A moment of unlimited potential?
Spending 82 minutes watching a President who declared proudly “America will never be a Socialist country” might seem a strange way for someone of my political leaning to spend my time. Both the rhetoric and the reality of this President are anathema to everything I really believe in, but that didn’t make this address any less important, or dramatic.
For a British audience, State of the Union addresses are a little odd to watch, and that’s before you get to the content. The endless standing ovations — often from friend and foe alike. The mini-drama of watching Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi’s every reaction, whilst constantly in picture at the President’s shoulder. Then there is the incredible guest-list of people honoured throughout the speech — veterans, survivors, cancer sufferers. And there in the middle of it all, the Democratic women dressed in white to make (another) powerful statement about Trump and women. Gathered together in the centre of the audience, they looked like whitecaps surfing across the grey-blue rolling Atlantic ocean of nodding men. The backdrop to it all? A President under investigation, the longest Government shutdown in American history and the almost complete polarisation of a nation.
This is theatre worthy of a good day at the office for William Shakespeare. And in this play of many acts, and who knows how may sequels, there sits the impossibly young, bright star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, frequently the focus for the cameras during the speech. So much pressure already and so much scrutiny, driven undoubtedly by so much fear amidst that rolling grey-blue ocean.
What of the content? The problem with these speeches, like party conference speeches at home, is that you have to cover everything. And so, to keep a single point of reference running throughout is pretty much impossible. Nobody will ever cite an 82 minute speech as their favourite ever political address. It is, at least, 72 minutes too long.
But an examination of the content is where the very many problems facing the Democrats can be found. Trump opened his speech with the line “We meet tonight at a moment of unlimited potential.” Again, and again he hammered home the genius, fortitude and achievements of America, forcing Democrats out of their seats in fear of seeming unpatriotic. Most Brits would associate chants of “USA, USA, USA” with a beery late night Sports Bar, but here it was ringing out across the chamber of the United States House of Representatives. Where, I find myself wondering, is the Democratic patriotic answer to this tidal wave of emotion that Trump has unleashed?
Another problem. This President isn’t as straight-forward as his critics like to suggest. There were sections of the speech that no-one could but applaud — the commitment to eliminate HIV inside 10 years; “we will defeat Aids in America — and beyond.” Half a billion to tackle childhood cancer.
There was great writing visible in this speech too, a closing section that could probably have been given by any of the great Presidential orators. The idea of “reigniting the American imagination” is a worthy inheritor of Ronald Reagan’s famous ad “It’s Morning Again in America”.
There were, of course, sections that were provocative beyond measure. The claims that only war or “partisan investigations” could derail economic growth being the most obvious example. Comparing political due process in relation to the President’s behaviour with global conflict rather reinforced the idea that this man has the biggest ego on the planet. On policy issues — the section (and the reaction) on late term abortion was an incredibly difficult thing to watch.
The words that stood out for me most in the whole speech, however? The words “just heard” in the following sentence on immigration and the wall:
We have just heard that Mexican cities, in order to remove the illegal immigrants from their communities, are getting trucks and buses to bring them up to our country in areas where there is little border protection.
These two words stood out for me in a speech of over 5,000 words because they felt so remarkably sinister. In the surrounding passages, with which Simon Lancaster would have a field day, Trump returns to the idea of a caravan of illegal immigrants heading towards America, the familiar language of criminality and danger. But, here with this simple device he adds an electric immediacy to the issue and through sharing this “new” information for the first time extends a bond of trust and intimacy with the listener. Whether or not anything the President is describing is accurate, let alone this immediate, is questionable. This impact is not.
This is what the Democrats are up against. This is what we’re all up against, to an extent. How to communicate patriotism in a way that is progressive, and positive. A test failed by both Scottish Labour and the Remain campaign in recent years. How to find a language and rhetoric that builds a relationship of immediacy and trust with the audience.
CBS viewers gave the President’s speech a 76% approval rating, Trump’s ideas on immigration scored 72%. People are fond of saying that Trump has ripped up the playbook for politics and political communication, I think he’s just found a way that works for him. He will take some beating.
