President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress was tall in performance and false promises, but embarrassingly short in substance and facts. The truth is that Trump’s actions as president have already made the state of our union markedly worse.
The standard for success for Trump’s first address was low, and he got high marks for sounding presidential. But the content of Trump’s address was little more than vague platitudes. Indeed, the speech was filled with surreal contradictions: He condemned acts of hate, but continued to demonize immigrants; he called for clean water as he simultaneously works to gut the Environmental Protection Agency; he called for peace, yet used incendiary language that his own national security advisor warned would assist our enemies.