With the upcoming State of the Union address and all the political hype, many wonder how much weight is in the changes Trump has made in his first year as President of the United States.
The reason the State of the Union address is so prevalent in news stories today is in part due to several reasons, which we will explore in this article, the main one being his relationship with the public.
What is The State of the Union?
The actual context behind the well-known presidential address is the speech on the nation and its current state. What will President trump say?
Will he simply brag about the good changes, or will he also concede to the divide that has come to light in the past year?
The address marks a year since President Trump was sworn into office and therefore should address The State of the union, more specifically since his presidency began.
While we may not all agree with the standards and moral concerns this presidency has portrayed, we cannot deny the fact that there have been some great outcomes - or some outcomes, I dare say, that “made America great again.”
Trump vs Public
The last year of America has been a tumultuous one. Even the most devout Trump supporter could not deny that we have more civil unrest than before, or at least more has come to light during this administration.
After the intense election of 2016 Trump was able to come out on top: Point Trump.
He started out last year with a bang, in the form of a ban on immigrants. Immigration: one of the biggest conflicts of the presidential race, which Trump won. He showed no mercy as he executive ordered his way through one of the first issues of 2017.
He thought he had won the citizens' trust, as he was the candidate that was elected. By default, he must have also thought the citizens had made a decision to stop all the loose borders for more immigrants to come in through, so overnight he changed some visa rules, only for some questionable countries. To say the least, Trump knew he had the power to make America change again and decided the best way to do so was through a sudden travel ban.
His efforts did not succeed for long though. Effectively, many protestors of this order camped out at airports and made headlines everywhere. The result was an overwhelming wave of feedback, feedback in the shape of a federal judge ruling it unconstitutional, or not within his executive power.
Trump 1, Public 1.
Although some of his actions were reversed, Trump had a number of his campaign promises that he fixed and came through with. Thus, his first 100 days were impressive, especially holding so much tension in his office from the public disaccord. I think this brings him up a point.
Trump 2, Public 1.
Finally, although Trump claims he did not want to be TIME’s Person of the Year, the Public won on this account.
While I think he discredited the magazine for lying about his involvement, which is the right thing to do, I also think that the splash the magazine gave in response was greater. Who would have thought that the #MeToo movement would lead to a great person/group of the year? Considering all of the allegations and instances in any female's life of sexual harassment, and even just those that specifically happened in 2017, it may have been a small smack on the cheek for the President since he was a patriarchal male whom allegations were formed against. This one is a close tie
Trump 2, Public 2.
Let’s add points for relentlessly attacking the media. Point Trump.
#Notmypresident, I think that one is Point Public.
While it is actually incorrect, it’s kind of daring to put that out there. Tied points worth mentioning: his hair, really I don’t know what’s winning, the fact there are countless memes or the fact that he still hasn’t gone bald. His overall usage of Twitter. It’s honestly great, he’s consistent, he’s uncanny and downright hilarious at times. But there is the content of his tweets, which is really a tie in itself.
Who wins?
Overall, Trump vs. the Public is an ongoing battle, one which we will soon see more of in the upcoming year. The State of the Union address will hopefully tell us more about what the president is thinking, and maybe give a hint or two about what is up his sleeve for 2018. I’m sure there will be many more battles to fight in the political climate of this day and age, but for now, this is the reality we face - reading political humor until we can make some sense of what is really happening.
