The State of the Union shows us how divided we are

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President Donald Trump is celebrating the one year anniversary of his inauguration and his improvement from being one of the lowest rated presidents in his first year. However, his State of the Union address shows us as a nation just how delusional he is.

The president, infamous for his brash statements and belligerent tweets, managed to tame himself and put up the facade of a composed and qualified leader of the free world. Trump’s State of the Union speech was a series of contradictory statements and appeals to our nationalism and emotions, but these announcements are simply being made to appease people and justify the many outrageous missions of this administration.

The isolationism that earmarked the United States in its infantile days is making a comeback under Trump’s rule. While he boasted of the importance of helping “struggling communities, especially immigrant communities,” he also mentioned the danger that comes with a nation with an open border.

The border wall, among his most bigoted promises, is coming closer to fruition as he pushes for hard line immigration policies and regulations.

He forgot to mention the fate of immigrants and DACA recipients in his speech. Instead, we heard about the necessity of American unity, while his policies worked to undermine any chance of this.

He also mentioned that he has “eliminated more regulations in our first year than any administration in history.” To his credit, President Trump has realized his campaign promise of draining the swamp by deregulating the majority of government. Too bad this has been achieved by deregulating essential agencies such as the EPA or FCC. 

In many ways, he has tackled the issues that began his campaign. Immigration reform and construction of The Wall are under way, abetted by the government shutdown recently. The immigration reform has not satisfied Republicans or Democrats by reaching for some absurd limbo of amnesty.

Most importantly, the entire crux of Trump’s campaign was to repeal a majority of the work Obama accomplished with the modifications made to DACA, ensuring recipients will face obstacle after obstacle, and the reallocation of healthcare responsibilities. Trump has been fairly successful in deconstructing the impact of Obama. He has not succeeded in replacing Obamacare — or fully repealing it — but that didn’t merit a mention.

He brought up issues plaguing this nation like limited paternity and maternity leave, opioid addictions, and the divisions within Congress. What was out of the norm for State of the Union addresses was his severe lack of details or solutions for these various problems.

Most importantly, there was absolutely no mention about the conveyance with Russia during the elections and more recently. The conflicts he’s had with the FBI, the dismissal of James Comey, and private investigations being conducted on the president himself were lost in this address that called for American unity and nationalism.

This president has attempted to cover his blunders in articulate and strategic speeches that incite an emotional plea to our patriotism. This was the technique behind his attention-getting tweets and his audacious foreign relations. These techniques are evident to any observer.

What continues to mystify me is the compliance of the American people. We have fallen within this trap of believing the president’s unprofessional antics as mundane. We have lost our voices within the intricacies of this bureaucratic system. We are letting this president soothe us with appeasing, vague and, most importantly, empty promises.

We as a nation deserve more, and it’s about time we begin behaving like it.

Opinion Editor Anusheh Siddique is a finance freshman and can be reached at [email protected]