Donald Trump’s state of the union address a disservice

Donald Trump’s second state of the union to the American people exemplified the country’s polarised political climate.

While promising bipartisanhip, he managed to turn an olive branch to the Democrats into a cudgel to enforce his own particular world view.

In his speech, Trump urged Americans to come together and turn the page on two years of divisive turmoil and transform him into a bipartisan national leader.

“We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance, and retribution — and embrace the boundless potential of co-operation, compromise, and the common good,” Mr Trump told Congress.

All fine rhetorical phrases of fantasy. The pity of it is that Trump does not understand, let alone believe what he is saying. In that respect, he does a disservice not just to the people of the United States but to the world as a whole.

If he was some tin-pot dictator of a marginalised nation, we could ignore him. The pity of it is that as self-proclaimed “leader of the free world”, we cannot do that.