A Syracuse University political science professor doesn’t expect anything different from President Trump during his State of the Union address this evening. Margaret Susan Thompson said word from the White House is that his speech will be one of unity and reconciliation.
“He’s never done that before, and in fact, his base seems to like him most when he’s most combative,” Thompson said.
The address comes amid some difficult circumstances for Trump. More of his associates are getting caught up in the Mueller investigation. And he is facing slipping approval ratings among his base after a prolonged partial government shutdown over his controversial border wall. On the other hand, the economy appears strong, and the unemployment rate is low. But Thompson said many of his core supporters are still waiting to see the President’s promised results.
“They’re not getting more money, they’re not getting better jobs. They’re not people frankly who benefit very much when the stock market does go up. Which of course, by the end of 2018 it hadn’t,” Thompson said.
The markets have recovered some since then but are still unstable. Even so, Thompson said most Americans are actually no better off.
“More Americans are seeing rising health care costs, rising food costs, the price of gasoline is not low. All of these things that matter to people on a day to day basis are not really improving,” Thompson said.
Thompson said that also goes for the manufacturing sector.
“Manufacturing is not growing in the ways that he has promised it will. If your wages aren’t going up, you can’t buy things, and if they’re tariffs on things so the prices are higher. That doesn’t help with purchasing power,” said Thompson. “I think it’s a very frustrating economy, especially for those who’ve traditionally been employed in manufacturing.”
She said that includes the Syracuse area, which has not seen much growth in its industrial base. With so many not benefitting from the economy, Thompson said Trump has to deliver soon on immigration and infrastructure if he’s to have any hope of retaining or winning back core supporters.
WAER will stream video of the president’s State of the Union address tonight at 9 p.m. here, on our website.
