Nolan Finley: It’s time to end the State of the Union

A solid indicator of the State of the Union could be found in who was and who wasn’t in the U.S. Capitol when President Donald Trump arrived Tuesday to deliver his annual address to Congress.

More than 80 Democrats from the House and the Senate had announced boycotting the address to protest Trump’s existence as well as his policies. Many gathered at the National Mall for an alternative event billed as the “People’s State of the Union.” It had far less to do with the people than it did with partisan politics. Others went to the National Press Club for a “State of the Swamp” party.

Several Democrats who did attend showed up with color-coordinated protest outfits, as has become their habit. This year they chose white, to honor the suffragettes who fought to gain the right to vote for women, making a statement against the SAVE Act.

Others brought along women who were victimized by the wealthy pervert Jeffrey Epstein, another effort by Democrats to tie Trump, without evidence, to Epstein’s alleged pedophile ring.

So even before the speech began, America’s great and uncivil divide was on full display. And just a couple of minutes into the president’s remarks, a disruptive Democrat was escorted out.

The State of the Union has become an annual embarrassment.

No one expected Trump to close the chasm with his remarks. Of course, he didn’t – aside from the rousing introduction of the gold medal-winning USA men’s hockey team and the announcement goalie Connor Hellebuyck of Commerce Township, Michigan, will be getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

A handful of solid policy initiatives including the “Trump Accounts” investment program for children, a promising health care reform proposal and a ban on congressional insider trading were lost among the president’s black-guarding, “greatest in history” boasts and the back-and-forth taunting with Democrats.

Trump still can’t tell the difference between a presidential speech and a presidential campaign speech.

The State of the Union address has become an annual embarrassment since Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina, broke the tradition of decorum by shouting “You lie!” at former President Barack Obama during his 2009 address. In 2020, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doubled down by tearing up her copy of Trump’s speech while the cameras were still rolling. The expressions of protest have continued to go decidedly downhill.

We’ve come a long way in the wrong direction since 2011, when the two parties crossed the aisle to sit together in the chamber in a show of national unity.

Now, the speech has little to do with either grading the nation’s performance or setting a course for its future. And it certainly doesn’t unite.

Rather, it’s pure political theater, a stage on which to act out the hatefulness of our politics.

The State of the Union should get a time-out. Our so-called leaders can’t be trusted to behave themselves when they’re in the same room together.

Pause the address until the political dynamics change. Next year, Trump should email his speech to Congress and the American people, and anyone who misses the hate and insults can play the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the U.K.,” the angriest rock song ever written, in the background while they’re reading.

Nolan Finley is the editorial page editor for the Detroit News, where this column originally appeared. Reach him at nfinley@detroitnews.com.