Althouse on Trump and Kennedy

Ann Althouse on President Trump’s State of the Union speech:

1. The NYT has some advance excerpts, including: “This is our New American Moment. There has never been a better time to start living the American dream.”

2. Supreme Court Justices present: Roberts, Breyer, Kagan, Gorsuch.

3. Melania enters, smiling warmly, wearing a white pantsuit and white satin blouse.

4. Trump begins by talking about various heroes and pointing to individuals in the gallery. This is what has in the past always come at the end of the SOTU.

5. “The Legend from Louisiana, Representative Steve Scalise.” Trump is warming the place up.

6. Pelosi looks steamed.

7. “If there is a mountain, we climb it. If there is a frontier, we cross it….”

8. “The state of the union is strong, because our people are strong.”

9. Lots of talk about God, the flag, “… and why we proudly stand for the National Anthem.”

10. “Judges who will interpret the Constitution as written….”

11. $1.5 trillion for infrastructure… which the American people deserve. “Together we can reclaim our great building heritage.”

12. “Americans are dreamers too.” A sharp line within a discussion of immigration law enforcement.

13. Several immensely affecting stories introducing individuals in the gallery. Trump does an excellent job of dramatizing these stories — parents whose daughters were murdered by M-13, a soldier who saved a fellow soldier, the parents of Otto Warmbier, a North Korean man who suffered terribly before escaping.

14. “It’s the people who are making America great again.”

15. An excellent speech, extremely well delivered, I think.

Read more here where she also has a good post on the Kennedy speech in front of a car with its hood open in Fall River, Massachusets!