Molineaux is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and president/CEO of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
Politics can be boring again.
I listened with anticipation to President Biden’s hour-long State of the Union speech to see how he would express a message that defines the moment in history that we are living through. More specifically, how he would deliver the line that all State of the Union addresses must apparently say.
“The state of the union is strong, because you, the American people, are strong.”
As this was his first State of the Union as president, expectations were high. And Biden delivered his vision and agenda for the future of the United States. There was seemingly something for everyone. And we all seemed to be asking, “Is this the moment when Biden gets back on track? Will this be how his approval ratings turn around?”
Personally, I find the approval polls as helpful as I find canned spinach. A little slimy and served with a touch of vinegar. They are a meaningless scorecard, surveying people who are actually grading their own lives and expectations of the near-future. After many years of fear-mongering, propaganda and outright lies, it’s no wonder we disapprove of everything. For most Americans, cynicism is our constant companion.
This was the context in which I listened to the speech while finishing some household chores. I noted the opening visuals of two women sitting behind the president while he spoke and smiled to myself. Yes, we need more women in elected office and in the halls of power.
Perhaps because of the global tensions surrounding the Ukraine invasion and resulting humanitarian crisis, I wanted our president to grasp the moment. But I failed to be moved to hope or belief that his vision was possible. At the same time, I found the speech to be a “normal” State of the Union address. As intended, Biden included many agenda items that he campaigned on and that progressives call for: new jobs, higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy, more union participation and a better life for working class Americans. In my mind, I could hear my conservative friends and family asking how we would pay for it all. I also heard clear outreach to conservatives, highlighting issues that are near and dear to conservative hearts like a strong support of capitalism, no new taxes for working Americans and increased funding to police.
There were, however, some lines in the speech that were inspiring and offered hope, especially those moments in which all members of Congress stood and applauded in unison. The division and toxicity in Congress is worse than ever so those seconds, as fleeting as they may have been, of bipartisanship and unity were a relief.
I was struck by the personal tone as Biden spoke about the cause of his son’s death (brain cancer) during a section on the VA pioneering a new way of linking toxic exposures to diseases veterans are experiencing. Acknowledging the need for our country to take responsibility for our veterans is long overdue. For him, veterans' care is deeply personal. The call to support veterans will be meaningful if we actually support veterans and not just use them as a prop.
Biden’s encouraging words about strengthening democracy around the world, as well as domestically, was balm to my soul. Given the focus of The Fulcrum and the members of Bridge Alliance (affiliated with The Fulcrum), it was nice to hear our work in the State of the Union. He called on our better angels to enact voting rights and other reforms to bolster the integrity of our elections. If we don’t get this right, nothing will improve.
Like most Americans, I long to ditch the mask without risking others’ lives. I look forward to our near future of “normalcy” without giving up on what must be done. My heart resonates with his words, “It’s gonna be OK.”
It was a relief not to hear partisan, propaganda-style claims, name calling or blame being cast on others. Instead of inflaming my fears, Biden left me soothed yet a little skeptical.
Perhaps in these tense times “soothing” is enough.
Today’s news will be full of analysis of Biden’s speech. I’ve avoided doing so hoping that a moment of reflection for myself and for our readers as to the times we are living in would better serve us all.
Biden’s first State of the Union speech felt predictable. And boring. And I loved it. Biden provided a soothing hope for the future and a vision for our shared opportunities. After all, political identity is not who we are, it is how we make decisions in a democracy. Politics should not have the lead role in our lives. Our friends and family should. Today, maybe we can start being one nation again.
A view of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 25, 2026. President Donald Trump jolted Republicans during a fiery appearance at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, scrapping a housing bill signing ceremony and clashing behind closed doors with a party rebel who challenged him over the Iran war. Trump had been expected to sign the bipartisan housing.
Only Trump doesn’t care about housing
It was August 15, 2024. Then candidate Donald Trump stepped out of his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club’s columned clubhouse to a gaggle of reporters. He was flanked by tables of groceries and signs showing the rising cost of food. Also on one of the tables was a dollhouse, meant to represent the equally alarming rise in housing prices.
It was a speech about the economy, the single most important issue of the 2024 election cycle, full of promises that went right to the heart of Americans’ anxieties. While former President Joe Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris were contorting themselves to posture a good economy that just needed more time to recover from the pandemic, Trump was preying on voters’ very real fears of unaffordable gas, groceries, and homes. It was obviously a winning message.
In that speech, Trump promised, “We’re going to open up tracts of federal land for housing construction. We desperately need housing for people who can’t afford what’s going on now.”
As of mid-2023, there had been a housing shortage of nearly four million homes, according to the National Association of Realtors. Americans all over the country were either priced out of buying new homes due to low inventory, trapped in their existing homes by sky-high mortgage rates, or facing exorbitant rent hikes thanks to corporate investors buying up rental properties. Americans needed help, and Trump promised it.
Cut to March of 2026, when Trump reportedly told House Speaker Mike Johnson, “No one gives a sh*t about housing.”
That kind of thinking may explain why Trump this week suddenly announced he was canceling a signing ceremony for the bipartisan “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” a housing bill co-sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tim Scott that passed the House 358-32 and was approved in the Senate on Monday.
Trump instead demanded Congress pass the SAVE America Act, his controversial election grievance bill that doesn’t have enough Republican support to get passed in the Senate.
It’s just the latest in a line of policy self-owns where Trump has seemingly intentionally made life more difficult for Republicans hoping to keep their majority. Despite midterm elections occurring in the midst of a blistering economy and an unpopular war, they were surely hoping the housing bill would give them something — anything — to brag about when they returned home to their districts.
And very much to the contrary, Americans do give a sh*t about housing. According to a recent survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a whopping 79% say the cost of housing is extremely or very important to them. Eighty-three percent say Congress should take action on the issue — like it just did. Eighty-nine percent say the House and Senate need to work together to pass affordable housing legislation — like they just did. And 63% say they would be more likely to vote for a lawmaker if they helped pass legislation to build more affordable homes and lower housing costs — like they just did.
There aren’t many issues that unite Americans like housing does, and very few bipartisan policy wins Congress can point to, and yet, Trump is holding that bill hostage in order to get his pet project — which doesn’t even have the support of his own party — pushed through.
If you’re trying to make sense of something so nonsensical, as I’m sure many Republican lawmakers are, it’s certainly sad but not actually all that complicated. Trump said what he needed to get reelected and then promptly abandoned his promises in order to pursue his own self-interests, even if those interests are bad for Republicans and bad for voters.
That’s just the kind of guy he is.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.