At the same time, what must also be true about the SOTU is that along with we must be praised, we must never be criticized. And, of course, the 'we' must refer to the first three groups of we listed above so that our nation, the American people and the current President are included in that 'we.' However, the previous President from the opposition party is fair game.
So how does such a speech that revolves around self-praise and shuns self-criticism play in the hands of a narcissist? It provides an opportunity for President Trump to shine because he is in his natural environment. And at that point, it is rather easy to see a narcissist who is expected to praise himself and his nation to appear "presidential" in doing so (click here for a transcript of the SOTU).
How was America praised in Trump's speech? Trump starts with listing what America had endured while never faltering. America withstood hurricanes, floods, and fires. And then Trump listed Americans who rushed into danger to save people who were being threatened by ravages of storms.
Trump also mentions a firefighter who bravely rescued children who were trapped by a fire.
Then Trump sent his regards to those who suffered from the disasters of water and fire and he include Puerto Rico in the list of people to whom he sent his love. But Puerto Rico needs more than just words of love. Most of the nation is still without the basics for survival.
In addition to that, Trump noted that Americans must face the domestic threat of gangs like MS-13 and the foreign threat of ISIS. He blamed the presence of MS-13 here on faulty immigration policies from the past.
Trump called America the bravest people on earth who can climb every mountain and meet every obstacle with heart and grit. And that is important because not only does our nation face internal threats from gangs and external threats from terrorists, it faces 'challenges' from rogue nations and from China and Russia. But then Trump returned to the subject of how great America is because it is a place where people can rule themselves. As Trump is closing, he says the following that should raise an infinite number of red flags to any Bible-believing Christian who is familiar with the Genesis account of the tower of Babel:
As long as we are proud of who we are, and what we are fighting for, there is nothing we cannot achieve.
But Trump modified that statement possibly to placate his religious base:
As long as we have confidence in our values, faith in our citizens, and trust in our God, we will not fail.
And what is interesting about those statements placed in next to each other in the speech, is that, according to the Bible, their premises contradict each other. One cannot be filled with pride and faith. In fact, Biblical faith is placed solely in God, not in people. And the Scriptures warn us never to say what will and will not happen in the future, because we don't know. But these statements are necessary for the SOTU because the theme of the SOTU is: We must be praised. And what attaches itself to that is that we must never be criticized.
But unfortunately, facts and logic do rear their ugly heads to spoil the self-celebration. We should note the link between climate change, which has been significantly contributed by human activities, and some of the disasters that have befallen America. That is especially true regarding the strength of storms that so battered places like Puerto Rico and gulf coast states of the US. Or we could note the fires that ravaged the Northwest states and note that scientists are also tying the growing time period in which parts of our nation are vulnerable to fires as well as the increases in fire activity with climate change (click here and there).
And when we want to talk about the threats Americans face from gangs like MS-13, we need to go back father in time than when current immigration policies were enacted. For MS-13 itself got its start, not in Los Angeles as is commonly alleged, but in El Salvador as guerilla fighters faced off against military and para military troops that were trained by the US (click here and there and there again).
We should also note how American foreign policies played roles in the creation of groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS. The base for Al-Qaeda came from a time period where the US supported terrorists, call "freedom fighters" by our government leaders, like Osama Bin Laden. For as long as their attacks were in a nation whose government was supported by the then Soviet Union and Soviet troops were drawn in to fight what was hopefully an unwinnable war, our government was happy. After the Soviet Union withdrew, some of those terrorists, who formed the group Al-Qaeda, witnessed both US support of Israel's Occupation against the Palestinians and the US-Great Britain enforcement of the Iraq sanctions that caused hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children to die. That, and the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia moved Al-Qaeda to declare war on us. Included with that war were attacks on a couple of our embassies and the 9/11 atrocities.
ISIS, on the other hand, formed after we had invaded Iraq. The destabilization of the area, along with the US imprisoning the man who would become ISIS's founder and leader, contributed greatly to the creation of ISIS.
Next, in the we must be praised parade of words that Trump used to glorify himself. And what shows the awkwardness of his praise are fact checks. Some of Trump's claims as well as their accompanying facts are below (click here for fact check source):
- Trump's administration has created 2.4 million new jobs.
Fact Check: the number of new jobs created since Trump took office was 1.84 million and many of those are the result of the Obama policies inherited by the Trump Administration. - African-American unemployment rate is at its all time lowest point
Fact Check: unemployment for all Americans including Blacks and Hispanics have been declining for the past 7 years. - Wages are increasing
Fact Check: real wages have been going up since the 1990 and rose under Obama by 4.1%. They rose 1.1% during Trump's first year. - Car companies are now building and increasing their facilities for the first time in a long time
- Fact Check: This claim is false as is seen in the past actions of BMW and Volvo. Likewise, while Toyota and Mazda have announced plans to build a plant in Alabama since Trump has become President. But the two have been working on plans for a joint venture since 2015. How much credit Trump deserves is questionable
- The US does more to help those in need than any other country in the world
Fact Check: The claim is true in terms of actual dollars spent, but the claim is strongly false in terms of percentage of national income given to help those in need. - The US is now an exporter of energy to the world
Fact Check: The claim is false since we still import more energy than we export. - The Trump Administration has created the biggest tax cuts and reforms in US history.
Fact Check: Trump's tax cut is the 8th and 4th largest tax cuts in terms of GDP and inflation respectively. Reagan's 1981 tax cuts were the largest in US history - Trump described the Diversity Visa Program as one where green cards are given out randomly without regard for merit or the safety of Americans.
Fact Check: Those selected for green cards must first prove that they have a high school education or two years of work experience. In addition, they are fingerprinted and undergo background checks.
Trump made many false or misleading claims in an effort to praise his Presidency and rob his predecessor of credit for his accomplishments. Just a sample of those claims are listed above. And these claims, often made without regard for truth or accuracy, show the basic themes of Trump's SOTU as well as those of many past Presidents. Trump follows suit by praising his own administration while not mentioning the accomplishments of or taking the credit for Obama's work.
Why do we tolerate the narcissism that is so much a part of each SOTU? Why? Perhaps, it is because some of that narcissism feeds our own egos, especially the parts that describe our nation or the political part we favor. Though hearing praise of ourselves can make us feel good, it only acts as an anesthetic when the praise is not founded in reality. And like all anesthetics, they eventually wear off and give way to pain. Eventually, the SOTU will no longer hide the pain from us. The only question that remains is whether there will be time to fix our real problems and failures once we are no longer fooled by self-praise.
