President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union Address yesterday, February 5th, 2019. I realized as I watched the speech that I hadn’t seen him speak much. Typically when the news shows clips or photos of him, he looks mean and angry. I was surprised to see how nice he seemed. I am not saying he is the nicest man ever, by any means, it just struck me how much I didn’t hate the sight of his face when I paid attention to his humanity.

As I watched, I noticed there was a striking lack of diversity in the crowd. It might be unfair to compare the crowd to that of one of Obama’s State of the Union Addresses, since there was a focus on diversity during his presidency. However, even compared to those attending George W. Bush’s State of the Union Addresses, this crowd looked very white. There seemed to be strategically-placed people of color in the audience and the camera kept showing them. There was an African American man and an Asian American woman sitting next to each other who kept being shown. There was also a woman in a hijab next to a Latina woman who kept being shown, even at odd times. Also, it seemed that the people President Trump asked to attend so he could share their stories were overwhelmingly people of color. Now, this is not a bad thing. I am glad he chose to share the stories of people of color. However, it seems odd that some of the only people of color in the audience were specifically asked to be there for the purpose of sharing their sad stories. It is understandable that a president who has been criticized for being racist would choose to strategically place people of color in his audience. Maybe he genuinely wants to show these people he cares. Maybe he is just trying to make himself look good. Regardless, it seems like some other politicians or officials who are people of color should feel welcome as well. There were some there, but the vast majority of people in the audience appeared to be white, even though the camera tried to avoid them.

President Trump discussed a wide variety of issues, including his controversial ideas about border security. While I still do not agree with his wall, I like the fact that he said he wanted to allow more immigrants to come into this country legally. He seemed to make it clear that the issue is not with immigrants, but with people breaking the law. This is something I do personally agree with. Now, I am not sure if all his border policy ideas are going to work, but I appreciate his mindset regarding this issue. He acknowledged that this country needs immigrants and is built on immigrants. He expressed a desire to allow more immigrants into the country legally. To me, that sounds great. Will his plans come to fruition? I don’t know. I certainly hope this country will once again have a reputation for being a place of love and hope for immigrants.

All in all, the 2019 State of the Union Address was decent. I don’t think it will go down in history as one of the best or one of the worst State of the Union Addresses in history. This was my first time watching an entire State of the Union Address and I am glad to have had an excuse to watch it.

I’d love to connect with you! Check out my Instagram and Twitter.