Trump’s State of the Union Was a Disaster - Here’s What You Missed

Last night, President Trump delivered a nearly two hour state of the Union address, and it went about as well as you'd expect.

We're winning so much that we really don't know what to do about it.

People are asking me, please, please, please, Mr. President, we're winning too much.

We can't take it anymore.

We're not used to winning in our country.

There were shouting matches, a conversation, a protest sign.

Will the Dems stand?

Grabs in Medal of Freedom moments and enough fact checkable claims to really keep us here all week.

But beyond the spectacle, there are real signs buried in the speech about where both parties are headed into the midterms. And that is what we actually need to talk about.

So let's start with one of the things that made this one memorable.

And it wasn't the policy.

When Trump asked the room to pledge that their priorities were protecting American people, not illegal aliens, Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar just wasn't having it and.

Enact serious penalties for public officials who blocked the removal of criminal aliens.

In many cases, drug lords, mayors all over our country.

They're blocking the removal of these people out of our country.

And you should be ashamed of yourself.

Yeah, well, maybe not clear in the moment, Omar was shouting.

You have killed Americans. You are a murderer.

And of course, he was referencing Renee Goode and Alex Brady, who were two of our constituents who were shot and killed by Trump troopers earlier this year, with Omar also later posting that Trump killed two of my constituents and called him a liar.

And the reaction to this, it was split exactly how you'd expect Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee backed up, saying that Ice is killing US citizens, and the coward in the white House has nothing to say.

The speaker, Mike Johnson, said that Omar and Representative Rashida to leave were nearly ejected for heckling.

And there was also the situation with Texas Democratic Representative Al Green, who stood in the center aisle holding a sign that read black people aren't apes, which is a direct callback to Trump's post about the Obamas without issue, with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise swiping the sign on his way in and other Republicans trying to physically block it from the cameras, with green being removed early but not before making his point.

When you allow that level of racism to continue, when you tolerate it, you perpetuate it.

I refuse to be a part of the perpetuation of this level of racism, and this is why I wanted to confront him up close.

And judging by the look on his face, he got the message.

And also with us, you'd some Democrat just not bothering to show up at all.

About 30 members of Congress joined hundreds of people on the National Mall for what they called the People's State of the Union, which was a counter rally featuring Joy-Ann Reid, Pennsylvania Representative Summer Lee, and Senator Chris Murphy, the Republicans.

They were, predictably not fans of the boycott.

Democrats, meanwhile, are going to host count them five separate counter events rallies of some sort.

They call them in lieu of tonight's address.

It's shameful that they would boycott an address.

We don't do that. Meanwhile, inside, Trump was doing what Trump does.

These people are crazy.

I'm telling you, they're crazy.

We're lucky we have a country with people like this.

Democrats are destroying our country.

But we've stopped it just in the nick of time.

Good morning to.

Also, one of the more notable segments was when Trump turned to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

My great friend Charlie Kirk.

Great guy, great mayor.

So last year, Charlie was violently murdered by.

An assassin and murdered.

Really murdered for his beliefs.

Also use the moment to call for national unity against political violence.

In Charlie's memory.

We must all come together to reaffirm that America is one nation under God, and we must totally reject political violence of any kind.

Which I do think that it's worth noting, is an interesting position from a guy who just months ago posted that lawmakers who told military officers to refuse illegal orders were committing sedition, a crime that he suggested was punishable by death.

And of course, that's in addition to all the other shit he has said recently and over the years.

But then also on a lighter note, you had Trump bring out the U.S.

men's hockey team, fresh off of their gold medal win on Sunday, and their invite ended up being kind of controversial because of the cash metal situation of it all.

And while most of the team attended, you had five players who didn't, though their absences were reportedly unrelated to the president.

The women's team reportedly turned down their invite entirely.

But then one of the big moments with the men's team is that Trump announced the Medal of Freedom for the team's goal, and that was just one part of many places where Trump was kind of getting his Oprah, with Trump handing out two Purple Hearts, two Medals of Honor, and a Legion of Merit before the night was over.

Now, as far as the speech itself, given that it was nearly two hours long, I cannot unpack every single claim.

But there are standouts regarding a third term, he said.

So in my.

First year of the second term.

Should be my third term.

But strange things happen.

Which just reminder no, no, no matter how many things the president says which are untrue, he lost the 2020 election, no matter how many times he floats it.

Presidents do not get third term.

That is the 22nd amendment. Then on tariffs, he said.

And as time goes by, I believe the tariffs paid for by foreign countries will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern day system of income tax.

There was basically everyone except the president I guess is figured out.

Foreign countries don't pay tariffs, American importers do.

And often those costs get passed on to the American consumers.

And the idea that tariffs could replace the entire income tax system, according to experts, that's not even close to realistic.

Also on the economy, with Trump saying.

Incomes are rising fast, the roaring economy is roaring like never before.

A short time ago, we were a dead country.

Now we are the hottest country anywhere in the world.

The hottest.

Now with that, here's the reality of the situation.

Inflation did hit a four decade high under Biden in 2022, but it was already declining by the time that Trump took office.

And as far as incomes after tax earnings rose just under a percent last year, which is actually slower growth in Biden's final years.

So Trump's main economic strategy right now seems to be insisting that a boom is happening, while almost all Americans don't feel it in their daily lives.

Oh, and he also claimed that he has secured $18 trillion in investments, which is a number that he's repeated multiple times without ever providing evidence.

You've had many experts saying that is a figure that's either exaggerated, highly speculative, or both.

Even the number on the white House is much lower, and it appears that it might include investments made under Biden.

But then moving on with the state of the Union on election fraud, you had Trump saying.

I'm asking you to approve the safe America Act to stop illegal aliens and others who are unpermitted persons from voting in our sacred American elections, that cheating is rampant in our elections.

It's rampant.

Though.

Again, Donald Trump has never provided evidence of rampant cheating given the Heritage Foundation his own voter fraud database.

And this is a conservative source, includes only 85 allegations of non-citizen voting across two decades.

But then, after Donald Trump finished his overly long, seemingly like just to set the record speech, he then had Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger delivering the official Democratic response.

And her strategy was clear make it about your wallet.

Tonight, as we watched our nation's lawmakers gather for a joint session of Congress, we did not hear the truth from our president.

Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family?

Is the president working to keep Americans safe, both at home and abroad?

Is the president working.

For you with Spanberger hammering tariffs, cost of living and health care access, along with calling out Republicans directly for enabling Trump?

They remain unwilling to assert their constitutional authority to stop him.

They're making your life harder.

They're making your life more expensive.

They're even making it more difficult to see a doctor.

And it appears like, you know, this is not just rhetoric.

It's the playbook.

You've got establishment Democrats pointing to.

Spanberger is double digit victory in Virginia last November as proof that a disciplined, cost focused message.

It just works.

And they want to replicate that nationwide heading into the midterms. So they are on that topic, as I've done for about a year now.

I'm a big believer in you need a different kind of Dems in different kind of areas.

But, you know, zooming out on this whole situation, a big thing to consider is that Trump walked into that chamber with a 39% approval rate.

Understand that is lower than any president during their first state of the Union.

Well, of course, we're going to have to see what future polling shows a week from now. A month from now.

You're already seeing some headlines calling the speech inconsequential, but you got surveys showing that he's bleeding support among independents.

And reports suggest that Republicans are staring down a serious voter enthusiasm gap heading into November.

And while Trump's MAGA base is not going anywhere, the base alone does not win midterms, especially when Trump himself is not on the ballot.

Well, again, specific races in specific locations are going to vary.

Generally speaking, it looks like Democrats are betting that pocketbook issues are going to carry them, and Republicans are betting that the culture war energy might hold.

It's really one of the biggest questions is whether last night that state of the Union actually moves voters or we all just kind of watch two hours of political theater that changes nothing.

Well, that's likely to go down before then, but we'll find out in November.

Right. And then there's more we've got to dive into in just a minute.

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But then diving right back into the news, we've got to talk about how the Trump administration is about to begin the next phase of its mass deportation campaign, because you have the Trump administration now recruiting what they're calling deportation judges, and they have ads featuring shots from the dystopian film Judge Dredd with the tagline deliver justice to a criminal, illegal aliens, save your country.

And if that sounds to you like less of a job Bowser and more like a propaganda poster.

Yeah, that's kind of the point, because what's happening inside of America's immigration courts right now, it is a systematic dismantling and rebuild, and we need to talk about it.

So here's where we are.

Since Trump took office, the administration has fired nearly 100 immigration judges, with dozens more retiring early or resigning.

I mean, over 200 gone in total, even accounting for new hires.

The bench has gone from 726 judges to roughly 553.

It's about a quarter of the entire system wiped out.

And I understand this was not a slow restructuring, but the very first judge that Trump fired was dismissed mid hearing and escorted out of the building on the spot.

I asked multiple supervisors.

I asked the Chief Judge of the United States and my supervisor why I was being fired, and they told me that they did not know.

Why but she said that being removed like that, it sent shockwaves across the United States.

And she's right. Right.

Because it's not just about her. It was a message.

And today, 12 immigration courts have lost over half of their judges due.

Courts have zero judges left. And it's not just a bench.

The DOJ has Executive Office for Immigration Review also gutted about 75% of its attorney advisors and over half of all court supervisors, more than 400 support staff.

Not every remaining judge already buried under hundreds of thousands of cases, just inherited the caseloads of everyone who got fired, fired me.

Without any warning, nor any explanation.

As each judge gets fired, those cases are redistributed.

The backlog gets longer.

People have to wait longer for their hearings, and after their hearings, they have to wait longer for their decisions.

Now here's where the strategy comes into focus, right?

Because this isn't about shrinking the courts, it's about reloading them.

And in fact, you had one of the fire judges saying it plainly, saying you are telling every judge that has left that they better not be following the law or their conscience, that they need to apply the law as you are interpreting it.

And those replacements, they're being recruited through those deportation judge ads that I mentioned at the beginning.

I understand that label matters because immigration judges are supposed to impartially consider each case, which could mean deportation.

But could also mean granting asylum or legal status, among them deportation judges.

It's like calling police officers deadly force officers or trial juries conviction juries, telling you what the outcome supposed to be before the case even starts.

Or is a Syracuse University immigration analyst put it.

The label declares that the position requires not adjudication but pre ordination, effectively turning courts into deportation factories and judges into mindless functionaries.

And the person that's running this hiring spree is Darren Margolin.

Trump's picked had the Executive Office for immigration review.

He's actually a former immigration judge who says that he retired in early 2024 at a disgust with the Biden administration, claiming that he felt like, and this is a direct quote, a coconspirator in treason.

He also believes that there are 25 to 30 million undocumented immigrants in the country, which is at least double the best estimates from the Pew Research Center.

So that's the lens which these new judges are being selected.

And so far, Margolin says he's received around 1700 applications.

And while he hasn't said how many have been hired, the first cohort are reportedly starting by the end of this month.

And all of this is he's also pushing to limit the appeals process on deportation orders, meaning that once the decision comes down, there'll be fewer ways to challenge.

And so with all this, you know, taking a step back and looking at the full picture, we're in a situation where if you're an immigrant in the system right now, Ice agents may ambush you outside of a courthouse after a routine check in you posters in the lobby of immigration buildings literally encouraging people to plead guilty and self-deport.

And now the judge deciding your case may have been specifically recruited not to weigh the facts, but to deliver a predetermined outcome.

And as far as the Trump DOJ is response to all this, you had a spokesperson telling NPR that the administration is, quote, restoring integrity to our immigration system after what they called four years of de facto amnesty under Biden.

But that, as you have many critics and experts saying what's actually happening is the opposite of integrity.

It's a removal of independence from a system that only works if judges are free to follow the law, not a mandate.

Whether you support stricter immigration enforcement or not.

But the question everyone should be asking is, do you want a court system where the outcome is decided before you walk in the door?

Because that's sort of following the law.

That's not pursuing justice, that's not enforcement.

That is theater. Right?

And actually, well, it's not theater, but instead a very consequential drama.

We got to talk about how the Secretary of Defense just gave one of the biggest AI companies in the world an ultimatum drop your ethical guardrails and let the military use your tech however it wants or will force you to.

But that's not what's being reported from multiple outlets.

After what's been described as a heated meeting between Pete Hegseth and the CEO of anthropic and the implications here, it goes way beyond one company and one contract.

But some background here anthropic.

The company behind the AI model, Claude, is one of the several AI firms that have started working with the military.

In fact, last summer they entered into a $200 million pilot contract with the Pentagon, then in January, with headset issuing a memo directing AI companies to remove restrictions on their technology and give the military the ability to use these tools however it sees fit.

And the argument was that the military should be able to deploy these systems to whatever extended ones and only be limited by their understanding of the law, and not by the guardrails that the companies have built in or the ethical lines of the companies have drawn.

So as a result, the various AI companies working with the Pentagon have had to renegotiate their contracts.

And according to sources at the department, Elon Musk's ex, I had no problem handing the government a blank check.

Essentially, other companies, including Google, are reportedly getting close to similar deals.

But anthropic has reportedly been more cautious, agreeing to loosen some restrictions but insisting that certain guardrails need to stay in place.

And in fact, for months, anthropic CEO is maintained both publicly in private meetings, that there are two things that the company just will not allow its technology to be used for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons.

That operator may kill decisions without a human in the loop.

He's called those uses illegitimate and prone to abuse, and according to sources, he reiterate exactly those sticking points in yesterday's meeting with Pentagon officials.

But then Hegseth responds, was to give an ultimatum agree to the DoD's demands by this Friday or face the consequences.

And as far as what those consequences actually look like, the reporting there has been a little mixed.

Some outlets say the exact render, both designated anthropic as a supply chain risk and invoked the Defense Production Act, which allows the government to effectively seize control of a company's products.

You also have other outlets reporting that it's more of an either or between those two options, which actually kind of makes more sense when you understand what each does, right.

Designating a company as a supply chain risk is essentially blacklisted, cutting it off from future government contracts and requiring the government to stop using its products entire right and then invoking the Defense Production Act. It does the exact opposite.

It would force anthropic to let the military use its technology regardless of what the company wants.

It's one option and essentially will never work with you again.

And the other is you'll work with us whether you like it or not.

So two very different levers or, I guess, maybe more accurately, hammers.

And then on top of that, there are also rewards that threaten to cancel the existing $200 million contract outright, though it's unclear how that would fit into the other scenarios.

Now, with all this, you have Pentagon officials telling reporters that this ultimatum has nothing to do with them dropping guardrails against surveillance and autonomous weapons.

But really, not a lot of people trust that.

And in fact, you have many experts saying that's exactly what this is.

It's an attempt by Trump and his people to punish a company for setting basic ethical standards and refusing to blindly come to heel.

And that's also what makes the story.

This new is a situation bigger than just one contract negotiation, because the question it raises isn't really about anthropic.

It's about whether any tech company can maintain ethical boundaries when the government has the legal tools to simply override.

We're in a moment where the Trump administration's pro AI agenda is apparently too aggressive for the literal AI companies building the technology.

If a firm can be threatened with government seizure of its products, we're saying we don't think I should make kill decisions without a human involved.

That should concern everyone, regardless of where you stand on AI or defense policy.

For now, we're gonna have to wait and see how this plays out by Friday, but it is definitely one it is important to watch.

This is something that's gotten some attention, but it deserves a lot more.

Or be the next up from that.

And actually, finally today I've got two announcements and a final piece of news we need to talk about.

The first being if you're in the New York City area, you happen to be going to an air fest in Brooklyn.

We're going to be there on Thursday.

And by we, I mean Alex Perlman and I are going to be doing a live, moderated Q&A Thursday morning talking about crashing out the podcast space, my show, pretty much anything in front of creatives, fellow podcasters and industry folks.

If you work in media, your business leader, creative, or you know you just like to hear interesting things being talked about, we'd love to have you.

And again, it's Thursday morning.

It's at On Air Fest at the White Hotel in Williamsburg.

We're taking over the sixth floor lounge in the morning, so it should be great people, great views, a great time.

But also I want to say, if you're a fan of this show or you're a fan of crashing out, text me at (813) 213-4423.

Right.

Join the text line because I can't give you exact details yet, but this will not be the last time we're in New York City in the near future.

In fact, maybe we'll be coming to a city near you, but who knows?

Who knows?

But the people on the text line will know.

But then the other announcement is a congratulations.

And that's congrats to Paul M.C.

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With that said, the final thing that we have to talk about today is that 15 states just sued the Trump administration over gutting the childhood vaccine schedule, and it's happening on the exact same day the Senate is grilling Trump's pick for surgeon general, a wellness influencer who repeatedly refused to say that vaccines don't cause autism.

We need to talk about both of these things, because together they paint a pretty alarming picture of where U.S.

public health is headed.

So as far as a lawsuit, yesterday, a coalition of Democratic led states filed suit asking a judge to roll back the CDC decision last month to stop recommending six key childhood immunizations hepatitis A, hepatitis B, flu, meningitis, RSV and rotavirus.

With that decision shrinking the recommended childhood vaccine schedule from 17 to 11.

Instead of encouraging every child to get these shots, the new CDC guidance says that they should only go to high risk kids or when a doctor specifically recommends them.

And so with all this, you have the lawsuit alleging that RFK junior bypassed the established advisory committee and skirted the legal framework that's been used to make vaccine recommendations for decades.

And it also claims that the changes weren't based on any scientific evidence, instead relying on comparisons to countries like Denmark, which experts have pointed out as nationalized health care.

In a population smaller than New York City.

It's not exactly apples to apples, and the lawsuit also targets RFK Junior's decision to fire all 17 members of the vaccine advisory committee and replace them with vaccine skeptics, calling that move illegal.

And this isn't even the only legal challenge.

A separate coalition of public health organizations has also sued to reverse the guidance.

But again, what makes this timing striking is that as these lawsuits are piling up, the Senate was simultaneously holding a confirmation hearing for Casey Means, Trump's pick for surgeon general.

That the nation's top doctor now means is a medical doctor, which is more than he can say about RFK Jr. But she also dropped out of a residency and doesn't have an active license to treat patients.

Instead of this person who built her public profile as a wellness influencer and entrepreneur, largely by casting doubt on the broader medical system, right, promoting raw milk, disparaging birth control, and most notably, expressing skepticism about vaccines and spreading the debunked claim that they're linked to autism.

That last point was the focus of today's hearing, with Senator Bill Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health Committee and a physician himself.

Warning means that the surgeon General has a responsibility to fight vaccine skepticism, not fuel it all you.

It means repeatedly insisting that she is not anti-vax.

Her actual answer is told a different story.

But when pressed by multiple senators, including Cassidy, she repeatedly refused to explicitly say that vaccines don't cause autism.

Do you believe that vaccines, whether individually or collectively, contribute to autism?

Senator Cassidy, you're a physician.

I'm a physician.

The reality is that we have an autism crisis that's increasing, and this is devastating to many families.

And we do not know as a medical community what causes autism.

The administration has just committed a huge amount of funding to look at the exposome of all environmental factors that could be contributing to autism.

And until we have a clear understanding of why kids are developing this at higher rates, I think we should not leave any stone unturned.

It also wouldn't directly answer whether she'd encourage parents to vaccinate their children against measles, even as Cassidy pointed out that children have died from the disease during outbreaks at surge since Trump took office.

We're on the verge of losing our measles elimination status.

Would you encourage other mothers to have their children vaccinated against measles with the MMR vaccine?

Like you, I'm a physician.

I believe vaccines save lives.

I believe that vaccines are a key part of every public of any infectious disease, public health strategy.

And I would work with you, the CDC.

Then I would utilize.

Mothers to vaccinate their children with the MMR vaccine, seeing how we've had children die and this outbreak in South Carolina.

I'm supportive of vaccination.

I, I do believe that each patient, mother or parent needs to have a conversation with their pediatrician about any medication they're putting in their body and their children's body notions.

Doctor, would you encourage her to have her child vaccinated?

I I'm not an individual's doctor, and every individual needs to talk to their doctor before putting a medication in their body.

I absolutely and supportive of of of the measles vaccine.

And I do believe vaccines save lives and are important part of the public health strategy.

He's also commit to encouraging Americans to get flu vaccines, either shots that prevent millions of illnesses and save thousands of lives every year.

We've had a tough flu season this year.

Would you?

As past surgeon general's, have encourage Americans to get vaccinated with the flu vaccine?

At the risk of sounding repetitive, I do think it's very important as a physician and to rebuild trust in public health to make sure that patients are encouraged to have informed consent with their doctor before getting any medication.

I believe vaccines save lives.

I believe they're an important part of public health.

I also do not want to not encourage patients to have a conversation with their doctor.

So, you. Know, here's where we are, though.

The administration gutted the vaccine schedule without scientific basis, RFK Jr replaced the advisory committee with skeptics.

Courts are now being asked to intervene.

The person about to become America's top doctor cannot bring herself to say that vaccines do not cause autism.

I claim that has been thoroughly, repeatedly, definitively debunked.

Despite all of that, means is almost certainly going to be confirmed by the Senate.

It's Republican controlled right now.

And while a handful of GOP senators have pushed back on the administration's vaccine stance, the odds that enough of them are actually going to vote no, they're slim.

You know, these aren't just some simple disagreements about some hypotheticals.

The real world impact.

It's not abstract here.

Measles outbreaks, they're already happening. Parents.

They're already second guessing routine immunizations.

And the people who are supposed to be guiding the country through public health decisions are either unable or unwilling to state basic medical facts out loud.

Hey, even though I and we on the show, we do a ton of research.

We also talk to a lot of experts.

What I would advise you to do is talk to your pediatrician.

The previous CDC schedule that the one backed by decades of research and scientific consensus, it is still the gold standard in your doctor can walk you through what's recommended for your child, regardless of what the current administration is saying.

Then, as far as if you're wanting to do something politically, you want to push back.

That way you can contact your senators, especially if they sit on the health committee.

And or you can try to support organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Immunization Action Coalition that are actively fighting to preserve evidence based vaccine policy.

But that, my friends, you beautiful bastards, is the end of your Wednesday Philip DeFranco show. Dive into the news.

And today, actually, you have just so much more a click away whether you want to watch a brand new podcast of crashing out with myself and Alex Pearlman that just came out today, or if you want to do a little catch up, he missed last night's Philip DeFranco show.

I got you covered, as always, thank you for watching.

I love yo faces and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.

Don't you tell me this is unprecedented time, motherfucker.

I'm a millennial.

I live through too many goddamn unprecedented. Times, homie.

You were in it.

You could have done all this stuff you said, and you didn't.

I'm sure the Kelsey bats are already, in, let's see, what's the over under 80 to put it at 81.

I'll get out hard.

I'll get out hard at 8101.

Hit his fastball. That star David on him. He's a cool.