The Economist: Donald Trump's unworthy state of the union

At the beginning of his first term as president, Donald Trump used his address to a joint session of Congress to deliver “a message of unity and strength”, urging bipartisan action as he looked nine years ahead to America’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of its declaration of independence. “What will America look like as we reach our 250th year?” he wondered then.

As Mr Trump marked the arrival of that anniversary in his state-of-the-union speech on February 24th, America does not look at all like the country that, on the occasion of his rookie outing nine years ago, he tried to conjure. Mr Trump began that address, in February 2017, by observing that it was Black History Month and declaring there was still work to be done on “our nation’s path toward civil rights”. He urged support from Congress for some initiatives that remain central to his politics, such as building a border wall, but also for others that have long since shrivelled, such as “positive immigration reform”, along with “accessible and affordable” child care, new investment in women’s health and for “clean air and clean water”, and a “rebirth of hope” in “our neglected inner cities”. Mr Trump told Congress then, “True love for our people requires us to find common ground.”

This week, as Mr Trump heralded the American anniversary, he still touted grandiose visions—of a “golden age” and a “turnaround for the ages”, achieved in just his first year back in office—but they did not include any summons to an American common ground. He did not mention unity. Instead he repeatedly called Democratic congressmen “sick” and “crazy” and said they were “destroying our country”. If they had power, he warned, they would open America’s borders to “some of the worst criminals anywhere in the world”, the likes of the “Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota” by committing fraud. He said Democrats can win elections only by cheating.

What happened, in the past decade, to the president who once talked about unity? And to the country where that idea still seemed plausible, or at least desirable, in its politics? An impeachment, a pandemic, a racial reckoning over police violence, an insurrection to block the peaceful transfer of power and then another impeachment, plus assorted lawsuits and prosecutions probably all played roles. So did Mr Trump’s growing confidence in the power of his polarising politics. After all, he dutifully read that first speech to Congress off the teleprompter, and it lasted just an hour. This time, he set a numbing record for such speeches, at an hour and 48 minutes, and he was most engaged with his material when he departed from his script, though his “weave” became ever more frayed as the evening wore on. (“Space Force is my baby, because we did that,” he said, to entirely Republican applause, though he said nothing about what the force was up to.)

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