State of the Union 2018 (No Filler Version - 25 minute cut)

The following is my cut of the recent State of the Union Adress delivered by Donald Trump yesterday. The original speech was one hour and 20 minutes long. My version is 25 minutes long, or 24:53 seconds to be exact. Before you watch it, if you so choose to, I should tell you the criteria for what I have cut.

First of all, I have cut all of the segments revolving around Trump’s menagerie of true Americans, which he sat in the audience and praised during his speech, often holding them up as shining examples of various facets of his ideal of the American spirit. These were cut because they were anecdotal and manipulative.

Second, I have cut any statements that were purely jingoistic in nature. I have not cut all jingoism from the speech, but only instances where the jingoism was not interwoven with any issues of substance and was used only in a pandering way meant to inspire an emotional response of patriotism. These were cut because they are empty flattery devoid of substance.

Third, I have cut all of the tedious and long applause sections that occur in all State of the Union speeches. I truly wish our presidents would ask Congress to hold their applause until the end of the speech, as this issue plagues all of these speeches. Applauding every single sentence of a speech is tedious and time wasting. These were cut for obvious reasons.

What I decided to cut was informed by what I strove to leave in. What I have aimed to present you with here is the policy, issues, and substance of Trump’s speech. His view of the issues, his proposed solutions, and the reasoning behind his perspectives and solutions.

My motive in doing this was simply curiosity. I think this cut of the speech can be useful to both Trump lovers and haters, and everyone in the increasingly small category of “in between”. I’ve endeavored to present a version of this speech that cuts to the heart of his positions and perspectives, without the emotional appeals, jingoistic pandering, or tedious applause.

I hope that you find this in some way useful.