— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 31, 2018
Our nation will forever be safe and strong and proud and mighty and free.Donald Trump, U.S. President
President Trump wraps up his speech with symbolism -- monuments to Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and King. Those who lost their lives in "the waters of the Pacific and the skies over Asia." And reaches his hands out at the mention of the Capitol. "This living monument to the American people."
This is a speech short on policy details and full of very intense emotional moments. Sung-ho, a North Korean now living in South Korea, holds up the crutches Trump said he used to escape.
“North Korea’s reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles could very soon threaten our homeland. We are waging a campaign of maximum pressure to prevent that from happening. Past experience has taught us that complacency and concessions only invite aggression and provocation.’’ -- Trump says.
We knew it would come -- North Korea. "We need only look at the depraved character of the North Korean regime to understand the nature of the nuclear threat it could pose to America" and its allies, Trump says.
The president takes aim at the Iranian nuclear deal, which his predecessor supported, yet first says "American stands with the people of Iran in their courageous struggle for freedom."
In confronting these horrible dangers, we know that weakness is the surest path to conflict and unmatched power is the surest means to our true and great defense.Donald Trump, U.S. President
The House today voted for a third time to fully fund the Defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2018. The Senate is expected to vote on this bill sometime in February, although it will need votes from the minority party to pass. Democrats continue to insist that increased military spending should be matched by more non-defense discretionary spending.
The president says the nation "must modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal," which receives some applause, yet the specific mention of extinguishing ISIS "from the face of the Earth" gets prolonged applause.
The president asks for an immigration bill that "puts America first." This is a theme he has emphasized before -- America First must be part of any changes in immigration law or policy.
Tonight’s speech just became the most Tweeted #SOTU or #JointSession address, surpassing last year's total. https://t.co/e0XycDQIuv
— Twitter Government (@TwitterGov) January 31, 2018
The president links two terrorist attacks in New York to immigrants -- saying the attacks were "made possible by the visa lottery and chain migration."
Trump slams the visa lottery system, but strays from the facts in doing so.
"The third pillar ends the visa lottery -- a program that randomly hands out green cards without any regard for skill, merit, or the safety of our people,'' Trump says.
But the visa lottery program requires applicants to have at least a high-school education or two years of skills training, according to the State department
The president promised during his 2016 presidential campaign to end DACA and 10 Republican state attorneys general threatened to sue the U.S. if he didn’t follow through. The AGs argued that Obama had violated the Constitution’s separation of powers by making a unilateral decision about immigration without congressional input. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who supports strict immigration law enforcement, had told Trump that the U.S. couldn’t defend DACA if the states sued.
Immigration in the U.S. is broken. In a politically riven capital where Democrats and Republicans agree on little, they agree on this. About 11 million people already live illegally in the U.S. after crossing the border unlawfully or remaining in the country when their visas expired. What should be done about them? That’s where the consensus falls apart. Most Americans say the undocumented should be allowed to stay — 77 percent said so in a 2017 poll by Quinnipiac University — although there are deep disagreements about what conditions they should have to meet to win legal residency or citizenship.
In touting his infrastructure plan, the president makes a bipartisan appeal -- "I am asking both parties to come together" on his plan.
Every Federal dollar should be leveraged by partnering with State and local governments and, where appropriate, tapping into private sector investment -- to permanently fix the infrastructure deficit.Donald Trump, U.S. President
Trump calls for $1.5 trillion for infrastructure. That number has fluctuated in recent weeks between $1 trillion and $1.7 trillion.
Trump adds this adlib to his prepared text: "Our nation has lost its wealth, but we're getting it back, so fast."
Here is the expected part of the speech on trade. "The era of economic surrender is totally over," the president says. He says he expects trading relationships to be "fair" and "reciprocal," points he has emphasized in the past as part of his America First trade policy.
Trump's claim that his administration has eliminated more regulation in his first year than any administration in history is premature. Obama administration eliminated $37 billion worth of regulation over five years. White House fact sheet is more circumspect, noting that the Trump administration is eliminating overregulation at a "record pace."
Trump is now focusing on his deregulation agenda. A year ago today, Trump signed the executive order requiring repeal of two regulations for every new one proposed. By the White House's count, his administration has repealed 22 for each new one.
Trump moving on to talk about energy and coal
Trump just mentioned healthcare for veterans. According to the transcript, this will be Trump's only reference to healthcare tonight. It's perhaps a realization that his efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare will not be viable this year in Congress, despite Trump's declaration last year that he would turn back to the repeal and replace efforts in 2018.
Trump declares "why we proudly stand for the national anthem... Americans love their country." Last year, Trump used profanity to attack NFL players who knelt in protest during the national anthem before football games.
The president appears to be sticking closely to the text of his speech.
A quick search of the speech transcript shows that Trump uses the word "together" 13 times in this speech. He uses the word "we" more than 100 times.
Trump's mention of the motto "In God We Trust" receives a standing ovation.
Trump's line on the America flag is a not-so-subtle jab at the NFL players who have chosen to kneel during the national anthem to protest police brutality.
Joe Manchin the lone Democrat to give Trump a standing ovation for line about wage growth
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 31, 2018
In detailing the benefits of the new tax law, the president starts with the child tax credit and a doubling of the standard deduction -- not benefits to corporations, which receive the bulk of the advantages.
Trump promises that April is the last time Americans will have to file their taxes under "the old and very broken system.''
Futures on the S&P 500 Index holding up about 0.2 percent as Trump wades into tax territory, usually a positive theme for equities.
Trump says that he "enacted the biggest tax cuts and reform in American history."
Quick fact check: As written, the tax cut is smaller in inflation-adjusted dollars than the tax cut President Barack Obama signed in January 2013. And it’s smaller as a percentage of GDP than President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 tax cut.
In reality, Trump’s tax plan provides a break that’s the 12th largest as a share of the economy and the 4th largest in "real" dollars, according to a report by the nonpartisan Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget, a Washington-based research group.
The president is clearly trying to focus on the middle class -- when touting economic achievements he mentions benefits to 401(k) retirement funds, pensions and savings accounts.
Note the emphasis on tax cuts AND reforms. This was a point of contention between Trump who wanted to focus on cuts and some congressional Republicans who preferred to describe their plan as a reform of the tax code.
Then it's rising wages, a historic low in unemployment claims -- and "something I'm very proud of," Trump says, a low in the jobless rate among African Americans.
On job creation: Employers added 2.06 million workers to payrolls in 2017. At best, it's slightly more than analysts were projecting at the start of the year. The number is the lowest since 2010, when the economy was still emerging from recession; more jobs were added in each of the last six years of the Obama administration, including a hair under 3 million in 2014. Analysts expect about 1.96 million jobs added in 2018 and 1.69 million in 2019, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Trump, who campaigned saying "I alone can fix it," is so far steering clear of his trademark self-congratulation. He's using a lot of "we" and "our" not "I" and "me."
"The state of our union is strong because our people are strong," Trump said.
Here comes the victory lap on the economy -- the president starts by touting job growth.
"The state of our Union is strong because our people are strong.''
As Trump speaks, a White House statement was just released, saying the president has signed executive order revoking section of previous administration’s order to close detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay.
Now huge cheers and a standing ovation for Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
President Trump, like presidents before him, introduces guests in the chamber, starting with Coast Guard Petty Officer Ashlee Leppert, who was aboard one of the first helicopters to help out during Hurricane Harvey. It was the first big round of bipartisan applause during the speech.
Trump notes the natural disasters and mass shootings that struck the U.S. last year, while “through it all we have seen the beauty of America's soul”.
Only a minute or so into the speech President Trump repeats his "Make America great again" catch phrase.
Trump begins his speech by reflecting on the “very swift action'' his administration took in its first year to, you guessed it, “make America great again'' for all Americans.
As he walks in, Trump shakes hands with a couple Democrats--Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland. Most of his other handshakes went to Republicans.
Even if President Trump hits a home run with his speech tonight, he won't be able to bask in the glory for long. In a little more than a week -- on Feb. 8 -- government funding will run out and Congress will have to pass its fifth spending bill since the fiscal year began on Oct. 1. Also, Congress must raise the statutory debt limit in coming months to avoid a default on its obligations.
Great to see Majority Whip Steve Scalise walking in behind Trump. He's still recovering from injuries when he was shot during a congressional baseball practice last year.
Trump has arrived in the Chamber at 9:05 p.m. He's shaking hands and greeting lawmakers. Here we go...
Trump enters wearing a blue tie.
Passage of the first major tax-law overhaul in decades also will give Trump an opening to take a "victory lap" on the economy during the speech. He'll likely tout the benefits to American workers and point out that millions received bonuses after he signed the tax law. Republican lawmakers like this approach -- especially as they are seeking to defend majorities in both chambers of Congress this year.
In the what-a-difference a few years makes category: In his first official State of the Union address, Barack Obama called for significant new fees on the country's largest banks. Tonight President Trump is expected to pledge to continue his deregulatory drive -- including for the banking and financial industry.
Cabinet members enter the chamber, shaking lawmaker hands along the aisle before they take their seats in the front.
As we wait for Trump to enter the chamber, Asian markets are off to a meandering start, with the big equity markets in Japan, China, Hong Kong not posting big moves as the Wednesday session gets under way.
Likewise, the Asian currencies that have been in Trump's cross hairs -- the Chinese yuan, the Korean won -- are little changed right now. And the old "Trump Barometer," the Mexican peso, is up about 0.2 percent.
As Trump's prepares to deliver a speech calling for Congress to end its season of fighting and divisiveness, here's a reminder that the president has regularly used insulting nicknames to publicly criticize lawmakers. Here's a partial list:
- "Pocahontas" (Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts)
- "Cryin Chuck" (Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York)
- "Dicky Durbin" (Senator Dick Durbin, D-Illinois)
- "Sneaky Dianne" (Senator Diane Feinstein, D-California)
- "Jeff Flakey" (Senator Jeff Flake, R-Arizona)
- "Al Frankenstein" (Senator Al Franken, D-Minnesota)
- "Liddle Bob Corker" (Senator Bob Corker, R-Tennessee)
- "Wacky Congresswoman Wilson" (Representative Frederica Wilson, D-Florida)
Trump even turned on his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, calling him ``Sloppy Steve'' after Bannon was quoted in unflattering book about the president earlier this month.
The White House has said that Trump will use the speech to try to heal some of the divisions in the country.
Speaking to television anchors today, Trump said that he wanted ``to bring the country together.'' But it remains to be seen whether the president will deliver by putting forward a more conciliatory tone and pitching more bipartisan policies. The tax cuts he will tout were passed on a party-line vote and Democrats have already objected to many of the policies he will announce today, including a proposal to dramatically cut legal immigration in exchange for offering citizenship to young people brought to the U.S. illegally through no fault of their own.
.@VP has arrived on Cap Hill for @POTUS’ historic first State Of the Union. #MAGA https://t.co/TcOwuCSbNm
— Alyssa Farah (@VPPressSec) January 31, 2018
According to the White House, we can expect Trump's State of the Union address to focus on five things:
- Tax cuts and the economy
- Infrastructure
- Immigration
- Trade
- National security
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