Last night President Donald Trump delivered the annual State of the Union Address. And some Democratic lawmakers decided not to attend. That includes U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, of Springfield.
NEPM's Adam Frenier asked Neal why he didn't go, and got his thoughts about the speech.
U.S. Rep. Richard Neal: Well, I think part of it has become theater. I think that there's an entertainment dimension that has been added to the State of the Union. It didn't start with last night's performance, but at the same time, I think that the American public, they would like to tune in, to come to a comprehension of what should be a healing moment, when presidents lay out their plans without vindictiveness and without anger, but instead map out what they think the next year ought to look like and reflect upon what the previous year had looked like. So, I think that we should not substitute entertainment for information.
Adam Frenier, NEPM: Now, you did watch the speech in your office in Washington. What were your impressions of the nearly two-hour address by the president?
Well, I thought that the tone of anger that came through was disturbing to me. I thought also where the finger was pointed at the Democrats, who are sitting on the other side of the aisle, as though they were being treated simply as decorations to the argument. And it was, again a vindictive moment, and I thought it was uncalled for. And I don't recall any other president ever having done that. So, I think that the State of the Union itself, we've seen and I've participated in moments when I think that we could have appealed, as Lincoln noted, 'to the better angels of our nature.' I do think that now more and more of this is based upon what TV might tell the American people.
Despite last week's Supreme Court decision on the tariffs, the president seemed to be doubling down on that idea on Tuesday night. What did you make of that?
Well, let me quote the Federal Reserve Board of New York, which has hardly made up of left wing radicals, or for that matter, right wing radicals. They concluded that 86% of the price increases that the American family is currently witnessing come from the Trump tariffs.
I think that the president's decision, and by the way, it was also noted for the chaos, when he announced that he was going to have a 10% tariff on Friday and then announce on Saturday it was going to be 15%. Today it looks as though it's back to 10%. So it's the chaotic nature of the tariff applications, when if you read the Gorsuch opinion or you read the Coney Barrett position or Chief Justice Roberts opinion, they all argue that Congress needs to reassert itself as an equal branch of government and not be subservient to what this president, or any other president, has to say about tax policy.
And looking ahead to the midterms, how do Democrats plan to use what was said or what wasn't said on the campaign trail from last evening.
Well, I thought the president, who apparently is doing a military buildup around Iran, he could have used last night's opportunity to explain why he's doing that. I think at the same time he indicated that he was going to continue to take away the Affordable Care Act without talking about what a substitute might be for it. I think that when you look at the particulars of what he had to say last night, a lot of it was in generalities.
So, as we look to the midterms, and we did a luncheon yesterday, the Democrats, and we were able to look at some pretty objective polling data and information. And certainly voter turnout will be a big deal in November. But it's clear that Democrats have a big turnout advantage. And in the generic poll ten days or so ago, Fox News had Democrats up by six in that generic poll. So I think we're looking to November.
I talked to the Democratic leader for a bit yesterday on the House floor, and we're both feeling pretty optimistic. But at the same time, we don't want to take our foot off the gas pedal.