Tonight's Speeches

According to the White (Supremacist) House, tonight's State of the Union speech will be full of "comity" and proposals for bipartisan action. That they will be delivered by unhinged demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump means they'll be worthless, meant only to deceive a national audience about his extremist agenda. The expected lofty calls for a massive infrastructure effort (Infrastructure Week!), lowered prescription drug prices and other popular things will be tempered by lies about the "crisis" on the border / caravans of brown people / MS-13 invading your shopping mall, etc. For a man that has lied over the past year an average of 16.5 times per day, this speech should bump that average up considerably as he attempts to appear "rational" and "reasonable" for the 90 minutes or so that he has the national spotlight. He'll be the first "president" to deliver a SOTU speech to have been the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation because of his deeply suspicious relationship with Russia.

In the official Dem response, Georgia's great Stacey Abrams will speak directly and passionately about what America could be if it fulfilled its promises of equal opportunity, voting rights, and a level economic playing field. She's going to be the true optimist tonight, challenging us to be (as Sen. Harris said) better than this. If you watched her as she ran for Governor of Georgia against a vote-rigging neo-Confederate Rethuglican, you would have been inspired by her infectious energy, ideas and charisma. Such a vivid contrast from what will occur in the House chamber immediately before her.

We'd be remiss if we didn't note that independent Sen. Bernie Sanders will be delivering his own response to the SOTU on Facebook after Abrams has finished. (Of course, Bernie can't give the Dem's response since he's not a Dem and refuses to be one.) We can appreciate him trying to get his message out, but at the right time and place. Give Stacey her moment, and take a seat.