President Donald Trump’s recent address to Congress marks yet another moment in his presidency that demands a closer look. 

With a record-breaking speech lasting just under 90 minutes, Trump repeatedly said questionable things, illustrating his disturbing vision for America.

One of the first things Trump brought up was his idea to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” 

While this change might not seem significant, it’s completely nonsensical. We can speculate that he renamed it to include the whole continent of America, but that’s highly doubtful. Given Trump’s history of making racist comments, it’s hard to believe this name change is meant to be inclusive, rather, it seems more like an attempt to push an America-first agenda.

Whatever the case, it’s plain weird that Trump places such importance on an ultimately pointless gesture.

Trump then spoke about what he sees as a “problem” with hiring systems in America. 

In his words, “You should be hired and promoted based on skill and competence, not race or gender.”

This sounds good in theory, but knowing Trump’s past comments about minorities, it’s hard to take this at face value. He’s made it clear that he views people of color and immigrants as incompetent, which makes it seem like his vision of merit also excludes diversity.

It’s true that no one should be hired just because of their race or gender, but Trump really seems to be implying that minorities and women aren’t capable of getting employed in a merit-driven workforce. 

One of the particularly outrageous moments during Trump’s speech came when he made a comment about Lesotho, a country in Africa — or in his words, “the African country nobody has heard of.”

This isn’t just ignorant; it’s incredibly disrespectful. By saying this, Trump belittled both the country and its people.

Obviously, it’s not like he forgot Lesotho was an African country — he said it that way on purpose, likely to make a joke at the expense of an entire nation. The extremely racist connotations behind this statement only proves that Trump’s views on people of color are inappropriate.

Trump continued his usual rhetoric about immigration, claiming that immigrants only harm the country. He painted them as criminals who make America a worse place to live, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Immigrants are the backbone of our country, working jobs that many Americans would never take, including agriculture or construction, which are critical to our functioning society. Trump is still ignorant of this fact and continues to spread fear and distrust.

What I find even worse about his claims towards people of color and immigrants is the way he spins a malicious narrative by using personal stories of crime and violence.

While it’s important to share people’s stories, Trump uses them to paint a picture of minorities as dangerous and violent, and he’s no stranger to doing this either. 

During his 2015 campaign, in which he similarly held aggressive positions about immigration, he claimed “They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists,” selling an extremely misguided narrative.

The entire time, he ignores the fact that many crimes committed in America are done by people outside his target profile. He intentionally leaves out the big picture, constantly trying to push a narrative that doesn’t reflect reality.

And when it comes to claims of fraud, Trump continues to spread lies. Many of his points about fraud and DOGE’s (Department of Government Efficiency) effectiveness have been debunked, proven by the insufficient evidence the department has provided. 

One of his absurd claims of fraud is that senior citizens 160 to 360 years old — yes, you read that right — are receiving fraudulent social security benefits, claiming that our government is wasting money on people who don’t even exist.

Instead of blathering on about a non-existent issue, he should instead acknowledge the social security department’s lack of responsibility. The social security system has its problems, but they’re caused by poor management — illustrated by the current administration’s inability to clean up outdated data — not fraud.

But instead of pushing for real solutions, Trump insists on pointing fingers at imaginary problems.

At the end of the day, Trump’s speech showed exactly who he is: a president who blames everyone else for the country’s problems. 

He doesn’t take responsibility for the issues he claims to care about, and instead of offering real solutions, he spreads fear and misinformation. We deserve a president who will face problems head-on and work for real change — not one who divides the country and avoids accountability.

If we want to fix America, we need to demand better leadership that focuses on real progress.