Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) never mentioned Donald Trump by name, but he cut the president down to size, not with Trump’s preferred insults and nicknames, but a message of hope.
Video of Kennedy’s SOTU rebuttal:
Kennedy’s rebuttal was both a rejection of zero-sum game Republican choices and a message of hope:
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Their record is a rebuke of our highest American ideal: the belief that we are all worthy, we are all equal and we all count. In the eyes of our law and our leaders, our God and our government.
That is the American promise.
But today that promise is being broken. By an Administration that callously appraises our worthiness and decides who makes the cut and who can be bargained away.
They are turning American life into a zero-sum game.
Where, in order for one to win, another must lose.
Where we can guarantee America’s safety if we slash our safety net.
We can extend healthcare to Mississippi if we gut it in Massachusetts.
We can cut taxes for corporations today if we raise them for families tomorrow.
We can take care of sick kids if we sacrifice Dreamers.
We are bombarded with one false choice after another:
Coal miners or single moms. Rural communities or inner cities. The coast or the heartland.
As if the mechanic in Pittsburgh and the teacher in Tulsa and the daycare worker in Birmingham are somehow bitter rivals, rather than mutual casualties of a system forcefully rigged for those at the top.
As if the parent who lies awake terrified that their transgender son will be beaten and bullied at school is any more or less legitimate than the parent whose heart is shattered by a daughter in the grips of opioid addiction.
So here is the answer Democrats offer tonight: we choose both. We fight for both. Because the strongest, richest, greatest nation in the world shouldn’t leave any one behind.
We choose a better deal for all who call this country home.
We choose the living wage, paid leave and affordable child care your family needs to survive.
We choose pensions that are solvent, trade pacts that are fair, roads and bridges that won’t rust away, and good education you can afford.
We choose a health care system that offers mercy, whether you suffer from cancer or depression or addiction.
We choose an economy strong enough to boast record stock prices AND brave enough to admit that top CEOs making 300 times the average worker is not right.
Toward the end of his remarks came the jab that cut the bully down to size, “Bullies may land a punch. They might leave a mark. But they have never, not once, in the history of our United States, managed to match the strength and spirit of a people united in defense of their future.”
Being anti-Trump isn’t enough. Democrats must also stand for something, and Rep. Kennedy showed that the antidote to Trump isn’t to trade insults about the past but to offer a hopeful future.
Donald Trump is the past. Joe Kennedy III is the future, and the future always prevails in the end.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
