Trump took the stage Tuesday night to present the first State of the Union address of his second term. The speech came on the heels of two serious blows taken by his administration in recent weeks. One blow was dealt by the Supreme Court, whose 6-3 decision struck down most of his “Liberation Day” tariffs. The other blow was more consequential, dealt by the working class of Minneapolis on January 23, when thousands of people refused to go to work, grinding sections of the economy to a halt and forcing ICE to retreat.
But for every step back that Trump is forced to take, he simply claims victory all the louder:
“Our country is winning again. In fact, we’re winning so much that we really don’t know what to do about it. People are asking me: ‘Please, please, please, Mr. President, we’re winning too much; we can’t take it anymore. We’re not used to winning in our county. Until you came along, we were just always losing, but now we are winning too much.’”
Trump claims “the golden age of America is upon us,” which is a bold claim for a President with a 39% approval rating.
The point, however, is not to take Trump’s words too literally, but to see what they represent. This is a president who is doubling down, unrepentant and defiant. He shakes off checks on his executive authority by Congress or by the courts and finds ways to plow ahead. Trump boasted, “our enemies are scared.” These enemies include rival states in the inter-imperialist conflict, including China and its allies Iran and Venezuela, but he also vilifies “the enemy at home,” including immigrants, working-class socialist and union activists, trans and LGBTQ+ people, in addition to his Democratic opposition. As the midterm season approaches, Trump will want to strike back against his enemies in order to score a “win” and strengthen his position.
The Roaring Economy?
Trump declared that “inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising fast…the roaring economy is roaring like never before.” That’s a difficult pill to swallow for the 52% of Americans who think Trump’s policies have made the economy worse. But according to Trump, these struggling people must simply be wrong, because the stock market is booming! And he credits all this to his beloved tariffs that the Supreme Court so “unfortunately” ruled against.
Trump’s response to the court was to double down on tariffs. He bragged about reintroducing tariffs by new means, and that they would be even better than before. He boasted that his tariffs stopped wars. He even claimed that tariffs could replace income tax! This is a fantasy that, even if it could be achieved, would benefit the super rich as working-class people bear the costs of tariffs passed onto them by corporations.
He touted (and exaggerated) the low price of gas and eggs, but these are the exceptions—grocery and utility prices overall are up. In truth, the US has a two-speed economy: fast for the rich, and slow for the rest of us. Markets are riding high on big AI bets, but even the capitalists are anxious about when it will all come crashing down.
Two Lies & A Truth
Like all good charlatans, Trump wraps some of his lies around a kernel of truth. Pointing his finger at the Democrats in the chamber, he railed against the corruption of the elites:
“For decades, before I came along… everything was stolen and rigged in order to drain the wealth out of the productive and hard-working people who make our country great, who make our country run… You caused that problem. You caused that problem.”
Addressing the crippling cost of health care, Trump called out the Democrats’ Obamacare for being a system built for the big insurance companies, not for the people. That much is true! Trump called instead to redirect federal money from insurance companies to peoples’ pockets so they can buy their own healthcare, which doesn’t solve the problem. The reason that health care is expensive is not Obamacare, it’s the profit-driven system itself that is controlled by those same big insurance companies. We need to eliminate private insurance entirely and guarantee free healthcare for all.
Trump masqueraded as a friend and protector of the American worker, saying that he has and will put more money into their pockets. It’s a message that is very appealing to millions of working-class people drowning under rising costs. But much of it is exaggerated or won’t materialize. For instance, his tax exemption for tipped wages will result in modest income boosts for a small subset of workers, but not for those on the lowest end of the pay scale, and it’s expected to incentivize employers to reduce base wages. Every bone he throws to working people is outweighed by his tax breaks for the rich, his cuts to services, and his repression. He said he lifted 2.4 million people off of food stamps—more like threw them off!
Divide & Rule
What’s the cause of all the crime and corruption Trump is supposedly cleaning up? According to Trump it’s the Democrats’ “open borders” that let in “millions and millions” of undocumented immigrants: “There were murderers, 11,888 murders. They came into our country. You allowed that to happen.”
In one breath Trump (rightly) criticizes Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic elites for corruption and insider trading (though never notes that he’s profited $1.4 billion from his presidency), and in the next he blames the “plundering of America” on the entire Somali community in Minnesota in a vicious, racist fashion that dehumanizes entire parts of the world.
This is all part of Trump’s divide-and-rule strategy to turn working-class people against each other. He stokes fears of crime and violence in order to justify the funding of his regime’s campaign of ICE terror. This militarized machine that Trump is building has devastated immigrant communities and killed with impunity. The fact that his administration continues to open dozens of new detention centers shows they show no sign of stopping the mass deportations and violence.
The Enemy Abroad
Trump’s attacks on his fabricated “enemy at home” are mirrored by the beating of the war drums against his enemies abroad. With a massive military buildup around Iran, the largest since before the Iraq War of 2003, he threatened dire consequences unless the Islamic Republic grants him a nuclear deal in the interests of US imperialism. He bragged about last year’s air strikes that “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities, but warned that they were now trying to rebuild them.
Trump sang the praises of his brazen imperialist attack on Venezuela when US forces kidnapped Nicolas Maduro and replaced him with Delcy Rodriguez, who Trump believes will do his bidding. He took credit for achieving the return of all the Israeli hostages in Gaza, while admitting that the genocidal violence continues at a “low level” under the fake ceasefire he brokered. Prior to taking office Trump claimed he would end the Russia-Ukraine war on day one; now he says it “never would have happened” had he been in charge.
Draping himself in the flag and valorizing military destruction is all part of the distraction: Trump wants to wow us with imperialist muscle and demonize the enemies of US imperialism.
Forward To The Midterms
As we head into the midterms this year, Trump called on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act. Under the paper-thin pretense of combating voter fraud by undocumented immigrants, the SAVE America Act would in reality impede many working-class, Black, female, trans, and immigrant citizens from voting. By so brazenly touting the necessity of the SAVE America Act for the legitimacy of the midterm elections, Trump is laying the groundwork to call the results into question should the act fail to pass in Congress.
Trump 2.0’s first State of the Union address, the longest of its kind in history, is full of distractions and lies. He peddles an American dream where income tax can be replaced by tariffs, and where a fortified border guards the hypothetical loot from the rest of the world. It’s a fantasy, but it’s also his midterm campaign strategy.
The Democrats tell a different lie: that they can stand for working people and that they can beat Trump’s reactionary agenda. What working-class people really need is a new anti-racist, anti-war party for working people, based in mass struggle, that fights to drain the wealth out of our unproductive bosses and to build a society of abundance for our entire class, the working class.
Photo: The White House
