Abolitionist Theodore Parker once said, “there are no accidents in politics.” While used to describe the rise of President John Tyler, the quote perfectly describes this year’s State of the Union Address and the aftermath that followed.
The State of the Union address was written into the Constitution as a way to “give Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” While it has been a tradition since Woodrow Wilson’s presidency to give a speech, it is not mandatory. Since his speech, the purpose of the address has changed from discussing budgets and the administrative reports of executive departments to promoting the presidential agenda. This history leads us to the State of the Union address on Feb. 4.
The day had already been contentious for President Trump and Congress, with Senators giving their speeches on whether or not they would vote to convict Trump for his impeachment. The actual voting would occur the next day. While it was already known that Trump would be acquitted, as the Democrats did not have enough votes, many were waiting to see if the President would speak about it in his speech. He chose not to, but the event was still politicized and made Congress seem juvenile.
The immature behavior started with Trump not shaking Speaker Pelosi’s hand before giving the speech, a long-standing tradition at the State of the Union, and the notable absence of some Democrat representatives. Speaker Nancy Pelosi also veered from precedent and did not give the President the traditional introduction before the address.
During the speech, Trump used a military homecoming to try to make himself look better. He promoted a Tuskeegee airman and gave a Medal of Freedom to radio show host Rush Limbaugh for the same reason. Director of the CIA, Gina Haspel, clapped and gave standing ovations to Trump, the man who has disparaged the agency she is in charge of and worked at for years. Her actions were unusual because most of the former CIA directors never showed up to the address, let alone clapped, because they felt it was important to show they were bipartisan.
At the end of the speech, Speaker Pelosi decided to rip her copy of the speech while still in the chamber and in front of all the guests and cameras. Afterward, Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Florida, filed for an ethics investigation on Pelosi ripping her copy, saying that Pelosi destroyed public records. His argument does not hold, though. Pelosi did not tear the original, and the president Gaetz supports constantly does the same thing and has forced the government to hire people to piece together ripped-up documents.
The immaturity of the politicians today is astounding. These are supposed to be the people we elect because we trust them to make important decisions. Instead, we have hypocritical politicians trying to create “made for TV” clips that will get shared online.
Both political parties are at fault. When looking at the Republicans, Gaetz acted foolishly, and the party came up short trying to use the homecoming of a deployed soldier to show love for the military. Trump has a history of disparaging John McCain and former generals who worked under him, gold star families, traumatic brain injuries and pardoning members of the military convicted of war crimes.
The Democrats’ failure is simple. They rail against the childish actions of Trump and other Republicans, but then they act immature themselves. No matter how much a member of Congress does not like the president, they should not skip the State of the Union. Part of Congress’ role is to receive this address, and all members of Congress should be there to fulfill their constitutional duty. Democrats attack Trump for his actions on TV, yet the leader of their party rips a copy of the speech to send a message to the Democratic base.
The State of the Union address demonstrated how awful American politics has become and is becoming. Some have called for the government to devolve into a body without bipartisanship, which would lead to more behavior like what we saw at the State of the Union. All of the performances at the address were planned to show the respective political parties that they will not allow the other party to control them and what they do. But this mentality prevents cooperation between parties from ever starting up again.
The hatred of the Democratic party as a whole will grow and push Republicans not to compromise on bills. Democratic supporters will continue to believe all Republicans are childish and will push Democrats not to compromise as well. This phenomenon is why many people solely vote along party lines. In a 2019 Gallup survey, only 32 percent of Americans showed pride in the political system.
Our democracy functions through compromise and discussions, not passive-aggressive actions. Everyone that takes part in our democracy deserves to have a say in it, not just those who are in the same party as those in power.
