Call me a masochist, but I watched Trump’s recent State of the Union address. It was what I expected on steroids. It was a bizarre spectacle, less an assessment of the actual state of present America in crisis, more an unintended demonstration of how sickly divided we are, how easily the public can be duped.

Last week in these pages arch-conservative columnist Cal Thomas lauded Trump’s presentation--with some careful avoidance, then acknowledged that it was “a deliberately divisive speech.” I don’t often agree with Thomas, but he got that exactly right.

The U. S. Constitution specifies that the President shall from time to time give Congress information relative to the state of the Union and make recommendations he considers necessary and expedient. George Washington fulfilled this duty by writing letters. It was not until 1913 that Woodrow Wilson began the practice of addressing a joint assembly of Congress.

Since then this annual event has devolved into the charade we saw recently—a highly partisan campaign rally rather than a serious opportunity for lawmakers to consider what the country needs moving forward.

It’s become a made for TV entertainment. The President is the headliner (vain Trump loves center stage), while the legislators present are demonstrative supporting actors, making sure the home folks can see their approval or lack of it.

Trump’s speech was interrupted dozens of times by standing applause and cheers from the Republicans, while head-shaking, scowling Democrats held up signs of disapproval.

To change the show business metaphor, it was as if Trump had a button on the lectern activating the strings of his party puppets, jerking them instantly to their feet with irritating frequency. The TV Networks were, of course, happy to pan their cameras around the audience.

Just imagine with what disgust and alarm Pres. Washington, who deplored political parties, would view what we saw that night.

The defining low moment in the talk was when Trump snidely chided the Democrats for not cheering his words. Cheers—for him that was the raison d’etre of the evening.

Trump is by no means the first president to exploit the show business potential of the SOTU; presidents from both parties do it. But oh how he pushed it to new extremes.

Not surprisingly, Cal Thomas made no mention of the plethora of stunning lies, exaggerations, omissions, and unending patently silly, self-aggrandizing claims that filled the time from beginning to end.

Would that I had more space to itemize them--lies, for example, like saying yet again that the US has given 350 billion dollars to Ukraine (the actual amount is about 114 million, mostly-in American-made armaments); lies like saying that in his previous term we had “the best economy ever, probably the best that will ever be seen.” False of course—Biden’s economy (and others) eclipsed it; claims

exemplified by Trump‘s continual use of phrases like “we’ve never seen this before” and “it will be the greatest of all time,” ridiculous claims that in a college composition course would quickly earn the writer a grade of F.

The President did announce executive actions he has taken to address major national problems such as restoring the name of Mt. Mckinley (currently Denali) and renaming the Gulf of Mexico—statements greeted with apparent enthusiasm by party members. And once again he put Greenland on notice of his intent to make them a territory of the United States. Inane, to be sure, but at least not wrecking needed government programs—about which more below.

Reminds me of the western phrase, “All hat and no cattle.”

Much more striking was what Trump (and Cal Thomas) ignored to mention. There was scarcely a word about some of our genuinely huge problems, like dealing with global warming and the weather events it is causing (except his intent to “drill, baby, drill”); like the need to make health care and prescription drugs affordable for all citizens.

Of course he did not mention income inequality, currently at the highest levels in our history, nor the obvious rise of the monied oligarchy now threatening our democracy. He did not mention the need for reform of our corrupt election finance laws that allow the Elon Musks of the country to buy outrageous influence in the government. I’ll bet George Washington would have.

And then the elephant in the room—the economic struggle of so many people in the country who can barely—or can’t—make ends meet with inflation rising again, with overpriced groceries and unaffordable housing. As a

campaigner, Trump promised to fix these problems on day one. But he did not even allude to any real plans for accomplishing that.

Trump did tout his inflationary tariffs against our major trading partners—but we’ve seen just this week how his erratic moves have rattled the markets and further undermined consumer confidence. He did say “they might cause a little temporary discomfort” (not for him, of course). And he bragged about his renewed (and further lowered) tax rates (not mentioning that the tax savings will go vastly disproportionately to the very wealthy and to large corporations, even while increasing our ever-growing, ominous national debt.

“We’ll balance the budget,” he said, yet another hollow promise. Such efforts as he and this Republican Congress are making to trim government will benefit those who least need it and take away programs like Medicaid from those citizens in direst straits.

Trump had promised voters he’d make government efficient by eliminating waste and fraud---and that night he had Elon Musk take a big self-satisfied bow. But in reality, unconfirmed, unrestrained Musk has run amok, indiscriminately and unlawfully creating chaos with his meat cleaver approach. His DOGE team has found relatively little fraud, while inflicting real damage to needed programs.

Bottom line: The State of the Union event as it is now conducted ignores the serious intent of the constitution and does more harm than good for the country. It informs neither Congress nor the American people constructively; instead it fans irrationality, trivializes government and exaggerates division.

Here’s a suggestion for how the SOTU might be rescued from its current debased practice. The next president of the United States begins his address with these words:

“I’ve come here tonight to fulfill my Constitutional responsibility. I come with a thoughtfully considered estimate of our nation’s current condition and to share with you my sense of how we can best address our needs for the common good. I’m here not to seek partisan advantage but rather in the spirit of bi-party cooperation.

“This evening is not about posturing; it’s not about entertainment. Accordingly, I ask you to consider my words without interruption. Please do not express approval or disapproval by standing, or cheering, or clapping, or booing. When I have concluded, feel free then to indicate how you feel about it. Let’s honor the serious intent of this constitutional provision.”

Now wouldn’t that be refreshing.

If we can’t get the SOTU meeting back to something like that, we should just scrap the whole thing.