During President Trump's State of the Union Address, many Democrats chose not to clap during parts of his speech. Donald Trump criticized that the Democrats were "like death", "Un-American", and "treasonous." The White House's press secretary, Sarah Sanders tried to clarify Trump's criticism by telling reporters that the President was "clearly joking." Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden responded, "Well let me tell you, he's a joke", and further clarifies his statement that in this case, he believes that Trump is a joke. Biden acknowledges that people know what the President says is important and matters, however he is amazed at the outrageously inaccurate things he says.
I don't think that the Democrats should be accused of such outrageous accusations. The Democrats must have chosen not to clap for specific reasons, like not agreeing with his policy decisions or what he says in general. It's a little much to compare them to death for not clapping. I believe that Sanders is just trying to justify Trump's accusations, just so his image won't be hurt, because I think this is something Trump would actually say. I think Biden was brutally honest and made it clear what he truly thinks of Trump. I agree with Biden that what the President says is important, but even given this responsibility, Trump continues to say things that are shocking and sometimes even heinous.
Questions:
1. In this case, do you think the Democrats were wrong?
2. Sanders says that Trump was joking, but do you think he actually was?
3. Did Biden react correctly by calling Trump a "joke"? Should he have handled it differently?
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/07/politics/joe-biden-donald-trump-cnntv/index.html
9 comments:
I don’t think Democrats should have been criticized so harshly and attacked by Trump for not standing up or clapping for him during the speech. They didn’t agree with Trump’s comments and policies, so simply didn’t clap to approve or agree along with him. There was no reason for Trump to call them out and then to use words like “un-American” and “treasonous” to describe them and make this such a big deal. I don’t see how “joking” can be an excuse for what Trump said regardless of whether it was a joke or not, as the president carries a lot of responsibility and his words and actions must as well.
I agree with you that democrats are totally entitled to their own opinions and do not have to clap for whatever Trump says. I personally think that it is bad etiquette not to clap, but considering how Trump says some very disagreeable things, I understand why the Democrats didn't clap. As for Sanders, I think that she just wants people to forget about this incident so she was trying to brush Trump's comments off as jokes. Of course, we will never know whether they were truly jokes or not, but I think we can make a reasonable assumption that he wasn't joking. I think that Biden's remarks were not very agreeable. As someone who was vice-President of the United States, Biden holds a high status in society. A better move would've been to put his concerns into more agreeable/respectful language. Outright calling Trump a joke is not any better than Trump making rude comments about the Democrats. If Biden, or anyone else, is going to criticize Trump for stooping low, he shouldn't stoop just as low by saying rude things about Trump.
I disagree with Kamal. I think Biden's response was reasonable considering the accusations of President Trump. He was having a little fun, and as he no longer holds political office I see no real harm in that. Are there better ways to respond then calling someone a joke? Probably, but it is also better than accusing someone of treason because they didn't clap during your speech. People are free to say whatever they want about the president, and Biden was simply using that right. Honestly compared to some of the things I have called Trump in my every day life, calling him a joke was pretty mild.
I don't agree that the Democrats is wrong. They should be able to express when they are unsatisfied with administration. Trump was not joking, he always gets his feelings hurt when people do not agree with him. See past examples. Biden should be able to call Trump whatever he wants. Anything else would be contradictory of the first amendment.
I don't think that the Democrats were wrong to not clap. They aren't obligated to support Trump and they should not and cannot be forced to support someone because 'Murica. I don't think that Trump was joking, as Sanders said, but it's expected that Trump would denounce those who do not support him. Usually Trump's advisors try to come up with some b.s. explanation for Trump's actions. I think that Biden was right in saying Trump is a joke. However, someone like Biden who has moderately high publicity, should not be denouncing him so publicly.
I think it was fine for the democrats to not clap because they obviously do not agree with what Trump said towards them. I also think that Sanders knows that Trump was not joking but had to protect Trumps image towards Democrats in some sort of way and knowing that, it justifies Bidens response for speaking up for the Democrats.
The Democrats were not in the wrong for expressing their disagreement with the presidency. This is what democracy is. They're showing displeasure of the president and voicing their opinion about it. But according to Trump, it is apparently treasonous. Calling him a joke may be a bit excessive however. Trump obviously views things differently than many Democrats, but it is no reason to call him a joke. Name calling like this gives a bad face to the Democrats, even if they all seem to think of Trump in the same way.
Democrats aren't obligated to clap, rather they aren't even obligated to adhere to Trump, especially if their views oppose his. That's the point of civil disobedience and freedom of speech. In order for society to progress and all voices to be heard this type of actions serves to display that the Democrats have no tolerance for Trump's rhetoric. I really don't think you can just say Trump was joking and expect everyone to accept that, because he has said some ostentatious statements in the past, like the wall, and while people thought it was a joke or a mere tactic to gain support, he has been true to that word. The Americans shouldn't be put in a place where we question the validity of our president's word, guessing whether or not every statement he makes is true or merely just an excited utterance. If we hold Biden to Trump's standards, then yes his response is valid.
In the three SOTU that I've watched, I've never seen the opposing party clap for any partisan policies that the President addresses. It seems like polarization has gotten way too extreme for that kinda thing to happen. So I'm not surprised that the Democrats did not clap (even though Trump was surprisingly liberal on at least 2 topics). And I really hope Trump was joking.
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