Donald Trump's State of the Union speech had so much promise — then it crashed and burnt in the most frightening way

Halfway through, I thought I was going to have to concede that Donald Trump had made a good speech. Most of his policies and views remain abhorrent – that should go without saying – but they were couched in much more intelligent terms than any of his previous public addresses. He spoke impressively of the lowest unemployment rates of all time for African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans. He spoke of increased opportunity for people with disabilities. He introduced Elvin Hernandez, a legal immigrant from the Dominican Republic and now a special agent who works to reduce sex trafficking, and upheld him as an example of the American Dream. “Legal immigrants,” he said, “enrich our nation and strengthen our society in countless ways.”

Unlike “Mexican rapists” and terrorists claiming asylum in “migrant caravans” from South America, now there were noble, hard-working immigrants and the bad-guy minority who seek to undermine everything achieved by their counterparts. It’s not true but it is much more cogent and lasting as a strategy than demonisation. “No issue better illustrates the divide between America’s working class and America’s political class than illegal immigration. Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards,” Trump said, then paused for applause which, after a microsecond of tension, was forthcoming.

“One in three women is sexually assaulted on the long journey north,” we were told. Women and children are taken advantage of by cut-throat traffickers. “Blue collar workers” are the ones whose wages stagnate when illegal immigration proliferates. Middle class liberals who support open borders are downright “cruel”. This isn’t a million miles away from anything we hear from conservative politicians in Europe.

Then came the claims about the virtues of bipartisanship, the numerous platitudes about the importance of working together: “Victory is not winning for our party; it is winning for our country.” There was no declaration of emergency at the border, no suggestion of another government shutdown. It felt like an olive branch was briefly being proffered.

One of the most powerful moments – before it all began to go demonstrably downhill – was when the president directly addressed the sea of women in front of him who’d dressed in all white for the speech in protest against his policies. “We can all be proud that there are more women in the workplace than ever before,” he said, to an initially reluctant then enthusiastic standing ovation. “Don’t sit down, you’re gonna like this,” he quipped, before announcing that there are now more women in Congress than there have ever been. This time the ovation came easily and with smiling faces. Some chanted “USA, USA” as they stood. It was a brilliant PR turnaround from a president well-known for calling women pigs, dogs, “horse-faced”, and “crazed”, bleeding from their “wherevers” if they dared to criticise him. It was testament to the charm he was once known for above everything else.

Interestingly, Melania Trump appeared in the Capitol today wearing all black. We know that the First Lady doesn’t shy away from sending messages through her choice of clothes, or indeed walking around with messages written directly on them: anyone who remembers the “I don’t really care, do u?” jacket she wore during the family separation crisis at the border (apparently a message to the “left-wing fake news media”) knows that. However, it seemed like dressing in white herself might have been more in keeping with her husband’s message. Melania’s stepdaughter, 25-year-old law student Tiffany Trump, wore all white, as did Donald Trump Jr’s partner Kimberly Guilfoyle. What Melania meant by her deviation from the dress code was unclear.

Perhaps she knew what was coming right after the president congratulated female members of Congress on their achievements – because the tone changed pretty quickly after that. “Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth,” Trump said, in reference to a bill allowing late-term abortion. “These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world… All children, born and unborn, are made in the image of God.” He proposed banning late-term abortion to rapturous applause from Republicans. In my most hopeful dreams, Melania wore her black ensemble to warn us.

Probably the most bizarre moment of the night was found in the claim by Trump that if he wasn’t president of the United States right now, the country would be in a “major” war with North Korea. This progressed an isolationist line that he pushed throughout the beginning and middle of his speech – “Great nations do not fight endless wars” – and was almost convincing, up until the point it veered off into hawkish-sounding comments about Iran and the need to “not avert our eyes from a regime that chants Death to America and threatens genocide against Jewish people”. As a justification for his recent dealings with Iran, it made sense, but as a constituent part of a speech which championed bringing the boys home from Middle Eastern conflicts, it jarred.

This speech was one that started out strong, had a few strange forays in the middle, and then started to cannibalise itself at the end. By the time Stacey Abrams came on for the official Democratic response, nobody seemed very sure exactly what Donald Trump wanted, why he wanted it in the first place, or when he thought it might happen. Abrams was restrained, warm and on-message. Her well-delivered speech started with an anecdote about her family and included a touching admission that her father’s cancer diagnosis had led her into debt. Out of all the issues, she spoke most passionately about voter suppression. Notably, she said that Ronald Reagan’s approach toward border control had been “compassionate” and admirable, alongside Obama’s. She also made a plea for bipartisanship, claiming that she did “not want” the president to fail.

“America has stumbled time and time again in its quest for equality,” Abrams said, “…but where it falters, it makes amends.” This was in stark contrast to Trumpian claims of an upward trajectory in all rights, all opportunities and all economic achievements (both macro and micro) and to the well-worn Republican narrative about America leading all of the world all of the time. This was, instead, the Democratic language of social justice and rehabilitation, language which has proven popular with young urban Americans in the last few years and bolstered the careers of Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Trump sometimes used it in his own speech, especially when he spoke of two State of the Union guests who had recently come out of prison after committing non-violent crimes and rebuilt their lives in inspiring ways.

Unfortunately, and despite the rhetoric, America is faltering once again. Trump was able to unite people behind causes that nobody could disagree with in his State of the Union speech: more funding for childhood cancer, for instance, and a commitment to eliminating AIDs. But, as two of his previous housekeepers looked up at him (Sandra Diaz and Victorina Morales, who came as the guests of Representatives Jimmy Gomez and Bonnie Watson Coleman respectively), he also made a serious, concrete promise to make women’s lives in the country he governs a lot harder. The fact that he did it in the language of far-right evangelists should make us all fearful of what’s to come on the 2020 campaign trail.