President Donald Trump delivered a joint address to Congress on Tuesday, March 4, and a Marshall political science professor offered her thoughts on the address.
Marybeth Beller, associate professor of political science, said the rhetoric Trump exhibited during the speech was harmful and divisive to the American public. During his speech, Trump repeatedly blamed issues facing the United States today on former President Joe Biden and attacked Democrats in the chamber for not applauding his speech.
“I think the effect this rhetoric has is to make unity less possible,” Beller said. “There’s no reason to treat a State of the Union speech as a campaign speech. President Biden is out of office. The constant refrain of making Joe Biden out to be some sort of a demon is not healthy for the country.”
Beller also said the lack of policy in the speech was out of the ordinary.
“What usually comes out of these speeches is a plan for the future, an articulation of future policies that the president wants,” Beller said. “We had very, very little policy here and more rant, and that’s unfortunate.”
One of the most prevalent topics of Trump’s address were his anti-DEI policies he labeled as “common sense policies” during the address, a strategy Beller said was intentional.
“When we use blanket terms like ‘common sense,’ it has a suggestion that anyone who disagrees with that is somehow outside the norm, right? Because common sense indicates a norm and a way that the majority think,” Beller said. “The effect of that is to suggest that any of us who question his policies to end DEI practices are outside the norm. What the president is doing is playing up to bigotry.”
Beller said the anti-DEI rhetoric used by Trump puts us at risk of backsliding on years of social progress in the workforce.
“We’re in danger of sliding back on the years and years of progress that so many people have worked very hard to achieve, not only to expand our workforce in terms of having it more represented by people who have disabilities, people of different genders, transgenders, people of all ethnicities,” Beller said.
During the address, Trump also made the assertion Greenland would become part of the United States by “one way or another.” Beller said this rhetoric is harmful to the United States’ global standing.
“It flies in the face of respect for other people and their sovereign territory. It gives the direct impression that America is a bully and will engage in bullying tactics in order to achieve its goals, and I think that’s very detrimental,” Beller said.
Beller also said Trump’s praise of Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency and senior advisor to the president, during the address was dangerous.
“I think we would be negligent if we did not acknowledge that President Trump gave great praise to Elon Musk and said publicly that he was the leader of DOGE,” Beller said. “DOGE is a Trump created entity, and Musk has never been vetted.”
Beller explained cabinet-level positions must be vetted by the United States Senate, but Musk has not received any such vetting.
“He is not a cabinet officer, and yet he was not only present during the president’s first cabinet meeting, but he spoke at great length during that meeting,” Beller said. “At this State of the Union speech, he was acknowledged and given the title as the leader of DOGE even though, a couple weeks ago, the White House just put out a name of someone else as being the head of DOGE.”
Beller said she believes Elon Musk’s unvetted authority puts the United States’ institutions in danger.
“I think the credit and the power that he is giving to Elon Musk is a threat to the institutions that we have in the United States,” Beller said. “I think all of us need to be very vigilant about this and worried.”
Beller was asked whether she would characterize Elon Musk’s position and authority as unconstitutional.
“Yes,” Beller said.
Ashton Pack can be contacted at [email protected].
