On Tuesday, President trump delivered his speech to Congress which is often referred to as the "State of the Union" after what has largely been reported as his first uneven month as president. Some coverage of this event has stated quite profoundly that the event technically isn't the State of the Union during the first year of a president's term. But it is the address which would set his policy agenda and in this case, cushion concerns many have had of his presidency thus far.

Much of the unevenness of his first month as president can be blamed on his hostility towards immigrants, international allies, and the mainstream media which has bombarded the public with reports of a chaotic White House and the President's defiance against long-held traditions and norms that Americans and the international community have come to expect from every presidency, which is a further extension of his defiance against decency he held as a candidate.

Before President Trump speech to Congress

Trump was self-congratulatory during his interview with Fox and Friends on Fox News that morning, a mainstream conservative media channel he has praised for positive coverage of his presidency in his war against the media to which he is so hostile, he barred reporters and other mainstream media outlets who have published negative coverage of him from a press briefing on the previous Friday.

In fact, President Trump dislikes negative coverage of himself so much that he gave himself a grade of "A" for effort on Fox and Friends.

Such self-praise would be considered comical if it wasn't for the fact that he has taken action to suppress opposing views in public. An example of this happened on the same day of his speech to Congress where he said that the anti-Semitic vandalism that has been reported nationwide is a conspiracy against him by the opposition.

Anti-Semitic conspiracies

There have been many reports since President Trump took office that bomb threats have been made towards Jewish synagogues and cemeteries have been vandalized by anti-Semitic Trump supporters. This falls in line with the uprising of white supremacist groups and nationalists who have been attracted to Trump and his nativist message.

One of Trump's advisors Anthony Scaramucci has suggested via Twitter that the rise of anti-Semitic incidents could be coming from the Democrats, "It's not yet clear who the JCC offenders are. Don't forget The Democrats effort to incite violence at Trump rallies." in his tweet, he shared a Breitbart news article, a internet media service which has been accused of anti-Semitism and of having a nationalist white supremacist audience. In fact, former Breitbart CEO Steven Bannon is Trump's White House chief strategist.

Democrats and embracing the opposition

Even with the expected attacks from Democrats who are expected to be opposed to everything that is Trump, his speech to Congress has been seen as more moderate and presidential than many expected.

But his attacks against Democrats were already positioned before the speech, where in his Fox and Friends interview, he also blamed former President Obama for organizing opposition against him. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer predicted that Trump's address would be more populist, nationalist rhetoric and that the American people would not be fooled.

A correspondent for PBS Newshour Lisa Desjardins has said that many constituents wanted to see what Trump will say in his speech to Congress to appeal to the opposition, which he showed no signs of doing during the inauguration and ever since. Matt Schlapp, a conservative strategist who was also at the round table on the Newshour has said that Trump has not felt the need to reach out to his opposition because his supporters already elected him and that he was more for strengthening that base. During his speech to Congress, President Trump called for them to pass paid family leave which reportedly caused liberals stand and applaud, perhaps an olive branch to the opposed?
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