By Printus LeBlanc
2018 has been a good year for President Trump. It seems like every day another company announces raises, bonuses, and capital investment in the U.S. The stock market is booming, and January payroll beat expectations by 49,000. Despite all the good news and momentum in his favor, the President extended multiple olive branches to the Democrats in the State of the Union. The actions of the Democrat Party during the speech may have sealed the fate of several of their lawmakers.
You may have noticed the Democrats were wearing purple ribbons. Supposedly this was to highlight the nationwide opioid epidemic gripping the nation. In 2016 there were more than 64,000 overdose deaths, with 49,000 coming from opioid-based drugs such as heroin, fentanyl, and opioid prescription painkillers. While the previous administration sat on their hands during the epidemic, President Trump promised to do something about it, and last night vowed to get tougher on drug dealers and traffickers.
Not only did nearly all Democrats sit on their hands when Trump spoke of opioid crisis, but they also continued to pout when the President talked about his immigration plan, which includes border security. The border security component is critical with regards to the opioid crisis. Mexico is the conduit by which vast majority of narcotics are smuggled into the U.S., as well as our southern neighbor producing the majority of heroin entering the U.S. Mexico, is also the conduit for the most dangerous opioid of all, fentanyl being smuggled into the U.S. via Mexico from China.
Out of the 25 Democrat Senators up for reelection in 2018, ten of them are in states President Trump won. Not only did President Trump win those states, but the ten states also account for one-third of drug overdose deaths. The Democrats in those states are going to have a hard time explaining why they are with the party that sat on their hands as the President wanted to do something about the epidemic ravaging their communities.
One of the more controversial lines in the President’s speech came when discussing immigration. Trump had the gall to announce, “Americans are dreamers too.” He didn’t say the illegal immigrants in the country are not “dreamers.” He merely implied that American citizens are allowed to dream also.
For some reason, the Democrat party took umbrage with this because according to the progressive dogma only illegal immigrants are allowed to have dreams. There are a lot of people in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Indiana that just watched the party their Senator represents sit on their hands when President Trump said they have dreams, too. I wonder if they are going to remember that in November?
The most contentious issue the President is facing is the battle over immigration. Trump stated, “The United States is a compassionate nation. We are proud that we do more than any other country anywhere in the world to help the needy, the struggling, and the underprivileged all over the world. But as President of the United States, my highest loyalty, my greatest compassion, and my constant concern is for America’s children, America’s struggling workers, and America’s forgotten communities. I want our youth to grow up to achieve great things. I want our poor to have their chance to rise. So tonight, I am extending an open hand to work with members of both parties — Democrats and Republicans — to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion, and creed.” Once again, the majority Democrats were not fond of this idea and just sat on their hands as Trump went against his base to come up with an immigration solution.
The Democrat party did themselves no favors with their pouty actions in the State of the Union. The President said nothing controversial, and the polls from liberal outlets like CBS showed the American people agree. 75 percent of Americans who watched the speech, approved of the speech. Now is the time for the President to strike. He should push his agenda and dare the Democrats to oppose him, explicitly targeting the ten states he won that currently have Democrat Senators. It was believed the Democrats had the momentum going into the midterm elections, but the President’s speech and the actions the left took during the State of the Union gave energy to Trump and could mark a turning point.
Printus LeBlanc is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government.
