# How incredibly stupid will the SOTU be? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 5, 2019, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994 "2019-02-05T07:00:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![JB99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JB99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JB99)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/121 "2019-02-06T03:21:33Z")
Trump wants unity and an end to the politics of revenge and partisanship. Um, fuck you. Start with some apologies and then we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/122 "2019-02-06T03:22:03Z")
Are the Pubbies applauding a lot? Do most of them seem supportive? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/123 "2019-02-06T03:22:52Z")
“Now, a few words about America’s incredible, fantastic dogs and cats, who…” ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/124 "2019-02-06T03:22:57Z")
At 953 on twitter, zeke miller said the speech was only 56% done… so we’re in for at least another half an hour of this, it seems, if he’s correct. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/125 "2019-02-06T03:25:05Z")
My wife asked me if I was going to watch it live. I said I had some grading to do at the same time, so watching it would put in the correct (foul) mood. Someone once timed how long an NFL game is without the commercials (hint: 60 minutes). Someone should do the same thing - how long is the SOTU without the applause interruptions. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/126 "2019-02-06T03:26:47Z")
It is disgusting watching Trump using Holocaust survivors and war heroes as props for his sick plans. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/127 "2019-02-06T03:28:14Z")
“What will we do with this moment?” We will impeach your fat orange ass. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/128 "2019-02-06T03:29:48Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > At 953 on twitter, zeke miller said the speech was only 56% done… so we’re in for at least another half an hour of this, it seems, if he’s correct. so happy to be wrong ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/129 "2019-02-06T03:30:06Z")
“We must always keep twirling towards freedom!” ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/130 "2019-02-06T03:30:12Z")
Finally. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/131 "2019-02-06T03:31:36Z")
Didn’t anybody have to get up and go pee? ---
**Author:** ![Tierce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Tierce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tierce)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/132 "2019-02-06T03:31:39Z")
McConnell never looked happy when the camera found him… ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/133 "2019-02-06T03:42:51Z")
Stacey Abrams - You are talking about yourself too much. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/134 "2019-02-06T03:58:39Z")
> [@AngelSoft](#): > > So…are there names streaming by? Of all the donors? That’s the big question lol so sorry, my mistake, that story was from last year ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/135 "2019-02-06T04:11:49Z")
Thanks to those (increasingly drunk?) hardy souls to provide that play-by-play, which was handy to check on while doin other shit, which did not include subjecting myself to any extended exposure to President Lays or Mike Tussaud. Can’t think of too many surprises reported here - cool about the women in white. Too bad Nancy didn’t have a knitting needle to throw at him. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/136 "2019-02-06T04:13:27Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Thanks to those (increasingly drunk?) hardy souls to provide that play-by-play, which was handy to check on while doin other shit, which did not include subjecting myself to any extended exposure to President Lays or Mike Tussaud. Can’t think of too many surprises reported here - cool about the women in white. Too bad Nancy didn’t have a knitting needle to throw at him. Ditto. Thanks to all. Hope y’all can sleep tonight. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/137 "2019-02-06T04:14:09Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Are the Pubbies applauding a lot? Do most of them seem supportive? One thing I found striking was that at least twice the camera caught McConnell not clapping during obvious applause lines. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/138 "2019-02-06T04:25:46Z")
I was seeing some RW types claiming elsewhere that they were pleased to see lots of Democrats standing and applauding. What was that about? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/139 "2019-02-06T04:31:43Z")
I was following The NY Times live commentary, and one of their correspondents noted that Abrams’ speech seemed more powerful precisely because it wasn’t interrupted by applause. Which I think is a valid point…the constant applause during the SOTU is just silly. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2019, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994/140 "2019-02-06T04:42:57Z")
No wonder The Washington Post Fact Checker had to create the “Bottomless Pinocchio” category for Trump. That El Paso line about that city becoming safe because of a wall at the border, was shown to be a lie last month: > [@](#): > > ``` > Trump, Jan. 14: > > ``` > > > [@](#): > > > > In El Paso … it was one of the most dangerous cities in the country. A wall was put up. It went from being one of the most dangerous cities in the country to one of the safest cities in the country overnight. Overnight. Does that tell you something? > > No, it doesn’t tell us something. > > There have been two pivotal changes in El Paso border enforcement over the last few decades, and neither lends itself to the president’s narrative. The first, in 1993, did not involve the erection of border wall, but rather a flood of border patrol agents along the immediate border. > > The second was a border fence constructed as a result of the Secure Fence Act of 2006. But claiming that the construction of that fence transformed the city from one of the most dangerous in the country to one of the safest, as the president said, doesn’t hold up. > > El Paso has long been a relatively safe city, even though it sits just across the Rio Grande River from sister city Ciudad Juarez, one of the most dangerous cities not only in Mexico, but in all of the world. > > According to the Uniform Crime Reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the violent crime rate in El Paso historically has been well below the rate in other big cities in Texas, such as Houston, Dallas and Forth Worth, and has consistently been well below the national average for cities with 500,000 or more residents. > > El Paso has had the lowest murder rate among the state’s six largest cities nearly every single year going back to 1985 (the earliest available year in the UCR’s online data tool, which goes through 2014). Its murder rate during that span was regularly four and five times lower than the rates in Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth. And for decades, it has had a murder rate far below the average among other large U.S. cities. > **[Analysis | Meet the Bottomless Pinocchio, a new rating for a false claim...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/12/10/meet-bottomless-pinocchio-new-rating-false-claim-repeated-over-over-again/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3250c143d5a1)** > > President Trump rarely stops repeating false statements in response to fact checks, so 14 of his repeated claims make the initial list. > [@](#): > > Trump’s willingness to constantly repeat false claims has posed a unique challenge to fact-checkers. Most politicians quickly drop a Four-Pinocchio claim, either out of a duty to be accurate or concern that spreading false information could be politically damaging. > > Not Trump. The president keeps going long after the facts are clear, in what appears to be a deliberate effort to replace the truth with his own, far more favorable, version of it. He is not merely making gaffes or misstating things, he is purposely injecting false information into the national conversation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-incredibly-stupid-will-the-sotu-be/828994.md?page=8)