By Jay H. Ell
The US President’s State of the Union address is supposed to be a highlight in an otherwise dreary Congressional year. This year, it was delivered by a president mired in controversy and scandal. In the event, he gave it his best shot – at two and a half hours, it was the longest State of the Union address in American history.
The Republicans were hoping for a lift as they face a disastrous mid-term election, largely due to Trump’s outrageous first year in office. The good news for them was that he stayed more or less on script, arguing that America had entered a ‘Golden Age’. The bad news is that only his sycophantic cult believed him. The week ended with an attack on Iran, which was not on the agenda of the MAGA base, with incalculable future repercussions.
Despite all of this, the speech once again illustrated the hold Trump has over Republican legislators, who dutifully and spinelessly gave him one standing ovation after another – which was particularly jarring when he was speaking palpable rubbish. ‘Our country is winning again,’ he declaimed. ‘In fact, we’re winning so much we really don’t know what to do about it.’
Before the president even started, he was coping with an historic Supreme Court ruling against his tariff policies; more disturbing allegations against him from the Epstein files; and Republican Congressional women demanding the resignation of a colleague who had had a relationship with a staff member, who subsequently committed suicide (if he bowed out, it would reduce the Republican majority in Congress to two).
Then there were the revelations that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recruits were poorly trained and instructed to break the law in the course of arrests  and entering properties; revelations that the brake on health research has resulted in a brain drain; and – to cap it all – a crash in Trump’s approval rating to record low of 36 percent.
Trump was put out that the 70 Democrats did not pitch up to listen to his address, and screamed ‘ sabotage’. Those present were hardly deferential, one holding up a poster reading ’Black people aren’t apes’, in reference to Trump posting a picture on his Truth Social of the Obamas’ faces on the bodies of apes. A few shouted that he was killing people, and they all refused to stand at the behest of his crony patriotism. So the Dems got the message that they needed to show some spine and forget the standing rules of order.
There were five simultaneous State of the Union protest meetings, the largest of which was held on the steps of the Capitol by the podcaster MeidaTouch and the activist movement Move On.
Democratic lawmakers made appearances, usually accompanied by a victim of one sort or another who had a harrowing story to tell. The production was remarkably slick, bearing in mind that it had been put together in a few preceding days. It also garnered a sensational 2.1 million views online.
But Trump’s most significant setback was the Supreme Court decision about his tariffs which, he said, he ‘loved’. This means that any tariffs imposed from now on have to be approved by Congress. The tone of the ruling has signalled that the love fest between the Judiciary and the Executive could be over.
What seemed obvious, namely that tariffs are a form of tax, had not prevented Trump from initiating the former as a central feature of his fiscal policy. The Constitution specifically states that ‘the power of the purse’ is the prerogative of the Legislature, not the president. Nevertheless, it was regarded as a massive deal when the Supreme Court unceremoniously threw Trump’s capricious tariffs out. They had been the central feature of Trump’s economic policy.
Pundits were comparing the court’s response to a 1935 ruling which reined in FDR’s New Deal and a 1952 ruling which undid Harry Truman’s attempt to nationalize the steel industry while the country was at war with Korea. So once again Donald J. Trump is up there with the greats. However, the ruling heralded a disastrous few days for Trump and his administration.
Following the ruling, Trump began on script, whining how ’deeply disappointed’ he was. Then, in a 45-minute rant, he attacked the judges personally: ’I’m ashamed of certain members of the court. Absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what is right for the country. … They’re just being fools and lapdogs for the Rhinos and radical left Democrats …’ He went on to claim that the court had been ‘swayed by foreign interests’, and added: ‘It’s an embarrassment to their families and to one another.’
Trump went on for days, posting half-a-dozen diatribes on ’Truth Social’ attacking his former enablers on the Court, while what passes for his moral compass, The Dow Jones Stock Exchange Index and his poll numbers, dived. At least in his El Duce State of the Union address, he merely expressed his ’disappointment’ with the four of the nine judges who pitched up.
He went on to say that he wanted to do away with income tax and replace it with tariffs. This would mean that the entire financial burden of the state would be carried by those in lower income groups as opposed to billionaires.
Trump trumpeted his border and immigration policies by arguing that ‘ … the United States has the strongest and most secure border in history …’.  Rather than addressing the Gestapo-like actions of the Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol Agencies, and the fact that they are badly trained and instructed to ignore the law, he detailed crimes committed by illegal immigrants in in gruesome detail, and ignored the cold-blooded murders committed by ICE.
The 47th president ranted on and on, attacking former presidents. ‘The first duty of the American Government is to American citizens, not illegal aliens’, he thundered. He also launched a racist attack on American citizens of Somali origin – his newest worst friends.
Trump did not refer to the massive increase in detention centres which – to coin a phrase — are going to Make America White Again (MAWA). He basically declared victory for his new ’army’, in the form of ICE. Presumably he felt that the widespread protests and the fact that they had been kicked out of LA, Chicago, Minneapolis and elswhere  did not mean that he had lost the war againsgt Americans.
Trump’s address couldn’t have helped his woes. Viewing was down 11 percent from last year, and no blip in his miserable 36 percent approval rating. So it would be up to MAWA. Significantly, he also put in a serious lug for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, which require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship at the time of registration, and a photo ID at the time of voting. It was passed by the House of Representatives in February.
There are armies of Democratic lawyers ready to file motions against executive orders or legislation to restrict voting. In terms of the Constitution, elections are meant to be run by States, just like the ’power of the purse’ belongs to the Federal Legislature.
The protests continue daily. Another No Kings national rally is planned for 28 March, and the organised are hoping to smash the 7 million attendance record.
What is certain is that Trump will do just about anything to avoid a crushing Republican defeat in the mid-term elections in November. One needs to recall that, in 2020, he openly supported insurrectionists, and threatened the Republican Secretary of State of Georgia that all he needed to do was ‘find 11,800 votes which was one more than he lost by’.
Expect vitriol, hate, anger, fear-mongering, executive orders, strategies to restrict voting, allegations of cheating, and attempts to create emergencies. Everything is at stake for both sides. investigations into Trump and his cronies if the Democrats win, and the demise of democracy for a long, long time if the Republicans win.
Someone should whisper in Trump’s ear that America is a essentially diverse society, and it is 250 years too late to unscramble the omelette and MAWA, let alone MAWMA – Make America White Male Again, to coin another phrase.
Update: In the end, it was all too complicated to resolve, and war with Iran moved to the top of the Trump agenda. It remains to be seen whether the bulk of American voters — and legislators — will decide whether this move was legal or illegal — and what the consequences are going to be.
This is an edited version of a post by Jay H. Ell, the psuedonym of a former SA student leader who lives and works in the United States, on his blog I Write What I Like. Used with permission.