Mastodawn

Spanberger’s speech — & the selection of her to deliver it — signaled how #Democratic leaders want the party to be viewed in Trump’s second term: sober & serious officials who understand voters’ economic plight.

A #moderate who is coming off a landslide election victory in #Virginia, #Spanberger gave a safe speech that struck the political notes #Democrats are aiming to press — that #Trump has hurt the economy & sowed #chaos with his policies.

#SOTU #USpol

#Spanberger, 46, is the second #CIA veteran in 2 years chosen to deliver the #Democratic Party’s formal response to Trump. Last year, it was Senator #ElissaSlotkin of #Michigan, a fellow #moderate who also first entered #Congress in 2018 & had also just won a statewide election. While #Slotkin warned last year that #Trump would increase the #CostOfLiving, Spanberger made a broader case that his admin was working against the #WellBeing of the American #people.

#SOTU

#Spanberger called Trump’s #tariffs a “massive tax hike on you & your family,” & argued that congressional #Republicans were making life more #expensive & “making it more difficult to see a #doctor” while driving up the costs of #energy & #housing.

And she said that while Trump’s policies were hurting “regular Americans,” they were helping himself & his allies.

“He’s enriching himself, his family, his friends. The scale of the #corruption is unprecedented,” #Spanberger said, before ticking through details. “There’s the #CoverUp of the #EpsteinFiles, the #crypto scams, cozying up to foreign princes for airplanes & billionaires for ballrooms, putting his name & face on buildings all over our nation’s capital. This is not what our founders envisioned.”

Spanberger’s 12-min speech took up just a fraction of the nearly 2 hours #Trump spent addressing the nation. But she hit several main points #Democrats want to hammer home about the president, including a critique of his #immigration policies.

While Trump vividly described violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, #Spanberger recalled the scenes Americans have watched on their screens in recent months of federal agents use of of excessive force in #Minneapolis & other #US cities.

#Trump #immigration #ICE #StateSponsoredTerrorism #SOTU #USpol

“Every minute spent sowing #fear is a minute not spent investigating murders, crimes against children or the criminals defrauding seniors of their life savings,” #Spanberger said. “Our president told us tonight that we are safer because these agents arrest mothers & detain children. Think about that.”

The job #Spanberger took on Tuesday night can be thankless∶ Fumbling the opposition party’s response to the #SOTU speech is a bipartisan tradition dating back decades. But she completed the task without committing a memorable or meme-able error.

#Trump #USpol

…Her own election last fall, #Spanberger said in her speech, was a referendum on Trump’s first year in office & demonstrated that voters preferred #Democrats who run as a moderate counterweight to the president. This year’s #midterms, she predicted, would continue that trend.

“I won my election by 15 points, & we won 13 new seats in our state legislature because voters decided they wanted something different,” #Spanberger said, adding, “Those who are stepping up now to run will win in November because Americans — you at home — know you can demand more, & that we are working to lower costs. We are working to keep our communities & our country safe. And we are working for you.”

Don Hawkins - W7DAH Feb 25

@Nonilex 🤣🤣🤣 “moderate” = Sock puppet for the same old corporate bullshit, and this life long Democrat is NOT voting for that shite. Go Progressive or suck it.

Gerrit 🇪🇺🌍🍉🔻Feb 25

@Nonilex

Without much memorable at all. I disagree with the major thrust of the speech that the failures are a matter of bad training or incompetence, or that immigration is something that needs to "be fixed". The reality is a bit bleaker than that and meeting the other party halfway, is not a valid strategy, if the other party are stark raving supremacists.

If this is the informed thinking of Democrat apparatsjiks then all is not well.