Although it was a couple of weeks ago now, the US ‘State of the Union’ address on Thursday 7th Mar 2024 was, to me as a foreigner observing US politics very closely, a high watermark of partisan aggression, rank stupidity and crass insensitivity. However, I will defer to the fact-checkers for the best overall assessments of the tone and content of the speech as a whole other than to highlight this one statement, “the darkest speech given by any American president…a rant…lacking decency and generosity to his fellow Americans”.[1] Despite being lauded by multiple partisan news hacks [2] responding to the speech as the “second coming of FDR” (a common moniker for Democrats talking up Democratic presidents) there has been absolutely no “bump” in the poles for President Biden. That is, the American public was spectacularly unimpressed and seems rather more impressed with his principal rival, former President Trump who, even according to the partisan poling hacks at the same cable channels, are demonstrating he is outpolling Biden on most issues and amongst most demographics, even in the swing States.[3]
However, my interest in this article is far more focussed and concerns two smaller incidents that demonstrate just how detached the President has become from the realities of life for many Americans and what are the priorities for them. This would explain why he has received no “bump” in the poles as prophesied by his legions of media sycophants on cable news. I was originally only going to deal with one item specifically mentioned in the speech but a second incident happened yesterday (28th March 2024) serves to strengthen the point I am making and so I will give some attention to that also.
The first incident that occurred concerns that of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old Georgia University Nursing student who was abducted and killed [4] by José Antonio Ibarra on Feb. 22, 2024, in the University Grounds itself where she was jogging. What made this an incendiary media event was that he was a “newcomer”, an “undocumented” or “illegal” immigrant who had been apprehended at the border and then released into the interior via the “catch and release” programme, to await his immigration hearing (which typically has a wait time of 8 years). However, what then happened, was that during the State of the Union address, firebrand MAGA supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTJ) who had created badges and t-shirts for Laken with ‘Say Her Name’ printed on them, shouted during the address as Biden referred to the border, ‘Say Her Name’. Biden picked up one of the badges, mispronounced her name, and stated that Laken was just one victim killed by an illegal immigrant, many more were killed by citizens.
Now, we cannot argue with what the President said, that is true; many more are indeed killed by citizens. However, where he demonstrated near-zero emotional intelligence and certainly, absolutely no political intelligence, was that this murder was entirely preventable. This was someone that his deliberate, public, and “compassionate” policies of cancelling and reversing Trump’s attempted sealing of the border to legitimate points of entry, had permitted the individual to enter the country in an undocumented fashion, i.e., illegally, and who then went on to commit the most serious of crimes.[5] What compounded his moral culpability and crass insensitivity, was that on Saturday 9th March he stated, in response to criticism from the mainstream media over the use of his term “illegal” rather than the politically acceptable term “undocumented” or “newcomer”, he apologised for using the term and said that “undocumented” was the “proper term”. This was despite him being interviewed earlier in the day when he said that the individual was “technically illegal” because he was not “legally present in the country”. This political response was in dramatic contrast to President Trump who made a point of going to visit the family privately and then later sharing a public platform with them, expressing his public sorrow for what had happened to them. This personal sensitivity and respect for the family was in further contrast to President Biden, who had, when he did get round to mentioning the family rather than the apology to the immigrant and the media for labelling him an “illegal”, made it about that he “understood” what they were feeling because of what happened to him when he lost his son.
The second incident concerns the funeral wake of the murdered New York police officer, Officer Diller. President Trump made a point of attending the wake and speaking personally to the family. Although unconfirmed at this point, it is reported that Trump later offered to pay off the mortgage of the victim’s wife. The Biden team sent their respects but made it a partisan political issue:
“ “Violent crime surged under the previous administration,” Ms Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One, the Associated Press reported. “The Biden-Harris administration have done the polar opposite, taking decisive action from the very beginning to fund the police and achieving a historic reduction in crime.” [6] The White House spokesperson previously said at a briefing that Mr Diller’s death is a “painful reminder of the toll of gun violence”, which she said is an issue that the administration has worked to address.” [7]
“Gun violence” or “violent crime” are subsidiary political issues here. Trump was not in New York campaigning for votes, New York is not a swing State and has not been republican run for decades. Rather, Trump demonstrated a humanity and a compassion in this case, just as he did with Laken Riley’s case. What made President Biden’s insensitivity catastrophic, was that less than 30 miles from the wake [8] he was hosting with former Presidents Obama and Clinton a celebrity, elite, fundraising event – the cheapest tickets were $255, for $100 000 you get a selfie with them, for $250 000 you get a private meal with them all – the event was showcased as to raise $25m for his re-election campaign. In other words, this was an event targeting the Manhattan elite only, far from the challenges, struggles and violence of the blue collar, and now increasingly the white-collar Americans struggling with inflation, immigration, and violence in their communities.
Again the contrast with Trump could not be stronger. Trump, rather than showcasing that his enormous political brand and capital was for hire, was engaged directly and choosing to spend time with those suffering the effects of lawlessness on the ground. [9] These are not the “racists”, “deplorables” (as Hilary Clinton famously called his voters) or “rural white trash” (as characterised contemptuously by Schaller & Waldman) but rather citizens and naturalised immigrants whose present and immediate concern Trump has recognised as his own.[10] By identifying with the police officer personally and choosing to support the Laken family and the officer’s family, he demonstrated that he understood the depth of their struggle, the risks professionals faced, and the pain they were experiencing. This “personal” emotional intelligence sets him aside from what can only be called the narcissism of President Biden, who made both incidents political, about him personally and about his administration.
Further Reading
Carlson, T. (2024, March 8). Uncensored: Tucker’s Response to Biden’s State of the Union 2024. Retrieved from Tucker Carlson Network: https://tuckercarlson.com/uncensored-tuckers-response-to-bidens-state-of-the-union-2024/
Schaller, T., & Waldman, P. (2024). White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy. New York: Random House.
Ungar-Sargon, B. (2021). Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy. New York City: Encounter Books.
Ungar-Sargon, B. (2024). Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Men and Women (Kindle ed.). Encounter Books.
[1] Carlson, 2024.
[2] I believe it was on MSNBC in response to the speech, but it could have been one of the other cable channels who uttered similar emulative (excluding Fox!). A quick Google will show how Biden explicitly styled himself in this manner at the time of his election in 2020. However, as divulged by those in the know, he has wanted to “out-Obama” Obama by becoming the purveyor of the far-Left American revolution. Dan Bongino, who worked Secret-Service for the Obama-Biden Whitehouse and eventually left it in total disgust, said that it was not a secret that the men had an intense dislike for each other, with Biden believing it was because of him that Obama was so successful, and his “radicalism” now is to make that point.
[3] Most issues, except on abortion, have gone Trump’s way. Black, Hispanic, and rural working-class voters have seen strong gains for Trump, see Batya Ungar-Sargon, 2024 (I saw an interview where she talks about this book), the book is due for release on April 2nd, 2024. Her previous book Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy (2021) chronicles how and why the American media has become so detached from the blue-collar and middle-class American and is now the echo chamber for the rich, liberal elite.
[4] I am not concerned here with the legal niceties of adding “allegedly” regarding the legal fact that he has not been tried and convicted yet. Noone (to my knowledge) has been prepared to assert that there is any evidence to the contrary that she did not die because of his attack on her.
[5] As I understand it, he had already had a series of arrests for other offences since being released into the country.
[6] As one astute commentator noted (Megyn Kelly show, Ep.752), it is reported crime in New York that has fallen, not the occurrence of crime. There have been so many new restrictions put on police officers and changes to bail, that people are not calling the police because the police do not want to arrest and when they do, offenders (as in the case of the cartel members who beat the policeman on the ground) are quickly released with middle fingers raised to the cameras.
[7] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68690703
[8] That is, the wake was in easy reach by helicopter. He had a large gap during the day before the fundraiser and could have paid his respects personally.
[9] One Florida sheriff stated out of 30 felons in his custody for serious sexual offences, 28 were undocumented immigrants.
[10] It was fascinating to watch footage of a Trump being interviewed in 1980, where he expresses the same concerns he does now, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQDKekRg6B4 . In his 2016 inauguration speech, he made a point of asserting that “those who have been forgotten will be forgotten no more”.