Tag Archives: State of the Union

Alternative Facts Redux

alternative facts return1

So much like his inauguration numbers, Trump’s first State of the Union numbers couldn’t match his predecessor’s.  More than that, people’s general reaction to Trump’s State of the Union fell very flat compared to Obama.  I think we’re all just waiting for Trump and his people to brag about how successful his SOTU was, how well watched and received it was.  I wonder if we’ll even see the revival of “Alternative Facts”? One can only hope.

Update: I came up with the idea of this panel before Trump actually came out and said his ratings were the highest recorded for the State of the Union.  I would take credit as some kind of prophet, but let’s face it, anyone could have made that prediction if they were following Trump’s behavior even sort of.

Translating the State of the Union

state of the union1So the State of the Union was a dark time for people paying any kind of attention to the rhetoric.  I’ve been combing over transcripts and word choices, because it seems to me that people tend to pay more attention to how things are said, and how the person looked while saying them, then the words actually spoken.  For example, we have this little gem:

“Tonight I call on the congress to empower every Cabinet secretary with the authority to reward good workers—and to remove federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people.”

In other words, he wants Congress to empower his people to fire whoever they want for whatever reasons they can claim are “unAmerican”.  For instance, investigators running witch hunts?