Trump and Democrat #SOTU Guests: #MAGA vs. #MeToo and #Dreamers
Guest list reflects political divide
Tonight, President Trump will give his first State of the Union address; we’ll have a live post on that later, so be sure to come back and share the fun. In the meantime, the guest lists for both the president and the Democrats have been released.
The contrast between those guests invited by the president and those invited by the tone-deaf Democrats is illuminating, speaking to the heart of the great political divide in our country. President Trump’s guests include law enforcement, first responders, and economists. The Democrats are bringing a bunch of DREAMers and some representatives of the dwindling #MeToo movement.
The White House released a list of invitees that includes military heroes, ICE and border control agents, the founder of the Cajun Navy, parents of children slaughtered by the brutal illegal alien street gang MS-13, and the organizer of the Flags and Flowers challenge, a movement dedicated to respecting veterans by placing flags and flowers on their graves.
Here is the full list:
Corey Adams: Corey Adams is a skilled welder at Staub Manufacturing Solutions in Dayton, Ohio, where he has worked for more than eight years. During 2017, Corey and his wife were able to become first-time homeowners, and they will invest their extra money from tax reform into their two daughters’ education savings.
Elizabeth Alvarado, Robert Mickens, Evelyn Rodriguez, and Freddy Cuevas: Elizabeth Alvarado and Robert Mickens are the parents of Nisa Mickens. Evelyn Rodriguez and Freddy Cuevas are the parents of Kayla Cuevas. Nisa and Kayla had been close friends since elementary school, but in September 2016, the two girls were chased down and brutally murdered. Their deaths were among a string of 17 Long Island slayings that have been attributed to Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13.
Corporal (Ret.) Matthew Bradford: Matthew Bradford joined the United States Marine Corps straight out of high school and deployed to Iraq in 2006. In 2007, he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED). Shrapnel shot into both of his eyes, blinding him, and the explosion also took both of his legs. After multiple surgeries and therapy, Matthew reenlisted in the Marine Corps—the first blind, double amputee to do so.
Jon Bridgers: Jon Bridgers founded the Cajun Navy 2016, as a non-profit rescue and recovery organization to respond to flooding in south Louisiana. In 2017, the Cajun Navy set out to provide aid to those in Texas affected by Hurricane Harvey. He and the Cajun Navy 2016 have helped thousands of people across the South, and to this day, they are helping collect resources and donations for those who lost their homes in the storms.
David Dahlberg: David Dahlberg works as a fire prevention technician in southern California, stationed at the Pine Canyon Fire Station in the Santa Lucia Ranger District. In July 2017, he saved 62 children and staff members from a raging wildfire that had encircled their camp.
Officer Ryan Holets: Ryan Holets serves as a police officer in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In his six years on the force, he has been shot at twice and experienced several near-death encounters. Officer Holets and his wife adopted a baby from parents who suffered from opioid addiction, breaking down walls between drug addicts and police officers to help save lives.
Ashlee Leppert: Ashlee Leppert has dedicated her life to her country, serving as an aviation electronics technician in the United States Coast Guard. Last year, she rescued dozens of Americans imperiled during the devastating hurricane season. Nothing has left more of a mark on Ashlee than her efforts to lift a woman to safety in a helicopter basket. The woman was clutching a few bags of what Ashlee thought were clothes. As she drew the woman near, however, Ashlee saw four sets of children’s eyes looking at her as their guardian angel.
Agent Celestino “CJ” Martinez: CJ Martinez is a Supervisory Special Agent for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit. He has spent much of his 15-year tenure working to dismantle transnational criminal organizations, including MS-13. His investigations have led to more than 100 arrests of MS-13 gang members who have been prosecuted for crimes, including homicide, assault, and narcotics and weapons trafficking. CJ is a proud veteran, having honorably served our Nation in the United States Air Force and Air National Guard for more than 22 years.
Staff Sergeant Justin Peck: Staff Sergeant Justin Peck has served in the United States Army for eight years. In November 2017, he was part of a team, along with Chief Petty Officer Kenton Stacy, that was conducting a multi-day mission with partner forces in Raqqa, Syria, to clear IEDs from territory previously controlled by ISIS. After the team had located and disarmed seven IEDs, Chief Petty Officer Stacy was clearing the second floor of a hospital building when he was struck by an IED blast and severely wounded. Without hesitation, Staff Sergeant Peck, who was holding a position outside the building, rushed to Stacy’s location on the uncleared, IED-ridden second floor. Staff Sergeant Peck’s actions—including applying a tourniquet, placing an endotracheal tube, and performing artificial respirations and CPR—were directly responsible for saving Chief Petty Officer Stacy’s life.
Preston Sharp: Preston Sharp was visiting his veteran grandfather’s grave in 2015, when he noticed that other local veterans’ graves were not being honored with American flags or flowers. Today, Preston has organized the placement of more than 40,000 American flags and red carnations on soldiers’ graves, as part of his goal to honor veterans in all 50 States and to challenge others to join the Flag and Flower Challenge (#FandFChallenge).
Steve Staub and Sandy Keplinger: Siblings Steve Staub and Sandy Kepingler started Staub Manufacturing Solutions, a contract manufacturing company specializing in metal fabrication, twenty years ago. Today, they serve as president and vice president, respectively. Thanks to the “Trump bump” in their business, Staub Manufacturing Solutions has seen an uptick in sales, employment, and optimism. They have grown their team from 23 to 37 employees over the last year and recently expanded by acquiring a new building. Following enactment of the tax cuts and reform legislation last year, they were able to give all their employees larger than expected Christmas bonuses.
In a bizarre move, a Republican has invited Bill Nye, “the [faux] science guy.”
. . . . Bill Nye the Science Guy will also be in attendance as the guest of Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla.
It’s an interesting pairing, considering Bridenstine’s history of denying humans’ role in climate change and Nye’s role in expanding knowledge on the subject and criticism of climate change deniers.
Bridenstine, however, has changed his tune in recent months, after he was nominated by Trump to lead NASA. In his confirmation hearing, the congressman acknowledged that “humans are contributing” to climate change.
“He’s changed his mind, and in science that’s generally a good thing,” Nye told Quartz. “I am hopeful that others will see the wisdom in the Congressman’s evolving view and follow suit.”
Even Nye, however, acknowledges that Bridenstine’s invitation is not related to anthropomorphic climate change.
Tomorrow night I will attend the State of the Union as a guest of Congressman Jim Bridenstine – nominee for NASA Administrator – who extended me an invitation in my role as CEO of The Planetary Society….
— Bill Nye (@BillNye) January 29, 2018
…The Society is the world’s largest and most influential non-governmental nonpartisan space organization, co-founded by Carl Sagan. While the Congressman and I disagree on a great many issues – we share a deep respect for NASA and its achievements…
— Bill Nye (@BillNye) January 29, 2018
Democrats, on the other hand, have invited a slew of DREAMers, a handful of #MeToo activists, and people related to various Democrat causes.
Politics is never far away, however, as Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sneaks in a tiny reminder of #NeverthelessShePersisted.
Pointing to Trump’s decision to end protections for so-called Dreamers under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), who will skip the speech, announced that Dreamer Aldo Solano will attend in his place.
Many of the Democratic senators and representatives who will be in attendance have also chosen guests who will serve as a rebuke to Trump and draw attention to issues such as immigration, hurricane relief in Puerto Rico, sexual assault and the #MeToo movement, and Trump’s attempt to ban transgender members of the military.
. . . . Several other lawmakers have invited family members of undocumented immigrants who have been deported under Trump, such as Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), whose guest will be Cindy Garcia. Garcia’s husband, Jorge, was recently deported to Mexico after living in the U.S. for nearly 30 years.
In addition to DACA, Trump administration officials have also announced plans to eliminate temporary protected status (TPS) for thousands of immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and Nicaragua, and have created uncertainty for immigrants from other countries included in TPS — underscored by Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), who have all invited immigrants who fall under TPS protections.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) invited Jean Bradley Derenoncourt, a city council member in Brockton, Massachusetts, who is originally from Haiti, one of the countries Trump reportedly referred to as a “shithole” in a meeting about immigration issues.
“His story embodies American values of hard work, service, and persistence,” Warren said in a statement.
The line-up for the Democrats reads like a “Not Really Pressing Concerns For Americans” top ten list: illegal immigrants first, open borders, sexual misconduct, and transgender bathrooms. Americans care about what Trump is talking about: jobs, the economy, and making America great again.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Would be funny if the illegal immigrants were arrested and deported! HAHAHAHHHAA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE
😛
Is that what they call a wigger?
Arrested along with their law-breaker assistants!
“Hollywood is like all dried-out dead wood……..”
P.S.
Remember everyone, watch the SOTU address via streaming on Right-Side Broadcasting or such.
That way you can avoid all the MSM-lies and propaganda they’ll stick in like a shiv into your ribs.
How about a line of human cannons deployed along the border. Then syndicated both launches and landings for TV.
“Trump has irreparably harmed the dignity of the office!”
“Should I invite an illegal alien gang member or a child-molesting cross dresser to the SOTU this year?”
The Dems should also display their model cities as well as their model citizens — cities with many decades of solid Democrat rule with the resulting crime, poverty, and corruption:
Baltimore Chicago Detroit
sh-tholes
I can’t wait to hear the things that are going to come out of Trump’s mouth directed at Democrats and RINOs. Pass the popcorn!
Unfortunately, I think Trump is much more interested in burnishing his own accomplishments than in attacking Democrats for their criminality. The former will simply look like salesman boilerplate, the latter is the way to destroy our enemies.
The SotU is a massive opportunity to stick it to Democrats, coming only once per year. It’s massive because all the networks will cover it, and the president can speak unfiltered to the public.
It’s one of the very few times he can’t be censored by Dems or have their scandals ignored. If he puffs up his own record instead of exposing Democrats, that opportunity will vanish.
Sorry hit reply and it down voted. I believe Trump has to speak to his successes because the media never speaks to them and therefore many people know little of them
Touche!
Once a Lyin’ MSM media, always a Lyin’ MSM media until the day the org. is extinct!
I think it just irritates me to hear feelgood boilerplate. The state of the union is NOT strong. It hasn’t been this weak since right before the civil war, but you’re not hearing that from anyone.
Lying about it won’t fix the problem. Doing the same things that got us to this point won’t fix the problem.
You are correct about his record, but I don’t think that may be enough.
I will go int the prediction business.
Trump will put his DACA framework into an executive order, contingent on it being passed as law by congress.
I hope not. That’s Obama redux.
The President has already announced that it’s the Legislature’s job. And correctly so.
For him to step back in and pretend he’s Legislature Lite—complete with phone and pen—would serve no useful purpose. He’d do far better to let it die if Congress can’t get its act together. He won’t get his Wall funding, but Congress won’t saddle the country with a huge batch of new D’rat voters. Not a complete win for Trump, but not a loss either.
On the other hand, if the NeverTrumps are right, and the perfidious Trump’s master plan is to trick the D’rats into accepting some scheme which gives DACA ‘n Dreamers everything the D’rats want, then that’d be the way to do it.
“Bill Nye the Science Guy will also be in attendance as the guest of Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla.”
Looks like Bridenstine has sunk into the swamp. You know what to do, voters of Oklahoma.
Exactly , and OK is a very conservative State by and large
Except for the capital of Oklahoma City
….which is a vampire sucking the life out of the rest of the state!
Bill Nye the FAKE Science Guy…
Thanks, Fuzzy. Boy, if that list doesn’t highlight the the different values held by the two parties, nothing does.
Will SCOTUS be present this year? Will RBG stay awake this time?
She isn’t attending.
RBG is in the Professor’s home state giving a speech at Roger Williams Law School.
For many of us, the SOTU is a dip into an royal presidency and we don’t like it one bit.
I used to hear Limbaugh talk about the “State Of The Union Show”, and Mark Steyn has written at length about how it is an over-blown spectacle that’s basically an affront to a republic.
Today…nothing.
But there is this–The Man From WrestleMania has made the State Of The Union Show into a commercial.
“In a fundraising solicitation on Monday, Trump offered those willing to pay at least $35 the opportunity to see their name displayed during a live streaming of the address on his campaign website.
“’This is a movement,” the solicitation says. “It’s not about just one of us. It’s about ALL of us. Which is why your name deserves to be displayed during Tuesday night’s speech.’”
The web page to which the solicitation links offers donors the opportunity to contribute as much as $2,700 — the maximum amount allowed per election.”
You #NeverTrumpers are puzzling. So, let’s see, what do you want to happen? A Republican president is removed from office by whatever means necessary . . . then what? You #NeverTrumpers live in some sort of Pence heaven on earth?
Look, I get that you don’t like Trump and why, but what is the alternative? Offer something reasonable as an alternative, and people will listen.
So you #NeverTrumpers succeed in ending Trump’s presidency . . . The Republican party is a bigger joke than it already is and any of its candidates are done. The House goes to Dems, the Senate, and in 2020, the White House.
Keep railing against our duly-elected president with no alternative should your dearest wish come true, and you are the biggest threat to our Republic. Hands down.
There is no idiot so useful as the blind ideologue, he is the friend of communism.
Remember the #NeverTrumpers VOTED FOR HILLARY!
DUH!!!!!!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection
Deal with the facts, not your bullshit, “lady”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection
Posting inapposite bullshit is not responsive or persuasive.
Do you have anything rational to add…??? I mean, besides bullshit?
“FACTUALLY, do you have ANY-flucking-thing to refute the FACTS I just posted?”
LOL, you post your nevertrump BS and call it fact.
A damn fruitcake makes more sense than you.
You’re an evil coward.
Everything I posted was factual. Deal with the facts.
But you won’t, because you are a slobbering moron and dedicated liar.
Nothing there but your nevertrump bullshit. No fact of value.
You are an immoral evil coward.
Fuzzy, why do you think a Pence presidency would lead to disaster for the GOP? Why couldn’t it be exactly what the GOP needs?
The GOP has exactly what it needs.
Hatred is blinding. Take off the blinders. You can personally dislike the man while recognizing the disaster the GOP was. And that the cure is occurring.
Pence as a duly elected president might be fine. Removing Trump will be a disaster you do not want.
I’m not sure if this is a serious question, Milhouse, but on the off chance that it is:
A Pence presidency would not be a disaster for America had he been voted into office (and he’d have had my vote much more easily than Trump did).
If he becomes president under the cloud of an impeached or otherwise ousted president, he serves from a position of weakness. First, Trump can’t be removed from office while the GOP has both Houses, that just won’t happen.
So Trump is ousted, and Pence is president. A president already flagged by lead Trump impeachment advocate Maxine Waters, and one that leftist outlets have already warned about because he’s an actual, principled conservative (the left’s worst nightmare).
He’ll be swept up in some sort of manufactured crap, likely related to the unproven Russian collusion but who knows? He’ll be hobbled as among the first legitimate Republican politicians to support Trump and tarred with that brush until 2020, when he loses his reelection bid under a cloud of resist we much fury and suspicion.
We have our president. The only way Pence becomes president with any political capital at all is if he is elected after Trump’s two successful terms ala H. W. Bush (or by that one and only other legit way that doesn’t sink his political capital and that doesn’t bear thinking about).
Rags, Rags, Rags, your tirades here are tiring, but I think you deserve the respect of a thoughtful response.
1. There is nothing wrong with the #NeverTrump nomenclature. It’s perfectly acceptable and is even a badge worn proudly by your more honest NeverTrump allies. Personally and as a former #NeverTrumper, I think that died on election day, but . . . here you are, NeverTrumpeteering.
As for Obama, I wanted him removed from office. I wanted him impeached, and I thought there was more than sufficient reason to both impeach and convict. Railing against Obama wasn’t an exercise in criticism; it was designed to remove him from office or, failing that, severely crippling his promised “fundamental transformation” of our great nation. You were just babbling into the wind about Obama for no reason? Interesting.
2. Sure, okay, you don’t won’t the president removed from office “by any means necessary.” Just removed, right? He’s such an incompetent boob, right? So totally progressive and disgraceful, right? Not fit to spit on the shoes of Hillary if she were on fire, right? See my answer above: if you don’t want Trump removed from office, your flimsy attacks on him are designed to do what?
3. I haven’t suspended rational thought, and I am not shy about my concerns about DACA amnesty and other things Trump is softening on, but that doesn’t mean that I’m some kind of one-note thud that keeps crashing on everyone’s head. Your diatribes are trying, and your relentless bashing of Trump has lost meaning. Yes, I can say, hey, I’m worried about Trump supporters bashing his Congressional allies . . . because it will harm Trump’s presidency. In fact, like you, I can say anything I think.
I used to say of Obama, don’t listen to what he says, watch what he does. Well, newsflash, the same is true of Trump. What has he DONE (besides show support for the DACA amnesty we all knew he supported when we voted for him) that feeds your anti-Trump ire? That Gorsuch is such a commie! That repealing the ObamaCare mandate was such a dud! That laser-focus on Americans in trade negotiations is such a bore! That whole support for Israel and moving the U. S. embassy to Jerusalem is such a nothingburger! That whole insistence on stemming the flow of illegal immigration and extrication of our country from the crazy Paris Accord were just so silly! Revoking no fewer than 22 EPA regulations aimed at crippling American business is just so trite! Taking on Obama’s war on white college males is ridiculous!
What other outrageous things has Trump done to prove he’s a clown who hates America? Oh, yeah, that whole tax reform thing that has already been a boon to our economy, what a sham!
4. President Trump is not just growing into his office, he’s making us all proud. P. R. O. U. D.
Review my response above. Trump hasn’t grown into his office? REALLY? On what do you base that assessment? Seriously, I’m asking.
5. I haven’t lost my mind, Rags, but you, my friend, are out of yours if you can’t see that your disgusting, base, and degenerate attacks on Trump are not just unwarranted but ungrounded in reality. Again, what do you hope to accomplish? And do you, really, think you’re making any headway with your one-man mission to undermine a president who is doing all the right things?
I have hated the SOTU for years no matter which party controls the white house and will not watch tonight.
Gotta agree with Rags on this one; SOTU has become like the Super Bowl: all about the pomp and pageantry, interrupted by the actual football game.
Sure, I remember when ragspeepee posted his anti State of the Union screed when Bush was president, don’t you?
You’re just a lying SOS. Nothing more.
Many of us, including Limbaugh and Steyn, have for decades deplored the SOTU Show.
Sure you did. You could just point us to your comments in the past.
OTOH, many of us have declared the SOU address to be worthless. It doesn’t change the facts, your screed is just anti trump.
And you are an evil coward.
Most of the CBC has announced they will not attend the SOTU.
Rosa Parks gets them a front seat, and they decide to get off the bus.
Excellent comparison!
Tonight’s sotu is the ultimate reality show, and Trump will be in his element (outside of twitter) as the Master of Ceremonies.
However, I read a post concerning tonight’s sotu spectacle at hotair dot com this morning. Based upon the loathsome disgust and deep cynicism threaded throughout the post, I’m pretty sure it was written by AllahPundit (but that’s what endears him to me).
That post repeated many of my long held conclusions about this shallow show: it’s hyper-partisan fluff; it doesn’t change minds; sotu doesn’t affect poll numbers; it doesn’t advance legislation, etc.
But looking at Trump’s guest list, and hearing his recent, resounding speech at Davos, I think it will be another opportunity to push the Overton Window even further to the right.
In other words, I think this bully pulpit will be a national stage almost big enough to contain the ego of this Master of Ceremonies, in order to advance his power of positive thinking message which champions America First, and aren’t our people the best people because you’ve never seen the best people like our people, blah, blah.
It sure beats the h3ll out of the arrogant, fingerwag scold of ‘America isn’t exceptional among other nations,’ burped up by former Pres. Lie All the Time.
Perhaps tonight’s Master of Ceremonies also should wear a hardhat as the Master Repairman of the Overton Window. Or just stay home and tweet the darn thing.
We the People, American men and women, and our Posterity, American children and babies.
Who recommended that Trump appoint Bridenstine to run NASA? I’m guessing that it was McMaster’s Obamaton crew, these McCain-like phony conservatives who have gotten all of their information from WAPO, NYT, and leftist intellectuals forever, who think Islam is a religion of peace, think that long-since falsified climate models are real science, and believe in their heart of hearts that anyone who questions radical leftist identity politics really is a “white nationalist.”
An administration IS its people. Personnel is everything. Letting McMaster hold sway here at the beginning will be an anchor for Trump’s entire eight years. McMaster himself is the worst personnel decision ever.
The annual State of the Union pageant is a hideous, dispiriting, ugly, monotonous, un-American, un-republican, anti-democratic, dreary, backward, monarchical, retch-inducing, depressing, shameful, crypto-imperial display of official self-aggrandizement and piteous toadying, a black Mass during which every unholy order of teacup totalitarian and cringing courtier gathers under the towering dome of a faux-Roman temple to listen to a speech with no content given by a man with no content, to rise and to be seated as is called for by the order of worship — it is a wonder they have not started genuflecting — with one wretched representative of their number squirreled away in some well-upholstered Washington hidey-hole in order to preserve the illusion that those gathered constitute a special class of humanity without whom we could not live. It’s the most nauseating display in American public life — and I write that as someone who has just returned from a pornographers’ convention.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/455917/state-of-the-union-bad-republic
I dunno. Seems pretty “literate” to me…
Well, unless it is a Bush giving it. And you wouldn’t have a negative thing to say were it a Cruz.
Just more nevertrump BS from the Goldberg branch of the prog party.
You’re delusional. And a lying SOS. You can’t stand to hear any heresy against your religion. You’re sick.
You are an evil coward.
And sicker than a POS. Deranged is the proper term. It comes with delusions.
Oh, and your love, Cruz, thought it was a great SOU address.
“I thought it was a very, very strong speech and a strong night for the president.”