Weak Congress takes stage in Trump's 'clown show'

The president wasted no time getting to his lies. It started in the first minute, when he claimed that: "When I spoke in this chamber 12 months ago, I had just inherited a nation in crisis, with a stagnant economy, inflation at record levels, a wide-open border, horrendous recruitment for military and police, rampant crime at home and wars and chaos all over the world."

None of that is truthful.

Economic growth was actually a bit better during Joe Biden's final year in office (2.8%) than in Trump's first year (2.2%). In March of last year, inflation was not at "record levels"; it was 2.8% (in terms of percent change over the previous 12 months). Yes, it had surged to 9.1% in 2022, but it had been trending down since then. Nor was that 9.1% "the worst inflation in the history of our country," as Trump knows perfectly well, because he lived through the 1970s and '80s, when inflation reached 13.5%.

There was a rise in encounters at the border under Biden, but the actual number of entries — both among those released into the United States and "got aways" — is estimated to have been about 4.2 million. That's 4.2 million, not the 20 million this administration constantly claims. Nor is there a shred of evidence that other nations were dumping their criminal and mentally ill populations at our borders. Nor is it the case that immigrants commit more crime than native born Americans. It's the opposite. No, other nations have not committed to invest "$18 trillion" in the U.S., nor do foreigners pay American tariffs, nor will tariffs replace the income tax. Here's when you start digging your fingernails into your palms. It's fact-check purgatory. Still, as contemptible as the compulsive lying is, the State of the Union highlighted another deformation of our republic that has reached its apotheosis in Trump: the assumption of presidential supremacy.

Take even the format of the speech itself. The president stands physically above the members of Congress, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the justices of the Supreme Court. This isn't usually a problem when presidents are not maniacal narcissists. But now it feeds the pathology.

Few take note of the fact that the president is the invited guest of the Congress, not the other way around. The Constitution requires that the president "shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union." It doesn't require that he do so annually, nor does it require a live speech. Presidents starting with Thomas Jefferson sent their messages in writing.

Woodrow Wilson reverted to the George Washington/John Adams tradition of a spoken, in-person address. Calvin Coolidge was the first president to broadcast his. Congress has the power to insist upon the Jeffersonian practice.

People often refer to "co-equal" branches of government. That's not right. Though you wouldn't know it to watch its invertebrate current members, Congress is the preeminent branch — that's why it is established in Article I of the Constitution. Congress is granted the lion's share of federal authority, and it has more power over the other branches than they have over it. The president's only check on Congress is the veto, which can be overridden.

But Congress can impeach and remove the president (and judges), confirm or reject executive and judicial appointees, strip courts of jurisdiction or even disestablish them, coin money, levy taxes and tariffs (as the Supreme Court recently reminded us), restructure or eliminate executive agencies, and most saliently, fund or defund the entire government. As James Madison put it in Federalist No. 51: "In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates."

As everyone knows, Congress has been ceding its power to the executive for decades. This suited members' interest in that it allowed them to avoid having to explain tough votes to their constituents. Now that the presidency is in the hands of a political arsonist, perhaps even these lawmakers can perceive where their cowardice has led.

It's true that presidents have flexed their war-making muscles on many occasions, successfully bypassing congressional power. But presidential assertions of dominance have only been possible when Congress emasculates itself. It will take time for members to recover their self-respect. A few have introduced war powers resolutions, but the overall tone regarding Trump's possible plans for Iran remains tentative, almost pleading.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, "Look, this is serious, and the administration has to make its case to the American people." House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries observed, reasonably enough, that he couldn't understand the urgency regarding Iran's nuclear program, since the administration claimed in June that it had "obliterated" the threat. But he offered only that "the American people deserve an explanation."

State of the Union addresses have long since devolved into kabuki theater with members bobbing in and out of their seats like Whac-A-Mole. But under Trump, they've become clown shows — and though Trump himself is chief clown, the members too have been smeared in greasepaint. Until they can reclaim their dignity, the show should be put on hiatus.

Mona Charen is policy editor of The Bulwark and host of the “Beg to Differ” podcast.