I have to begin this review with the mandatory bit of pedantry which is required every four years. Last night, President Donald Trump gave a speech to a joint session of Congress. However, it was not technically a "State Of The Union" speech, since tradition dictates you have to have been in office for a whole year before giving one of those.

Nitpickery aside, let's do a quick review of how things went last night, shall we?

 

Trump's Speech

The best review of last night's speech was given before the speech even started. PBS featured in their coverage a panel of people from across the political spectrum, to offer a range of opinions. At one point they were asked what everyone expected from the speech. Washington Post Associate Editor Jonathan Capehart was succinct in his expectations. He summed up the speech before it even began with four words: "A festival of meanness." The phrase was prophetic, because that is precisely what we got. And I find, the next day, that nothing really needs be added to that phrase, so it will stand as my entire review of the 99-minute speech: a festival of meanness.

 

The Democratic Response

We'll get to Senator Elissa Slotkin's speech in a moment, but a review of "the Democratic response" last night has to include more than the formal response speech.

Democrats decided to protest Trump's speech by: wearing pink, wearing black, wearing the colors (blue and yellow) of the Ukrainian flag, boycotting the event, walking out midway through in disgust, holding up little paddles with protest messages on them, writing protest messages on a little whiteboard, laughing at Trump, heckling Trump, booing Trump, and standing up and loudly yelling at Trump while waving a cane until being escorted out by the House sergeant-at-arms. In other words, it was all over the map. There was no cohesion to the effort; it was all individual and ad-libbed.

Democratic voters watching at home reacted in various different ways as well. Some cheered Representative Al Green for forcefully halting Trump's speech and being thrown out. "Why didn't anyone else stand up and support him?" is a reaction I've heard from many. Or, at the very least, march in solidarity with him right off the House floor. Green made his point very early on, roughly three minutes in, after Trump inevitably bragged (and overstated) his electoral victory. Green began yelling: "You have no mandate!" and refused to be silenced. This shut Trump's speech down while Speaker Mike Johnson had to use his gavel and first warn Green, then call on the sergeant-at-arms to remove him. The whole thing was unprecedented in modern American politics during such a speech, and did indeed make a very powerful statement.

Some institutionalists decried the death of decorum in the chamber, but as far as I'm concerned that ship really sailed back during Barack Obama's time in office and hasn't been seen since. Plus, there certainly wasn't any decorum emanating from Trump, so why dignify his hate-fest with oh-so-proper behavior?

The color-coded clothes didn't really seem to impress anybody. Democrats couldn't even agree on a color, and there weren't really enough of them participating for it to make a powerful statement on television.

The little paddles were, well, too little. They didn't show up very well on the television cameras, and they had a range of messages on them: "False", "Save Medicaid", "Elon Steals", and "Save Veterans". This had the effect of diluting the protest into various different channels. The whiteboard and individual handmade signs (not pre-printed) were somewhat better, including possibly the best one of the night: "This is NOT normal." But maybe a better way to go would have been to settle on one message (either "False" or maybe "You Lie!") and then have that printed up on bigger placards, and whenever appropriate have all Democrats hold them up so the camera would have caught an absolute sea of one succinct protest message.

The walkouts weren't even shown (at least, on the channel that I watched), but probably would have made for decent television if they had been: "At one point, Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida and several other Democrats took off their jackets and walked out, their backs imprinted with messages like 'RESIST' and 'NO MORE KINGS'."

The whole thing just served to remind everyone that the Democrats have been struggling to come up with an effective way to fight back against Trump. They kind of chose "all of the above" last night. Another effective tactic would have been for them all to agree on one red line that couldn't be crossed -- just pick one subject they knew without a doubt Trump was going to lie about -- and then when he hit that part of his speech, the entire Democratic side of the aisle should have stood up and left en masse. That would indeed have been a powerful political statement. But it didn't happen.

Eventually, after an interminable stretch of time, Trump finally wrapped up. After a short pause, a freshman senator from Michigan spoke from a town that voted for both her and Donald Trump, in an attempt to offer the Democratic response to his speech. This went a lot better than most of these response speeches normally go, since the most memorable moments in the past have usually come from gaffes or embarrassing missteps by the speaker (Marco Rubio's tiny water bottle being the grand champion in this regard). Slotkin certainly didn't have any embarrassing moments like that, which was a relief.

Her speech was simple and to the point. She castigated Republicans for their party's embrace of a Russian dictator, noting that Ronald Reagan "must be rolling over in his grave." This was the most memorable line from her speech, but the best segment was what she had to say about the economy -- how Trump ran on fixing everything but so far hasn't lifted a finger to do so (other than to make everything worse). She ends with a call to action for citizens who are interested in making a difference, warning: "It's easy to be exhausted, but America needs you now more than ever."

Slotkin's speech is short enough (clocking in at only 9 minutes, not 99) that I am going to end with the entire transcript of it, or you can watch it for yourself (if you couldn't stomach the entirety of Trump's speech last night and therefore missed it).

 

The Democratic Response Speech

Hi everyone. I'm Elissa Slotkin. I'm honored to have the opportunity to speak tonight. It's late -- so I promise to be a lot shorter than what you just watched.

I won't take it personally if you've never heard of me. I'm the new senator from the great state of Michigan, where I grew up. I've been in public service my entire life, because I happened to be in New York City on 9/11 when the Twin Towers came down. Before the smoke cleared, I knew I wanted a life in national security.

I was recruited by the C.I.A. and did three tours in Iraq, alongside the military. In between, I worked at the White House under President Bush and President Obama, two very different leaders who both believed that America is exceptional.

You can find that same sense of patriotism here in Wyandotte, Michigan, where I am tonight. It's a working-class town just south of Detroit. President Trump and I both won here in November. It might not seem like it, but plenty of places like this still exist all across the United States -- places where people believe that if you work hard and play by the rules, you should do well, and your kids do better.

It reminds me of how I grew up. My dad was a lifelong Republican, my mom a lifelong Democrat. But it was never a big deal. Because we had shared values that were bigger than any one party.

We just went through another fraught election season. Americans made it clear that prices are too high and that government needs to be more responsive to their needs. America wants change. But there is a responsible way to make change, and a reckless way. And, we can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country, and as a democracy.

So that's what I'm going to lay out tonight.

Because whether you're in Wyandotte or Wichita, most Americans share three core beliefs: That the middle class is the engine of our country. That strong national security protects us from harm. And that our democracy, no matter how messy, is unparalleled and worth fighting for.

Let's start with the economy.

Michigan literally invented the middle class: the revolutionary idea that you could work at an auto plant and afford the car you were building. That's the American Dream. And in order to expand and protect the middle class, we have to do a few basic things:

We need to bring down the price of things we spend the most money on: Groceries. Housing. Healthcare. Your car.

We need to make more things in America with good-paying, union jobs -- and bring our supply chains back home from places like China.

We need to give American businesses the certainty they need to invest and create the jobs of the future.

And we need a tax system that's fair for people who don't happen to make a billion dollars.

Look, President Trump talked a big game on the economy, but it's always important to read the fine print. So: do his plans actually help Americans get ahead?

Not even close.

President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends. He's on the hunt to find trillions of dollars to pass along to the wealthiest in America. And to do that, he's going to make you pay in every part of your life.

Grocery and home prices are going up, not down -- and he hasn't laid out a credible plan to deal with either.

His tariffs on allies like Canada will raise prices on energy, lumber, cars -- and start a trade war that will hurt manufacturing and farmers.

Your premiums and prescriptions will cost more because the math on his proposals doesn't work without going after your health care.

Meanwhile, for those keeping score, the national debt is going up, not down. And if he's not careful, he could walk us right into a recession.

And one more thing: In order to pay for his plan, he could very well come after your retirement -- the Social Security, Medicare, and V.A. benefits you worked your whole life to earn. The president claims he won't, but Elon Musk just called Social Security "the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time."

While we're on the subject of Elon Musk, is there anyone in America who is comfortable with him and his gang of 20-year-olds using their own computer servers to poke through your tax returns, your health information, and your bank accounts? No oversight. No protections against cyber-attack. No guardrails on what they do with your private data.

We need more efficient government. You want to cut waste, I'll help you do it. But change doesn't need to be chaotic or make us less safe.

The mindless firing of people who work to protect our nuclear weapons, keep our planes from crashing, and conduct the research that finds the cure for cancer -- only to re-hire them two days later? No C.E.O. in America could do that without being summarily fired.

OK, so we've talked about our economic security. How about national security?

Let's start with the border. As someone who spent my whole career protecting our homeland, every country deserves to know who and what is coming across its border. Period. Democrats and Republicans should all be for that.

But securing the border without actually fixing our broken immigration system is dealing with the symptom, not the disease. America is a nation of immigrants. We need a functional system, keyed to the needs of our economy, that allows vetted people to come and work here legally. So I look forward to the president's plan on that.

Because here's the thing: Today's world is deeply interconnected. Migration, cyber threats, A.I., environmental destruction, terrorism -- one nation cannot face these issues alone. We need friends in all corners -- and our safety depends on it.

President Trump loves to promise "peace through strength." That's actually a line he stole from Ronald Reagan. But let me tell you, after the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling over in his grave. We all want an end to the war in Ukraine, but Reagan understood that true strength required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity.

And that scene in the Oval Office wasn't just a bad episode of reality TV. It summed up Trump's whole approach to the world. He believes in cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends, like Canada, in the teeth. He sees American leadership as merely a series of real estate transactions.

As a Cold War kid, I'm thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War.

Donald Trump's actions suggest that, in his heart, he doesn't believe we are an exceptional nation. He clearly doesn't think we should lead the world.

Look, America's not perfect. But I stand with most Americans who believe we are still exceptional. Unparalleled. And I would rather have American leadership over Chinese or Russian leadership any day of the week.

Because for generations, America has offered something better.

Our security and our prosperity, yes. But our democracy, our very system of government, has been the aspiration of the world. And right now, it's at risk.

It's at risk when a president decides he can pick and choose what rules he wants to follow, when he ignores court orders or the Constitution itself, or when elected leaders stand idly by and just let it happen.

But it's also at risk when the president pits Americans against each other, when he demonizes those who are different, and tells certain people they shouldn't be included.

Because America is not just a patch of land between two oceans. We are more than that. Generations have fought and died to secure the fundamental rights that define us. Those rights and the fight for them make us who we are.

We are a nation of strivers. Risk-takers. Innovators. And we are never satisfied.

That is America's superpower.

And look, I've lived and worked in many countries. I've seen democracies flicker out. I've seen what life is like when a government is rigged: You can't open a business without paying off a corrupt official. You can't criticize the guys in charge without getting a knock at the door in the middle of the night.

So as much as we need to make our government more responsive to our lives today, don't for one moment fool yourself that democracy isn't precious and worth saving.

But how do we actually do that? I know a lot of you have been asking that question.

First, don't tune out. It's easy to be exhausted, but America needs you now more than ever. If previous generations had not fought for democracy, where would we be today?

Second, hold your elected officials, including me, accountable. Watch how they're voting. Go to town halls and demand they take action. That's as American as apple pie.

Three, organize. Pick just one issue you're passionate about -- and engage. And doom-scrolling doesn't count. Join a group that cares about your issue, and act. And if you can't find one, start one.

Some of the most important movements in our history have come from the bottom up.

In closing, we all know that our country is going through something right now. We're not sure what the next day is going to hold, let alone the next decade.

But this isn't the first time we've experienced significant and tumultuous change as a country. I'm a student of history, and we've gone through periods of political instability before. And ultimately, we've chosen to keep changing this country for the better.

But every single time, we've only gotten through those moments because of two things: Engaged citizens and principled leaders.

Engaged citizens who do a little bit more than they're used to doing to fight for the things they care about. And principled leaders who are ready to receive the ball and do something about it.

So thank you tonight for caring about your country. Just by watching, you qualify as engaged citizens. And I promise that I, and my fellow Democrats, will do everything in our power to be the principled leaders that you deserve.

Goodnight everyone.

-- Chris Weigant

 

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant