After a year of Donald Trump being restored to the White House, Americans are increasingly sick of the president. In the 2024 presidential election, he clearly benefited from having been out of office — and from the short attention span of swing voters, who clearly forgot the chaos and incompetence that defined the former reality TV host’s first term. Now that he’s in everyone’s faces again, his polls are rapidly sinking. But Trump, ever the narcissist, apparently thought he knew a way to win back the hearts and minds of the American people: by droning at them for nearly two hours in a State of the Union address that was as dishonest as it was tedious. While it’s unlikely he won people over, Trump did showcase his ability to manipulate viewers, largely by saving the worst parts of his speech until most of them had long gone to bed.
Tuesday’s address was boring, but at least it was mildly entertaining to watch Republicans in the House of Representatives chamber compete with each other to give standing ovations that made the performances in “The Death of Stalin” look understated. Of course there is always performative applause at the annual speech, regardless of party. But the GOP’s eagerness to show the narcissist-in-chief how they love him the most got out of control. Republicans seemed to hop out of their seats every five seconds as Trump lied about how he turned a “dead” country into the “hottest.” It was enough to wish a charley horse on them, as the theatrics were meant to prove the president’s lies about the country experiencing “a turnaround for the ages.”
