President Donald Trump's attempt at a State of the Union victory lap Tuesday night deserved the silent reception it received from congressional Democrats along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's brash closing gesture of disapproval. No amount of excessively enthusiastic cheering from Republicans can hide the fact that Trump will forever stand impeached for his blatant abuse of office. Wednesday's Senate vote to let him stay in office neither erases his crimes nor repairs the damage he inflicted.
For good reason, Pelosi labeled the speech a "manifesto of mistruths." Consider Trump's assertion that "the state of our union is stronger than ever before." National unity has been badly shaken by an unfit leader bereft of ethical grounding and utterly incapable of admitting his own serious mistakes.
Trump asserted that America is "highly respected again." By whom? At the last G-7 summit, other world leaders were caught on camera mocking Trump. In Britain, he is followed wherever he goes by a giant balloon caricature of the president wearing diapers. Trump's newly announced Middle East peace plan was correctly dismissed around the world as a joke.
If Russia respects American power, why do its warplanes and ships continue to regularly harass their American counterparts? He emboldened Russian military adventurism by weakening Ukraine's ability to defend itself _ all while Trump awaited quid pro quo political favors. He defended Russia despite U.S. intelligence reports confirming Russian meddling in U.S. elections. Iran injured more than 60 U.S. troops during rocket attacks last month on their bases, and Trump did nothing in retaliation. This "respect" is purely a figment of Trump's imagination.
The economy continues on the robust upward trajectory that Trump inherited from President Barack Obama. But today's performance hardly deserves Trump's self-aggrandizing appraisal of historic success. Economic growth rates remain disappointing _ and a far cry from the levels that he promised would generate enough revenue to pay for his $2.3 trillion 2017 tax cut. The budget deficit, $665 billion before the tax cut, has ballooned to $1.1 trillion. Trump's claims of massive job creation still don't rise to the monthly averages achieved under Obama.
"Consumer confidence has just reached amazing new highs," Trump asserted _ on the same day that Macy's announced plans to close 125 of its department stores. According to Moody's Analytics, business confidence has been on a steady decline for the past year. Industrial production has been down for three of the past four months. Gross domestic product has been flat for three straight quarters.
The respect Trump talks about is something earned, not demanded. Trump offers no respect to Congress or Pelosi and deserves none in return. Whether we are strong as a union will be measured in our ability to hold together in spite of Trump, not because of him.
