Last night was pResident tRump's first address to a joint meeting of Congress (generally known as the State of the Union address after the president's 1st year in office). As a disclaimer, I just couldn't bring myself to watch it, so all commentary is based on the transcript. From what I've read, there were no outbursts of "Liar!" from the Dems, so kudos to them for maintaining decorum while lie after lie washed over them.

NPR has provided an annotated transcript of the address, so all quotes will be drawn from that. I cannot say with any certainty that this is exactly what he said, because we all know how he tends to go off script.

He started off condemning the attacks on Jewish sites (Bannon must not have approved this part). He spent all of 1 minute on it before moving on to describe a new pride in America. He didn't say "white pride", but that was the dog whistle.

From there he started talking about spending money here at home. He made a weird tossed-off reference to "inner cities" before moving onto infrastructure repairs (something Dems have been begging for through both of President Obama's terms):



Then tRump described a vision for which he has absolutely no plans to accomplish:

He then took credit for jobs, the stock market, and military savings, all of which were well on their way before the election. He also described how he was going to help industry by removing regulations that protect consumers and other Americans. He described a country teetering on the precipice (which by all measures of data is completely untrue) and his actions to "save" it (all of which are based on an alarming uptick in militarization).

He talked about immigration, borders, crime, terrorism, conflating all of them as if they were a single issue, rather than separate problems each requiring complicated solutions. He mentioned the Supreme Court and his nominee (Antonin Scalia's widow was in the gallery). He moved onto jobs, taxes, tariffs, and manufacturing, presumably while wearing one of his signature tRump suits made in China. He blamed immigrants for costing taxpayers money, when in reality, they add $17B per year to our tax base.

He called ObamaCare a disaster, and called for Congress to repeal it and replace it with VoucherCare, based on tax credits and HSAs (hint: the people who need it the most don't pay enough in taxes to cover the premium). He also called for a limit on punitive damages in malpractice suits.

He talked about education, once again calling for a voucher system, this time for school choice. America: Land of the Coupon Book.

After that, he moved on to violence and crime... which disturbingly transitioned to the military. He managed to use the death of the Seal team soldier Ryan Owens to build pathos and applause. Owens's widow was there in the gallery (although his parents - who have called for an inquiry - were not). I am so glad I didn't have to watch that. Disgusting...

from there, it was on to NATO and our alliances and how we need them to "pay their share". He promoted a mostly non-interventionist policy, but also helping countries rebuild so that refugees can return home.

Of course - this is in direct contradiction to the beginning of his speech where he said we spend too much helping others, and not enough helping ourselves.

He wrapped it up with platitudes to America and American ingenuity. Rah rah...