News
President Donald Trump's joint address to congress, delivered Tuesday night, has already been lauded by media outlets, supporters, and critics as more "restrained," "measured," and even "more presidential" than speeches delivered in his usual ~straight-talking~ tone. However, the realities of Trump's hypocrisy is already glaringly obvious. Whether it's too-little, too-late recognition of marginalized groups being targeted, taking credit for job market changes announced prior to his swearing-in, or his refusal to take responsibility for a fatal mission in Yemen, the theatrics of this speech seem to exist (like so many things in Trump world) in an alternate universe.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi identified this issue immediately in a statement following the address.
The President's speech was utterly disconnected from the cruel reality of his conduct. The President speaks like a populist, but he is selling working people down the river to Wall Street. He claims that he's making America safer, but he has jeopardized the security of our country and weakened our fight against terror with his administration's dangerous, incompetent and unconstitutional actions.
Pelosi went on to call this speech an example of a "bait and switch assault" on America — and here are just a few examples of that bait and switch in action.
He Promised To "Expand Treatment" For Individuals Suffering From Drug Addiction
This promise (again, notably framed using his anti-immigrant scare rhetoric referencing drug cartels) exists in opposition to his promises to remove the Affordable Care Act — due to the fact that many individuals who are treated for addiction are helped by/rely on Obamacare's Medicaid expansion.
Claiming That Immigration Laws Are Going To "Raise Wages & Help The Unemployed."
A bulk of President Trump's rhetoric on his version of immigration reform has been based on national security — here he returns to an old narrative of "the job-stealing immigrant" by promising a "merit-based" system that will better benefit American-born workers. Unfortunately, many economists have found that native workers tend to benefit from immigration. Research also finds that wages go up for native American workers.
For those watching this speech (and those who have followed Trump's penchant for saying one thing and doing another), it's nothing new to see another round of hypocritical rhetoric deep fried in saccharine, patriotic cliché. Yet, if we're going to make it out of this without seeing this sort of thing as normal, we need to keep recognizing these moments and keep talking about them.