SOTU: Will You Still Believe This Tomorrow?

After a year of controversy and upheaval, President Donald Trump made his first State of the Union address Tuesday before a joint session of Congress and a worldwide TV audience.

For nearly an hour and a half, the President talked of unity in a divisive time, hope in a country that desperately needed it, and pet projects like spending billions on the nation's crumbling infrastructure.  He talked of bringing the best and the brightest to these shores--provided they were born here and not from some terrorist haven, while insinuating that some of those so-called "dreamers" are actually violent criminals like the members of the MS-13 gang from New York City.

Trump interrupted his speech from time to time to acknowledge the people he used as product placements to highlight his agenda (the Democrats did the same thing).  Then he went back to boasting about his "accomplishments" during the past year, some of which (like tax reform) he actually had something to do with.  He also kept it civil, avoiding the insults and name calling that marked his past public comments.

The Republicans in the audience responded to nearly everything Trump said with enthusiastic standing ovations worthy of a game show, while the Democrats in the room mostly sat stone-faced on their hands.  The President's constant hand-clapping into the microphones sounded like a faucet dripping in the middle of the night.

Even before the speech, people in Washington were wondering how long Trump's conciliatory rhetoric would last after it was over.  All it takes to burn it down is an errant tweet or three, an offhand remark caught on camera when he thought no one was listening, or just reacting to something he saw on Fox News.

Of course, the things Trump chose not to talk about in his speech are the ones that are thus far defining his presidency.  Such as the ongoing Russian investigation, with the New York Times reporting that the President tried to fire special prosecutor Robert Mueller last summer, until his lawyers talked him out of it.  Or his battle with Congress over whether to make public classified documents of how the FBI is handling the investigation, while their deputy director Andrew McCabe abruptly quits.  Or the alleged payments made to porn actress Stormy Daniels to cover up her reputed affair with Trump.  Or that his approval ratings are hanging around 40 per cent.

President Trump can paint a rosy picture of the kind of America he'd like to see, and take as much credit for it as he possibly can.  The truth is that the state of this union is divided and anxious, wondering how they're going to survive with a man like this at the helm.