Dozens of mainly Democratic women wearing white attended the State of the Union address delivered last night by President Trump before a joint session of Congress. By wearing suffragette white, female Congress members made a statement in the hemicycle of Capitol Hill, evidencing the extent to which the November 2018 election has changed the composition of Congress, affecting the future of the Country as well as that of the next presidential election. In a passage of his speech, the President commended this female presence noting the high number of women joining the workforce as well as the political sector at the service of the Country. “That’s great!” he exclaimed. “and congratulations!” Trump said after chants of “USA! USA!” broke out and Congress members, mostly women, high-fived joining hands. It was one of the most emotional moments. Other touching moments ensued, like when Congress sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to a survivor of the Pittsburgh shooting and when Trump acknowledged special guest Grace Eline, 10-year-old cancer survivor who managed to raise over 40 thousand dollars for the healthcare structure that treated her.
Trump’s speech that began with a special emphasis on unity – “we hope that we will govern not as two parties but as a nation”, and “we must reject a politics of revenge, resistance and retribution” – grew increasingly divisive, especially when sensitive issues were broached, chastising “the partisan investigations” into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign with “ridiculous partisan interventions”, and the question of the border wall, one of the issues deemed non-negotiable by Democrats, which the commander-in-chief deems to be “a moral issue”, going on to accuse his opponents who supported the creation of a wall in the past of deliberately impeding it today. 
Immigration remains a controversial issue, especially because the numbers Trump cited in his speech do not stand up to scrutiny. Identified and arrested illegal immigrants don’t number 226,000 but 3,914 and the alleged “dangerous” border, where a protection barrier is in place, ultimately acts as a backlash against his immigration decisions. Immigrants are labelled as “drug dealers, criminals, murderers and illegal aliens.”
In the interests of ‘America first’, the economy is at the heart of Presidential communication, highlighting the creation of new jobs, unemployment reduction, the trade war with China, the renegotiation of NAFTA. The numbers don’t add up also this time, although it should be recognized that some of the adopted measures have boosted employment and household income. Foreign affairs issues broached in the Presidential speech include the endless war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the trillions of dollars spent in these conflicts, the defeat of ISIS, support to the new Venezuelan President and the Russian violations of the nuclear missile treaty. The announcement of a meeting with North-Korean president in Vietnam next February 26-27 to move forward with the talks on peace and nuclear disarmament, thus gains central importance.
In the area of healthcare Trump demands to reduce the price of life-saving treatments and prescription drugs , applauds progress in the fight on AIDS and drug-addiction, but makes fiery remarks on the abortion Law voted by the State of New York asking Congress to pass federal legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also wearing all white, was seated behind Trump and next to Mike Pence. She was seen joining Congress in a standing ovation to Trump’s unitary approach, combined with wry smiles and visible protests in many presidential passages, above all those that rekindled fears thought to belong to a bygone past, such as the return of socialism and attempts to clampdown on freedoms. Stacey Abrams, the Afro-American candidate who lost Georgia’s governorship by a small number of votes, was chosen as the first black woman to give Democratic rebuttal to Trump’s speech. She impassionedly championed the rights of minority voters living in poverty as well as those of ex detainees – notably Afro Americans and Latinos that make up a large part of her constituency – that find it increasingly difficult to exercise this right. Stacey stands as a symbol of a transformed Country, where increasing numbers of women take action against Donald with a view to the next presidential election.
