I have watched dozens of these speeches & that was the least engagement with the opposition party I have ever seen.
There was none.
As #Trump walked into #Congress, a lawmaker — it appeared to be #MelanieStansbury, a #Democrat from New Mexico — held up a sign saying “This is not normal.” Reporters in the chamber are saying that it was ripped out of her hands.
Brilliant! #Democrats have paddles like Olympic Judges to #FactCheck #TrumpLies!
#Trump can’t take it & ad libs insults at #Democrats.
Edited 12d ago
Side bar: Rep #AlGreen’s official twitter account has spent the last few days tweeting about people who committed acts of defiance: #NatTurner. #HarrietTubman. The #Democrat from #Texas’s pinned post is of the late congressman #JohnLewis.
#TrumpLies are too many for me to live #FactCheck. I’ll try to deal w/that shitshow later, tho I’ll highlight a few.
E.G.
Trump just claimed he’s stopped “government censorship” & “brought back free speech in America.” In reality, Trump has signed #ExecutiveOrders that’s required the govt to scrub certain words & phrases from the public domain, dictating “patriotic education,” & just today announced that #schools would lose federal funding if they allowed students to engage in certain protests.
Edited 12d ago
Holy hell. He is listing a bunch of stuff & he is lying about all of it. I just can’t.
“Nobody has ever heard of” #Lesotho, #Trump says, continuing his track record of dismissing lower-income countries. Lesotho has 2.3 million residents, a bit larger than New Mexico & more populous than 13 states. Lesotho is also larger than Melania’s native country of Slovenia, which only has 2.1 million people.
A lot of boos as #Trump praised #ElonMusk & #DOGE.
Trump is lying about something that he & #Musk have said before: that there’s massive “fraud” in #SocialSecurity being paid out to deceased Americans still in the system.
Analysts & watchdog groups have thoroughly DEBUNKED this crap.
The problem is neither new nor a sign of widespread fraud, but a technological issue w/Social Security’s tracking system & does not represent a source of significant spending.
#Trump falsely stated that #DOGE has found “hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud.” DOGE has claimed to have cut $9 billion thus far.
Trump is talking about firing federal workers & “reclaiming power from bureaucrats.” His efforts to expand presidential power by firing workers and removing independent agency leaders have been largely blocked so far in federal courts.
#Trump trashes the federal work force for not being at work in person since the pandemic, & says those who “resist this change will be removed from office immediately.”
The days of being ruled by “unelected bureaucrats” are over, Trump says.
#Democrats scoff & point up at the gallery where #Musk is sitting.
Most #Republicans stood up to applaud #Trump’s announcement that he would impose reciprocal #tariffs on April 2, but several remained seated, including Sens #LisaMurkowski (Alaska), #SusanCollins (Maine) & #RogerWicker (Mississippi).
I don’t care if they sit or stand. I want them to vote for the US interests & stop kowtowing to Trump.
#Trump promised #auto industry growth even as all automakers have stated that his #tariffs on #Mexico & #Canada will disrupt their North American #SupplyChains & increase costs for them that they will pass on to #consumers.
#Trump claimed that his #trade policy will be “great” for the American #farmer because they won’t have to compete w/foreign producers.
Actual #farmers point out that the #US #agriculture industry produces far more corn, soybeans, pork, chicken, cattle etc. than Americans could possibly consume. Farmers say they need foreign markets, but other countries impose #tariffs on their goods in #retaliation for Trump’s tariffs. That cuts them off from the foreign customers they need.
#Trump is praising a bill that Sen John Thune, the majority leader, has pushed to criminalize online “#RevengePorn.” Then he says that he could make use of such a bill himself, because no one is treated worse online that he is.
He has no idea what he’s talking about.
If anything, Trump would be the #criminal offender in this scenario, not the freaking victim.
Jackass.
Note #Democrats all applauded this bill.
Just as a tolerance metric, we are now heading into the second hour of this crap.
This also means my commentary will decrease as my ability to endure the torture decreases.
Edited 12d ago
#Trump says that #Congress should repeal a #law that would supercharge #US manufacturing of semiconductor chips. The #CHIPS & #Science Act was signed into law by Pres #Biden & heralded as a #bipartisan victory ensuring the US would no longer rely on foreign countries to produce the chips needed in a majority of the #technology we use. Along w/ #Democrats, 24 House #Republicans voted to approve the bill. Many of them were targeted by #FarRight colleagues & #MAGA for backing a Democrat bill.
Into hour 2 of #Trump’s speech & he hasn’t said a thing about #Ukraine, #Gaza or his approach to the other burning #ForeignPolicy questions that have unsettled leaders around the world since he came to office 6 weeks ago. You know like aligning himself with #Russia, abdicating the #UnitedStates’ role as the leader of the free world, attacking our #allies, little thins like that. 🤦🏼♀️
Okay, now #trump is claiming to be tackling #toxic #chemical exposure & heralding #RFKJr as the #health secy. This will be very difficult for me to watch. #Liar.
Holy shit, he’s claiming a kid received #transition #medical procedures at school during the school day. Literally impossible.
He says #transgender care is mutilation.
#PublicHealth #science #medicine #ConspiracyTheories #hate #bigotry #heterosexism #LGBTQIA #HumanRights #CivilRights #FactCheck #TrumpLies
Edited 12d ago
In a full-on #antivax #ConspiracyTheory moment, #Trump vowed again to figure out “what is going on” with high rates of #autism, by tasking his #health secy, #RFKJr, w/the responsibility. This question has been a focus for Trump since his first term — & is a source of concern for Democrats & in the #PublicHealth community.
Sen. #BernieSanders (I-Vermont) just walked out of #Trump’s speech.
#Trump outlined a vision of American #expansionism: building up our naval capacity, reclaiming the #PanamaCanal, & pledging to “get” #Greenland, “one way or another.”
He didn’t mention his aim to make #Canada the 51st state. But that may be because he doesn’t want to get into the horribly idiotic & disastrous #tariffs he placed on Canada & #Mexico today.
Fucking hell, #Trump totally & on live TV just called Sen #ElizabethWarren “Pocahontas” - a sick racial slur.
I think #Trump is finally wrapping up. He’s sticking to the teleprompter at least now.
Even still, he has gone over 1½ hours, the longest address to a #JointSession of #congress in all of American history.
Edited 12d ago
#ElissaSlotkin’s Democratic response to #Trump’s address may go down as the first time the rebuttal was far-far superior to the actual speech. Just saying.
#Slotkin opens by saying that “America wants change” but that there is a “responsible way” & a “reckless” way, framing Trump’s approach as chaotic.
Slotkin is not just going after Trump but also #ElonMusk. She specifically cites his recent quote that #SocialSecurity is the “biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”
Edited 12d ago
#ElissaSlotkin spoke favorably of #Reagan in contrast to #Trump’s approach re #Russia & #Ukraine. She said Reagan “must be rolling over in his grave” following the Oval Office meeting last week & that she is thankful Reagan was president in the 1980s — & not Trump.
#ElissaSlotkin goes after #Trump’s scattershot approach to laying off thousands of #FederalWorkers.
“The mindless firing of people who work to protect our #NuclearWeapons, keep our #planes from crashing, & conduct the research that finds the cure for #cancer — only to re-hire them 2 days later? No CEO in America could do that without being summarily fired,” she said.
Edited 12d ago
Watch Sen #ElissaSlotkin’s rebuttal to #Trump’s lie filled address to the #JointSession of #Congress.