Donald J. Trump’s State of the Union
address
Donald Trump gave his State of the Union speech on the 5th of February, 2019. This address is given by
each president of the United States, whenever they decide it is needed. This address usually includes a
“budget message and an economic report of the nation”1. But this year that was not the case, and instead
Trump talked a lot about immigration again, and how people looking into his dealings is halting American
progress. Fox News (known for being right-wing2) and Washington Post (left middle) both wrote articles
explaining what was said. Trump mentioned his wall but didn’t mention how it would affect the economy,
aside from saying it would create more jobs. What he didn’t say was what other effects it would have on
supply and demand in so many different fields.
Washington Post is an American newspaper that has been around since 18773, and since then has become
one of the most popular newspapers in the USA. The articles were written Philip Rucker (the head White
House correspondent for the Washington Post) and Toluse Olorunnipa (White House reporter), showing
that the writers both have relations with White House politics. Due to the Washington Post’s reputation,
and the status of the two authors I believe this article to be trustable. Fox news is also a very reputable
news company that has been around since 19964, they are known for being right wing and supporting
Trump no matter what he says, but as the article from them is an opinion piece, the news company has no
real impact of the article itself. However, the author Kayleigh McEnany is a right-wing political
commentator who doubles as the Spokesperson for the Republican National Committee. So this article
will show strong support of Trump, but still must be reliable as the news company and her reputation are
at stake.
The issue which was reported in Trump's speech that would affect the American economy is immigration
control. Donald Trump wants to build a wall on the Southern border because he believes that every illegal
immigrant comes to the USA with bad intention. He invited multiple people, to come to sit in his box
during this address, that have each been affected by illegal immigrants. This included “family members of
a Nevada couple allegedly killed last month by an undocumented immigrant, a woman recovering from
opioid addiction”5. Trump claims that building the wall would decrease crime, and decrease the number
of people crossing the border illegally. However, this includes people coming to the USA just for the day
so that they can work and people coming to the USA for safety. This actually helps the economy, as
shown by the “National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found immigration “has an
overall positive impact on the long-run economic growth in the U.S.””6 The main effect the wall would
have is on the US economy, is that it would limit the workers coming in, and the about of immigrants who
would come...
