WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump didn’t acknowledge Washington state directly during his State of the Union address Tuesday, though people who analyzed and watched his speech say there is plenty that points to the Evergreen State.
References to immigration were sprinkled throughout as the President pointed to fentanyl seized at the border and an increase in deportations, though leaving out data that shows the majority of people detained have no criminal convictions.
“Our southern border is finally secure, with illegal crossings at their lowest levels since the 1970s. That means safer streets, stronger communities, and a renewed sense of order and stability,” said Republican Congressman Michael Baumgartner, who represents Eastern Washington in the nation’s capitol.
For Washington Democratic Party Chair Shasti Conrad, what Trump didn’t say in regard to immigration spoke volumes.
“He did not mention Portland, Oregon. He did not mention Minneapolis,” Conrad said, “I think that’s because he knows that it’s deeply unpopular what he is doing and what ICE is committing on these communities.”
President Trump declared “Our Nation is Back” while beginning his speech, pointing in part to tariffs bringing in billions of dollars and floating the idea of replacing the income tax with tariffs.
“The president is correct that his tariffs did help secure some peace deals. They did help to secure some better trade deals,” said Alex Hays, a self-described “moderate” Republican consultant.
Conrad believes the president glossed over the impact tariffs have had on trade-dependent states like Washington.
“To double down and say, in fact, that he was increasing tariffs, again, it just someone that is not connected to reality,” Conrad said.
Hays sees Trump’s call to end gender affirming care as a target at Washington State policies.
“Right now, our state government is willing to invade that relationship between parent and child in ways that are just unprecedented on the globe,” Hays said.
Conrad saw the president’s comments as a way to drive a wedge between Americans.
“He talked about that Democrats were ripping children away from their families in relation to LGBT communities and in fact that’s what ICE is doing. ICE is ripping children away from their families,” Conrad said.
There were some points of agreement, like mandating AI Data Center developments need their own power supply, banning members of Congress from trading stock they have insider information on, and banning investment firms from owning single-family homes.
“Some people want to accept good ideas because there are many of our Democratic Congress members that have led on that, including our own Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who have led on banning the stock trading," Hays said.
Hays, who works on data center development as well, can see common ground.
“The energy production for data centers, this is actually a pretty sound public policy.” Hays said.