SOTU? Why Trump’s Speech Isn’t the State of the Union (and Why That’s a Good Thing)
Whatever your politics, you should be glad Trump isn’t calling this the State of the Union
Tim Molloy | February 28, 2017 @ 10:55 AM
Last Updated: February 28, 2017 @ 11:17 AM
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President Trump’s address to both houses of Congress tonight might look, feel or even sound like a State of the Union, but it won’t actually be a State of the Union. Here’s why.
Traditionally, a president is in office for a year before giving the State of the Union. The reason is commonsensical enough: A new president generally isn’t responsible for the state of the union — good or bad — after just a few weeks in office. Taking the credit or blame for the state of the union would be unfair to the new president, his predecessor, or both.
We’ve been through this before: Check out this 2009 NPR story, explaining why Obama’s first address to a joint session of Congress — and the nation — wasn’t a State of the Union either.
As CNN notes, President George Washington was the first to address a joint session of Congress, in New York in 1790. (Why not in Washington, DC? Because it didn’t exist in any form we would recognize today: It wasn’t until July 16, 1790, that Washington signed the Residence Act, which created the capital we know and love — or hate, depending. The federal government moved there in 1800.)
The president’s annual message to Congress was rather un-creatively known as “the President’s Annual Message to Congress” — until 1934, when President (and branding genius) Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to it as the “Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union.”
Of course, Trump could choose to call this address the State of the Union, just as Obama could have done in 2009, as NPR explained. As we learned in 1934, the speech is called whatever the president wants to call it.
But chances are, Trump doesn’t want to stand before the nation and say the state of the nation isn’t great — which seemed to be his assessment up until he took office. He stated just last week, “I inherited a mess.”
Does anyone think it would look good for the president — or any president — to stand before the world and say the State of the Union is a mess?
President Trump is scheduled to speak tonight at 9 ET, 6 PT.
8 Times Hypocrite Donald Trump Used the Kind of Anonymous Sources He Now Condemns (Photos)
On Sunday, Donald Trump derided the use of anonymous sourcing in news stories. He also said in February that news outlets "shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name." It's strange he thinks that, because he's used a lot of anonymous sources himself. Here are some examples.
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Two years after President Obama released his birth certificate, Trump said it was not believable to some people. "You know, some people say that was not his birth certificate," he told ABC in August 2013. "I'm saying I don't know. Nobody knows and you don't know either."
Trump took care to describe this source as "extremely credible."
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Trump so often sources information to "many people" (without naming any of them) that there's a well-worn #manypeoplearesaying hashtag on Twitter. The Washington Post wrote an article about it, which includes the examples on the next three slides.
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At a rally in September, a man in Trump's audience said President Obama was a Muslim and “not even an American,” then asked Trump to get rid of Muslim “training camps.”
“You know, a lot of people are saying that, and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there,” Trump responded.
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In early January, Trump said he had heard from many Republicans worried that his rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, was born in Canada.
“I’d hate to see something like that get in his way, but a lot of people are talking about it, and I know that even some states are looking at it very strongly, the fact that he was born in Canada and he has had a double passport,” Trump told the Post.
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In May 2016, Trump told the Post what some "people" believe about the death of Vince Foster. “I don’t bring [Foster’s death] up because I don’t know enough to really discuss it,” Trump said. “I will say there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder. I don’t do that because I don’t think it’s fair.”
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Soon after Trump called for an end to anonymous sourcing, The Associated Press noted, "Members of Trump's White House team regularly demand anonymity when talking to reporters."
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Surprise: Trump berates the news media for doing something he’s done himself
On Sunday, Donald Trump derided the use of anonymous sourcing in news stories. He also said in February that news outlets "shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name." It's strange he thinks that, because he's used a lot of anonymous sources himself. Here are some examples.