Good Evening. I’m Elissa Slotkin. I’m a Democratic Senator representing the great state of Michigan. And I’m giving the Democratic Party response to Donald Trump’s address to the joint Congress. It is a tradition in America that when the President speaks to the Congress on the state of our union, the opposition party sends a person to deliver a response. And as is also tradition in both parties, that person is someone you’ve probably never even heard of.
But that’s okay. Because I’m just like you. I think I’m just like the millions of people who since January 20, get up every day and ask, “What fresh hell has that fucking moron inflicted on the planet today?”
And I venture to say that now includes a lot of people who voted for Trump. I’ve seen the social media posts from people who voted for Trump but lost their government jobs because of Elon Musk’s haphazard firings. I’ve seen the town halls where people in districts that voted for Trump by double digits are asking their Republican Congressmen why they don’t stand up to Trump and Musk and why they should treat Trump like our king.
We were promised that if we elected Trump, the price of eggs would go down. Instead, it has skyrocketed due to bird flu, something that the Trump Administration hasn’t done anything about because of the hands-off policies of its bureaucrats. Those who still have jobs.
Tonight, Mr. Trump took credit for everything he could possibly imagine, but what he didn’t tell you is that just this Tuesday, the stock market crashed by over 500 points because his broad-based tariffs came into effect against countries including China, Mexico and Canada. And because of his belligerent posture towards Canada in particular, and his betrayal of Ukraine, Canada and other NATO countries are asking themselves if they should work together without the United States.
It’s almost as if Elon Musk and Donald Trump were hired by a hostile government to destroy our international alliances and economic infrastructure so that China and Russia could divide up the world.
And when I say that, I know what some of you are thinking. “Democrat hoax”, “witch hunt”, “no colusion”, “RussiaRussiaRussia” – I’ve heard it all before. And you have too.
I’m not telling you that Vladmir Putin has blackmailed Trump. I can’t tell you that Putin has bribed Trump. But you need to ask yourself a serious question: If Donald Trump WERE a known Russian agent, would he be doing anything differently?
Would he not be trying to normalize relations with Putin? Would he not be trying to start trade deals with Russia, to break the sanctions regime that is even now crippling Putin’s ability to wage war on the innocent? Would he not be agreeing with Putin’s demand that peace negotiations occur without Ukraine, or the EU, and that Ukraine must agree to a new election to remove Volodomyr Zelenskyy before a final peace deal is signed? Would we be agreeing to lower our defenses to Russia? This week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that we would no longer engage in cyberoperations against the Russian Federation. I would like to ask Mr. Hegseth a question: Did we ask our new buddies in Moscow if they would return the favor?
Would we be giving that treatment to any other nation, including our allies? Would we be giving so much deference towards any Democratic president, or indeed, any other Republican?
That’s why I’m here to represent the Democratic Party. Because it’s our job to represent the voters of this country, to defend working people, not billionaires and oligarchs. To defend our rights under the Constitution, not treat the president like a divine monarch.
Or not. I mean, I can only speak for myself. Because I don’t know what the national Democratic Party leadership has planned to deal with all of this leading up to the next election. I don’t think they do either. I mean, if the party knew how to get its collective thumb out of its collective ass last year, we wouldn’t be in this mess now, would we?
At least when it became obvious that our president was too old to handle the job, we got a replacement candidate. Trump is only three years younger than Joe Biden but acts older. Maybe that’s why he’s got Elon as his handler.
We didn’t really have much of a plan for the economy, or Ukraine, other than to keep doing what we were doing, which nobody liked. But still, in 2024, Joe Biden’s America, we reached a historically low unemployment rate. Gross domestic product expanded over 3 percent. Since Joe Biden took office, overall employment is up 12%, average pay is up 19%. Your Social Security was safe. Your Medicare was safe. And America was respected throughout the world as a strong defender of freedom.
Admit it… doesn’t that sound so much nicer than what we’ve got right now?
So, in less than two years, America is going to have a congressional midterm election. And if you’ve decided by then that you’ve had too much winning, remember, the Democrats are here for you. Or, Trump could suspend all elections and have us deported to Guantanamo. But hey, I hear Cuba has free health care.
Thank You, and God Bless America.