed to stay on message masterfully.
Coming off of such a high note, Democrat Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s rebuttal speech was more or less dead on arrival. She whined about immigration law enforcement and about “affordability,” a weird point of emphasis for a governor whose legislative counterparts have introduced taxes on everything from leaf blowers to dog walkers to Amazon deliveries. The gist of her pitch was “life is awful under Trump,” a killjoy message delivered with all the moral snobbery of a DEI breakout session facilitator scolding you for having a good time. Stop cheering for the Olympians and war heroes and remember you’re living under the reincarnation of Nazi Germany, darnit! The minority response is always a foil for the State of the Union, but given the rah-rah-USA nature of Trump’s address, being the counterargument was not the most fortunate look.
Trump has made “America First” a central mantra of his presidency since day one, informing policies from international trade to illegal alien deportations. That makes his critics, like the Utah Democrat who said “America First” was “code” for “white supremacists,” very angry. Opposition to that basic principle has become the animating feature of their operation, so much so that they will come out against the 25 most popular men in America because they enjoyed a patriotic moment with the president.
They will also come out, apparently, against the idea that Americans’ elected representatives should serve Americans and not foreign citizens who have broken our laws. They won’t just passively oppose the concept, either — it will make them uncontrollably angry. Democrats might have gone into Tuesday night hoping to make Spanberger the heavily shellacked face of their party, but the defining picture of the evening is this one right here.
