This year’s presidential State of the Union address given to Congress reminded some of a kindergarten class in so many ways.  

Earlier Zelenskyy had a public spat with Trump, voices raised to the astonishment of the international press covering the event.  He then walked away from the White House and left for Europe.  He was seen with Sir Keir Starmer the British Prime Minister at Downing Street.

Perhaps it was his advice that he sat down and wrote a conciliatory letter to Donald Trump with an apology.  At the State of the Union address, Trump took great pleasure in brandishing the document now encased in a leather folder, for the benefit of his audience and particularly the TV cameras.  It seemed to say:  Look he has sent me an apology, I am top dog.

Or is it a kindergarten class after all and the class bully is twisting a smaller child’s arm until he yells submission?  That alone is not enough for the bully for he then turns to a girl sitting quietly and calls her Pocahontas just because she is proud of having some Native American blood.  Pocahontas was an Indian princess who helped bring peace in the very early 17th century.

In fact, it was after Trump’s goading at rallies and his constant challenges that Warren took a DNA test which proved her claim.  Trump’s challenge also included the words “I’ll give you a million dollars to your favourite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian!”  He then claimed that he had never made a wager.  It is not in Warren’s nature to make fun of a welcher.  

A particularly shabby trick was to portray five families who had suffered due to the loss of a loved one — a victim of a crime by an illegal alien.  Our hearts go out to these families.  That was Trump’s intent and also the obverse, namely, to despise the illegal alien.  

The facts are thousands of undocumented people work very hard at work that is done largely by the undocumented.  Think of the women cleaning hotel rooms, landscapers, people in kitchens, slaughter houses (where illegals dare not complain of dangerous working conditions at the poorly organised ones).  The economy needs these people and curtailing them is bound to put pressure on wages.

Then there is the inflationary 28 percent tariff which if reciprocated could lead to a trade war.  And inflation means the Fed would react to counter it — a trail that could trigger a recession for an economy in the late stage of a business cycle.

Trump’s address was such that at the end when he tried to shake hands with the generals and admirals and Supreme Court justices, they kept their hands to themselves. 

Barron’s reports economists like Eugenio Aleman, who is at Raymond James and had been positive about the economy, now sees a forty percent chance of recession — looks like Trump is going to give us a rough ride.  The state of Trump is more troublesome than the state of the union.