Transcripts For KGO State Of The Union Address 20180131 : vi

KGO State Of The Union Address January 31, 2018

Collusion. Rocket man. We are building a wall. Very fine people. On both sides. Hes fired. Hes fired. Announcer now, tonight, what will his message be to a divided congress and polarized america . Finally, we are putting america first. Announcer live from the nations capital, the state of the Union Address and the democratic response. Now reporting, george stephanopoulos. Announcer good evening, and welcome to abcs live coverage of President Trumps first state of the union. What a year it has been. Its been a year of conflict and controversy. Both for President Trump and the country he now leads. Its been exciting and exhausting, unusual in so many ways. With a president unlike any weve seen before. Tonight, a turn to tradition. Trumps chance to put his stamp on the year past and set the agenda for the year ahead in this most formal setting. And that was the moment, just moments ago when the first lady, melania trump, came in, as has become the tradition. Shell be surrounded by the president s guests today. And were surrounded by our Political Team tonight. I want to go to our jon karl in the chambers. And the president clearly going to take a victory lap tonight, take credit for the Strong Economy and the tax cut he thinks is going to make it stronger, but he is also entering the chamber with the lowest Approval Rating of any modern president one year in. White house Officials Say the speech is going to be both optimistic and inclusive. Those are not the first words that come to mind when you think of trumps first year. Right. The theme he has tonight is unity, but hes entering a chamber that is as divided as has ever been. I was here during the clinton impeachment and this feels even more divided than it was then. Many democrats here in this chamber see the president as not merely somebody they disagree with, but somebody who is a danger. And republicans in this chamber talk about this deep state conspiracy within the fbi to thwart this president. But the president s theme here will be optimism. In the trump world view, america is back. Stock market is roaring. Were in the midst of an historic rally there. Unemployment is down. And thanks to his tax cuts, American Companies are handing out bonuses. That really turned the corner for the president at the end of the year. Mary bruce also in the house tonight, over in statutory hall. Thats the big accomplishment for the majority in the house and senate. They got that Supreme Court justice, but many republicans fear theyre going to lose this majority because of the backlash against President Trump. George, polls show this president is deeply unpopular and so far, weve seen his party is paying the political price. The gop majority here is now on the line. And so, while the president tonight may try to strike more of an optimistic tone, a bipartisan tone as he tries to strike deals on everything from immigration to infrastructure to a spending deal, the reality is, he needs democrats now in order to get anything done, in order to get his agenda through. But george, democrats, they are already eyeing november and they hope eyeing retaking the majority. As the president has said many times, he needs 60 votes to get anything done. As you said, jon karl, healing the divide going to be a big theme of the president. Here with world news tonight david muir. We were at the white house today with the president. He talked about healing this divide. Also, it was interesting, towards the end of that lunch, he talked about what he learned as president this year, learned he has to work with heart and soul. Different from business. Absolutely. Because he campaigned on being a businessman. But he said a lot of the skills you learn as a businessman, hes brought to the white house with him. He said you really do whats best for purely monetary reasons when youre a businessman, you make your money, youre competing against people you often dont like, you want to win. But he said, in what is normally an off the record moment, he said, i have learned that it takes heart and compassion to govern. Here comes the sergeantatarms, paul irving. He will introduce the president. Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States. And the president will work his way down the aisle. Many members of Congress Looking for that grip and grin as he makes his way down. Matthew dowd, were talking about those members of Congress Looking for a second with the president. You got about 20 minutes with the president today alone, while we were, after we were having lunch, he called you in for a meeting and reinforced this theme here that weve been talking about. Yeah, the white house reached out this morning and asked if i could have a meeting at the oval office and it was a oneonone meeting with the president and i. And i emphasized to the president , i said to the president , this country is as divided as its ever been in our history and he as the president of the United States, he needs to do something about that. I told him, its going to take more than just a speech tonight. He understood the importance of the teach. Its going to take a series of actions in the aftermath of this speech. He seemed to understand howdy slided the country is and he needs to step up. And cecilia vega, one of the issues going to be front and center tonight, immigration. Its divided democrats and republicans, different regions of the country. And the president has seemed to be of a divided mind on this, as well. Sometimes talking about compromise, taking quite a hard line on immigration. And thats been exceptionally frustrating for the people trying to negotiate a deal with him. Remember, Chuck Schumer said negotiating with donald trump has been negotiating with jello. The clock is ticking on this congress and this president to save these dreamers, as many would say. He needs the democrats to do this. We are told that immigration will be a big focus tonight. We also know that among the main speechwriters who helped the president on this speech is stephen miller, his Senior Adviser who helped write this speech. You know, immigration has been a real test for this president. This is the president , the art of the deal president who so far has been unable to reach a deal on immigration, his big selling point, the wall, still not funded. Pushing for that deal, george. Its bedevilled president s before. George w. Bush couldnt get a bipartisan immigration deal, nor could barack obama. The president , byron pitts, hoping the economy is the glue that holds people together, as he works his way up to the podium. He talked about lowest black unemployment in years, but charlottesville, on many minds, also those comments he made about african haiti. People in this country believe hes against them. You talk about those employment numbers, yes, historic. Lowest theyve been for africanamericans, but consider this. This is the slowest drop in unemployment for blacks in five years. And black unemployment is still twice that of white america. So, he has to impact those numbers before he changes minds. The president handing his speech to the speaker of the house, paul ryan, Vice President mike pence. Looks like hes ready to get to work. Martha raddatz, we saw the president work his way past several generals there, including many that work for him. Many, many generals working for him. Secretary mattis, retired general, of course, h. R. Mcmaster, and john kelly, his chief of staff. You saw him pass by the joint chiefs. I often have people ask me why they are so serious and stern at these things, theyre not supposed to clap unless its about the troops. So, well keep our eye on that. Only clap in support nothing policy or politics. And we remember when the president had that infamous Cabinet Meeting and he was surrounded by praise from his fellow cabinet members, it was general mattis. And thats all he did. Everyone else said something very nice about President Trump, and general mattis said, were proud of our troops. Democratic leader of the house, nancy pelosi there. Now well hear from the speaker. Attorney general jeff sessions. Members of congress, i have the high privilege and the distinct honor of presenting you to the president of the United States. Another big round of applause as the president takes that in. I want to welcome in our newest abc contributor, former governor of new jersey, chris christie. One thing the president wont mention tonight, something thats hung over his head for much of this last year, the russia investigation. Special counsel robert mueller. No, he wont, george. And i think thats good for the country and good for the president. It aggravating him, it angers him and thats not the president we need to see tonight. The president we need to see tonight is the one who spoke to us on Election Night of 2016. Inspirational and aspirational. One more standing ovation for the president from his staff, from republicans in congress. Mr. Speaker, mr. Vice president , members of congress, the first lady of the United States and my fellow americans, less than one year has passed since i first stood at this podium in this majestic chamber to speak on behalf of the American People and to address their concerns, their hopes and their dreams. That night, our new administration had already taken very swift action. A new tide of optimism was already sweeping across our land. Each day since, we have gone forward with a clear vision and a Righteous Mission to make America Great again for all americans. [ applause ] over the last year, we have made incredible progress and achieved extraordinary success. We have faced challenges we expected and others we could have never imagined. We have shared in the heights of victory and the pains of hardship. We have endured floods and fires and storms. But through it all, we have seen the beauty of americas soul and the steel in americas spine. Each test has forged new american heroes to remind us who we are and show us what we can be. We saw the volunteers of the cajun navy racing to the rescue with their fishing boats to save people in the aftermath of a totally devastating hurricane. We saw strangers shielding strangers from a hail of gunfire on the las vegas strip. We heard tales of americans like coast guard petty officer ashley lepert, who is here tonight in the gallery with melania. [ applause ] ashlee was aboard one of the first helicopters on the scene during hurricane harvey. Through 18 hours of wind and rain, ashlee braved live power lines and deep water to help save more than 40 lives. Ashlee, we all thank you. Thank you very much. [ applause ] we heard about americans like Firefighter David dahlberg. Hes here with us also. David faced down walls of flame to rescue almost 60 children trapped at a california summer camp threatened by those devastating wildfires. To everyone still recovering in texas, florida, louisiana, puerto rico and the virgin islands, everywhere, we are with you, we love you and we always will pull through together, always. [ applause ] thank you to david and the brave people of california. Thank you very much, david. Great job. Some trials over the past year touched this chamber very personally. With us tonight is one of the toughest people ever to serve in this house, a guy who took a bullet, almost died and was back to work three and a half months later, the legend from louisiana, congressman steve scalise. [ applause ] i think they like you, steve. Were incredibly grateful for the heroic efforts of the Capital Police officers, theal sand dree ya police and the doctors, nurses and paramedics who saved his life and the lives of many others, some in this room. And the aftermath yes. Yes. [ applause ] and the aftermath of that terrible shooting, we came together, not as republicans or democrats, but as representatives of the people. But it is not enough to come together only in times of tragedy. Tonight, i call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out Common Ground and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people. This is really the key. These are the people we were elected to serve. [ applause ] thank you. Over the last year, the world has seen what we always knew, that no people on earth are so fearless or daring or determined as americans. If there is a mountain, we climb it. If theres a frontier, we cross it. If theres a challenge, we tame it. If theres an opportunity, we seize it. So, lets begin tonight by recognizing that the state of our union is strong, because our people are strong. [ applause ] and together, we are building a safe, strong and proud america. Since the election, we have created 2. 4 million new jobs, including [ applause ] including 200,000 new jobs in manufacturing alone. Tremendous numbers. [ applause ] after years and years of wage stagnation, we are finally seeing rising wages. [ applause ] unemployment claims have hit a 45year low. And something im very proud of, africanamerican unemployment stands at the lowest rate ever recorded. [ applause ] and hispanicamerican unemployment has also reached the lowest levels in history. Small Business Confidence is at an alltime high. The stock market has smashed one record after another, gaining 8 trillion and more in value in just this short period of time. The great news the great news for americans, 401 k retirement pension and College Savings accounts have gone through the roof and just as i promised, the American People from this podium 11 months ago, we enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in american history. [ applause ] our massive tax cuts provide tremendous relief for the middle class and small business. To lower tax rates for hardworking americans. We nearly doubled the standard deduction for everyone. Now, the first 24,000 earned by a married couple is completely tax free. We also doubled the child tax credit. A typical family of four making 75,000 will see their tax bill reduced by 2,000, slashing their tax bill in half. In april, this will be the last time you will ever file under the old and very broken system and millions of americans will have more take home pay starting next month. A lot more. [ applause ] we eliminated an especially cruel tax that fell mostly on americans making less than 50,000 a year, forcing them to pay tremendous penalties simply because they couldnt afford governmentordered health plans. We repealed the core of the disastrous obamacare. The individual mandate is now gone. Thank heavens. [ applause ] we slashed the business tax rate from 35 all the way down to 21 , so American Companies can compete and win against anyone else, anywhere in the world. These changes alone are estimated to increase average Family Income by more than 4,000. A lot of money. Small businesses have also received a massive tax cut and cannot deduct 20 of their business income. Here tonight are steve staub and Sandy Keplinger of staub manufacturin manufacturing, a small, beautiful business in ohio. They have just finished the best year in their 20year history. [ applause ] because of tax reform, they are handing out raises, hiring an additional 14 people and expanding into the building next door. Good feeling. One of staubs employees, corey adams, is also with us tonight. Corey is an allamerican worker. He supported himself through high school, lost his job during the 2008 recession and was later hired by staub, where he trained to become a welder. Like many hardworking americans, corey plans to invest his tax cut raise into his new home and his two daughters education. Corey, please stand. [ applause ] and hes a great welder. I was told that by the man that owns that company thats doing so well, so, congratulations, corey. Since we passed tax cuts, roughly 3 million workers have already gotten tax cut bonuses. Many of them, thousands and thousands of dollars per worker, and its getting more every month, every week. Apple has Just Announced it plans to invest a total of 350 billion in america and hire another 20,000 workers. [ applause ] and just a little while ago, exxon mobil announced a 50 billion investment in the United States. Just a little while ago. This, in fact, is our new american moment. There has never been a better time to start living the american dream. So, to every citizen watching at home tonight, no matter where youve been or where youve come from, this is your time. If you work hard, if you believe in yourself, if you believe in america, then you can dream anything. You can be anything. And together, we can achieve absolutely anything. [ applause ] tonight, i want to talk about what kind of future were going to have, and what kind of a nation were going to be. All of us together as one team, one people and one American Family can do anything. We all share the same home. The same heart. The same destiny. And the same Great American flag. Together, we are rediscovering the american way. In america, we know that faith and family, not government and bureaucracy, are the center of American Life. The motto is in god we trust. [ applause ] and we celebrate our police, our military and our amazing veterans as heroes who deserve our total and unwavering support. [ applause ] here tonight is preston sharp, a 12yearold boy from reading, california, who noticed that veter veterans graves were not marked with flags on veterans day. He decided all by himself to change that, and started a movement that has now placed 40,000 flags at the graves of our great heroes. Preston, a job well done. [ applause ] young patriots like preston teach all of us about our civic duty as americans, and i met preston a little while ago and he is something very special, that i can tell you. Great future, thank you very much f

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