First, a confession: I normally detest the State of the Union tradition, even when they technically aren't SOTUs. I have written in the past that the imperial trappings are an affront to a self-governing republic, and that the obsequious submission of Congress in the pomp is unworthy of the co-equal branch representing the states and the people. Plus, all of this is usually put in service of an overblown campaign speech.
Last night, however, was ... something else. Both Donald Trump and Democrats came for revenge, and someone clearly emerged as the winner. And it wasn't the 2025 reboot of Pink Lady and Jeff, either.
Trump made this clear after triumphally walking through the rapid success of his border-security and immigration enforcement policies. After four years of catastrophic chaos on the southern border and a flood of illegal aliens across it, Trump brought the level to an all-time low in just 40 days -- without any new legislation or funding from Congress.
That set up this massive dunk on a Democrat contingent that had already tried repeatedly to disrupt the speech:
Yes 🙌🏼 All we needed was a NEW President!
— Mary 🤦🏼♀️🇺🇸 (@Mary_McMuffin) March 5, 2025
pic.twitter.com/mT62i9usie
Trump attacked Democrats relentlessly during his speech, both directly and strategically. Later in the speech, Trump began telling the stories of the people he had invited as guests to the speech, which turned into a weird Rorschach test for Democrats in the audience.
The Comperatore family represented the late Corey Comperatore, who was killed in the attempt to assassinate Trump, and ... Democrats didn't stand, and barely even applauded. Trump introduced the Riley family, whose daughter Laken was murdered by an illegal alien. Still nothing much from Democrats. Same for the family of Jocelyn Nungaray, also murdered by illegal aliens, and for whom Trump renamed a wildlife preserve near Houston in an EO he presented to Congress. Trump informed a young man that he'd been accepted to West Point in a surprise announcement, and Democrats glowered.
But the piece de résistance -- heavy on the résistance -- was the Democrats' refusal to participate in perhaps one of the sweetest SOTU moments of all time:
President Trump gives a shoutout to D.J. Daniel, who was diagnosed with brain cancer and given five months to live over six years ago.
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) March 5, 2025
He was sworn in as an honorary police officer, and now President Trump made him a Secret Service agent. pic.twitter.com/ZzZthKg4Wz
A short time later, Trump made the announcement about the West Point admission, D.J. Daniel made sure to give the young man a high-five. There likely wasn't a dry eye anywhere in America, except ... among Democrats glowering in their seats the whole time:
if you’re not clapping for a kid with brain cancer, you have serious mental issues. pic.twitter.com/vplrWazDwA
— Central Valley Politics (@CV__Politics) March 5, 2025
So ... what did Democrats offer? An earnest but utterly outmatched Elissa Slotkin grumbling about Elon Musk and "20-year-olds" accessing taxpayer information -- as though Slotkin hadn't voted to hire 87,000 off the street into the IRS to have the exact same access. Oh, and they also had Al Green shaking his stick and refusing to shut up until Speaker Mike Johnson had Green ejected. Notably, it came just after Trump bragged about his popular-vote win:
The Free Press' River Page scoffed at this nonsense:
That meant there was time for Trump to do a lot. But first, before Trump really got going, the Democrats made their presence felt in the form of an old man shaking a stick. Texas Representative Al Green, 77, heckled Trump repeatedly, cane in hand, until he was eventually kicked out by Speaker Mike Johnson. It was the first in a series of visuals that didn’t exactly scream “The Democrats are back.” Trump reveled in the confrontation with Democrats, who, with many wearing pink jackets and holding little round signs that said things like “False” and “Musk Steals,” looked utterly lost.
“I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud,” said Trump early on. “Nothing I can do.”
The rest of America realized it too. And that was before Trump introduced D.J. Daniels.
Nothing says "ready to govern" than having an old man shake his walking stick at the dais without being mic'd up. What did Green say? Does anyone care? It set the tone for more attempts to obstruct the speech, although less cinematically, to be sure. They catcalled from time to time, which suited Trump just fine, as he was itching to humiliate them as much as possible. When they weren't catcalling, they were holding up auction signs with "MUSK STEALS" and other dumb pre-planned messaging.
Set aside the "sore loser" aspect; how did anyone in Democrat leadership think this would make Democrats look at all good? What good are the auction signs when the cameras are almost always pointed at the dais? They made themselves look ridiculous, and even worse, petty and small in their refusal to salute the people Trump highlighted -- especially Daniels. That wasn't at all partisan until Democrats chose to make it partisan -- and to choose the wrong side in doing so.
Democrat strategist and analyst Dan Turrentine couldn't believe his eyes:
I love my Party, but tonight was a new low. I get silence on this or that policy, and the raw politics of the base’s anger. But, for not a single D to stand to applaud a boy’s brave battle with cancer, or a man’s admission to West Point, was a classless disgrace.
— dan turrentine (@danturrentine) March 5, 2025
And…
And maddeningly, while overall Trump’s speech was politically good, there were political holes that could be exploited, juvenile taunts that voters hate, and comical lies. But much of that will be buried by our self-inflicted stupidity.
If nothing else, last night's speech may have been the most clarifying of any SOTU or quasi-SOTU in American history. The gloves came off last night, and not only couldn't Democrats land a punch, they revealed that they fight for nothing but their own collective butthurt. They also have no sense of strategy at all, because if they had one strategic bone in their collective body, they would have realized that this is the worst possible ground for a televised foodfight. It's not called the "bully pulpit" for nothing, and last night, Trump made it literal -- and Americans could see that they had it coming.
I might even look forward to next year's official SOTU now. And I never expected to write those words in my career.
Update: Also ...
And if you're old enough to get the Pink Lady and Jeff reference, let me talk with you for a moment about reverse mortgages. https://t.co/J3le3zG6g3
— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) March 5, 2025
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