by Norman Halls, contributor
State of the Union address, a speech given, technically in, January each year by the president of the United States to Congress and the nation, in which he/she gives his/her opinion of the economic condition of the country and explains his/her plans for the future. The message typically includes a budget message and an economic report of the nation, and also allows the President to propose a legislative agenda and national priorities.
The State of the Union address can trace its roots back to the Constitution. Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution says that the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” At least one member of the president’s cabinet. Since the Cold War, one member of the cabinet has holed up in an undisclosed secure location during big government gatherings like the State of the Union address and presidential inaugurations. This absent member is dubbed the “designated survivor.” In the unlikely event that an attack or a disaster leads to the deaths of all of the assembled leaders, having a designated survivor hiding out somewhere safe maintains the line of presidential succession.
President Trump leaned hard on the strength of the American economy during his second State of the Union address on February 5, 2019, but with a blend of precise statistics and filmy superlatives that are much more difficult to measure. He also returned to a theme that dominated the second year of his presidency — a quest for a border wall with Mexico to cope with what he said is a crisis of crime and drugs in the United States caused by illegal immigration.
President Trump’s State of the Union speech once again was chock-full of stretched facts and dubious figures. Many of these claims have been fact-checked repeatedly, some have even been awarded the Bottomless Pinocchio, yet the president persists in using them. We found nearly thirty falsehoods on a wide range of topics scattered throughout the president’s remarks. Here’s a sampling:
- The economy
“The U.S. economy is growing almost twice as fast today as when I took office, and we are considered far and away the hottest economy anywhere in the world.”
This is false.
The American economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018. Growth in Latvia and Poland was almost twice as fast. Same for China and India. Even the troubled Greek economy posted stronger growth. And a wide range of economic analysts estimate that the growth of the American economy slowed in the fourth quarter, and slowed even further in the first month of 2019.
- “We recently imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods — and now our Treasury is receiving billions and billions of dollars.”
This is true.
Since Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on certain imports from China — and imported steel and aluminum from around the world — federal tariff revenues have increased. Revenues from customs duties, which include tariffs, rose by $13 billion in the third quarter of 2018 compared with a year earlier, the Commerce Department reported. Technically, that money is paid by Americans who bring the goods across the border, and it is often passed on to American consumers in the form of higher prices.
- “My administration has cut more regulations in a short period of time than any other administration during its entire tenure.”
This is false.
The Trump administration has slowed the pace of adopting new rules, and it has moved to roll back some existing or proposed federal regulations, particularly in the area of environmental protection. The White House claimed that as of October, a total of $33 billion worth of future regulator costs had been eliminated. But experts say the scale of the rollbacks in the Trump era still does not exceed extensive cuts in federal rules during the Carter and Reagan administrations, when rules governing airline, truck and rail transportation were wiped off the books, among other changes.
- “We have created 5.3 million new jobs and importantly added 600,000 new manufacturing jobs — something which almost everyone said was impossible to do, but the fact is, we are just getting started.”
This is false.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that since January 2017, when Mr. Trump took office, the economy has added 4.9 million jobs, including 454,000 jobs manufacturing jobs. Far from being “impossible,” that is closely comparable to the pace of job creation during some two-year periods during the Obama administration, and significantly slower than the pace of job creation in manufacturing in the 1990s.
- Wages were “growing for blue-collar workers, who I promised to fight for. They are growing faster than anyone thought possible.”
This is true, with explanation
Wages are rising faster for construction and manufacturing workers than workers in service occupations, according to the Labor Department.
But workers are working 2 or 3 jobs to support their family.
- “More people are working now than at any time in our history.”
This is misleading.
While the total number of people working in the United States is higher than ever, it is not because of the president’s policies. It is because more people than ever live in the United States.
- Immigration
“The border city of El Paso, Tex., used to have extremely high rates of violent crime — one of the highest in the entire country, and considered one of our nation’s most dangerous cities. Now, immediately upon its building, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of the safest cities in our country.”
This is false.
El Paso was never one of the most dangerous cities in the United States, and crime has been declining in cities across the country — not just El Paso — for reasons that have nothing to do with border fencing. In 2008, before border barriers had been completed in El Paso, the city had the second-lowest violent crime rate among more than 20 similarly sized cities. In 2010, after the fencing went up, it held that place.
The El Paso sheriff blasts Trump’s ‘false narrative’ on border crime.
Trump never mention the nearly 3,500 children have been separated from their parents held in tents next to the Mexican border. Children 2 years old and older, it’s a “scandal.” Trump doesn’t have any policy for this problem.
The speech was too long, poorly written. Good points, depends on who you talk too. But it was typical “Trump” me, me. Other presidents would recognize a leader in his Cabinet or armed forces for their accomplishments. Trump’s nostalgic rhetoric on World War II was reminiscent of statements often uttered by Russian leaders.
Why Trump does give so many false claims when he talks? In the last six months Trump gave 4,229 false claims. Trumps lying more and more. Has he lost it or doesn’t he care?
