Between Vice President Mike Pence and the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, President Donald
Trump gave his state of the Union address on Feb. 5. The 82-minute speech discussed the nation’s
economy, unemployment, and political disputes to lawmakers and their guests.
This is his second State of the Union address, one week after it was delayed from the government
shutdown.

In two years of presidency, Trumps administration launched an economic boom, created 5.3 million jobs
and added 600 thousand new manufacturing jobs, leading to 157 million people at work and the lowest percentage of unemployment in the recent century. In addition, average wages are increasing throughout the nation and nearly 5 million Americans have been lifted off of food stamps.

Women filled 58% of newly created jobs and there are more women in the workforce than ever
before. In the last month alone, 304 thousand jobs were added last month, double than expected for
the nation. In addition, there are currently more women in Congress than ever before in the history of our nation.
The president called for the nation’s unity and bipartisanship while expanding on ideas for America to
pursue. “[We] Must reject politics of revenge and embrace the potential of compromise, cooperation,
and the common good,” stated Trump.
Announced tonight was the fact that, “the United States is now the number one producer of oil and
natural gas in the world.” This leads to the fact that America is a net exporter of energy, the first time in 65 years.

Trump invited 13 guests to tonight’s address and mentioned their stories throughout his speech.
Among them was Alice Johnson, an African American woman who served 21 years of her life
sentence in prison for drug trafficking charges. Weeks ago, both parties united for a criminal justice
reform that aided Johnson in shortening her sentence.

Also in the audience was former astronaut, Buzz Aldrin. 50 years ago this year, he planted the
American flag in the moon on the Apollo 11 mission. Trump acknowledged this anniversary and
proceeded to announce that American rockets will send American astronauts back into space this year, the first time since 2013. According to the president, this is the “Next chapter of great American
history”.

Further discussed were our nations military and international affairs. Last year, $700 billion last was
spent on the military and $716 million is in the current budget for this year. The funds go to strengthen and support troops and maintain the various services.

Across international waters, Trump announced that North Korea had returned all hostages to their
homes and had not launched a nuclear missile in 15 months. There is a second summit planned between the president and Kim Jong-un later this month to discuss nuclear issues.

Russia repeatedly violated the terms of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), leading
Trump to withdraw from the agreement. Negotiations are planned to work on another agreement and
even include China, along with a new Chinese trade deal.

Trump announced that his next major priority is to lower the costs of healthcare and prescription
drugs and help those with pre-existing illnesses. He has his eyes set upon a nationwide paid parental leave in the budget for parents to be able to spend time with their newborns in their early development years. In response to the recent New York bill, Trump will also be asking legislators to prohibit late-term abortions throughout the nation.

The Feb. 15 deadline strongly advises republicans and democrats to confront the bill to fund the
government. A critical part of keeping it open will be dealing with immigration issues. Legal
immigration enriches our nation and strengthens our society in countless ways and the current state of the border is alarming to some regarding the threat to the safety and the security of America.

“In the past, most of these people voted for a wall, but it never got built. I will get it built,” said the president, “Lets worth together, compromise, and make a deal to make America safe”.
Many remarks made during the address reflected on the past two years of the administration, and the
years to come. Topics such as the economy, taxes and unemployment were discussed thoroughly. As
President Trump addressed the nation, “Victory is not winning for [a particular] party, but winning for our country”.