• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, March 6, 2025

Any resemblance between Donald Trump and George Washington is purely coincidental.

Obviously, the disclaimer is unnecessary, but not to the president. He feels he resembles the Father of Our Country a whole lot, only he’s better.

“In fact,” said Trump in his televised Address to Congress on Tuesday, “it has been stated by many that the first month of our presidency … is the most successful in the history of our nation.” Fact check: The TV Blog is not sure this is true.

“And what makes it even more impressive is that … do you know who No. 2 is? George Washington. How about that? I don’t know about that list. But we’ll take it,” he said.

Trump didn’t cite the source of this list, but the TV Blog believes it was Sean Hannity.

Fact check: Donald Trump is not George Washington. It has been said by actual historians that we would not have a United States, in the literal sense, without Washington (and also Abraham Lincoln).

Somehow, it is hard to include Donald Trump in the same category unless you’re him. 

Blarney is his brand. His position as Barnum-in-Chief was on full display in a speech that aired everywhere.

As a unifier on par with Washington and Lincoln, Trump has a way to go. Let the record show that he did invite Democrats seated in the House chamber at the Capitol to join him in his quest to change America. But they looked as if they were in no mood to RSVP in the affirmative.

That might be because he also berated them for being on the wrong side of everything. Nyah, nyah, nyah -- I won and you didn’t! So there! 

Not surprisingly, Trump looked like a man who enjoys nothing more than basking in praise and applause. I know how he feels.

In his case, he received vocal support throughout the entire 99-minute speech (reportedly a new record) from the Republican side of the aisle. House and Senate members remained standing and applauding through most of the speech.

They stood (literally) in sharp contrast to the Democrats, who sat silent and stone-faced for the entirety of the speech, except for some outbursts -- most notably, Rep. Al Green of Texas who rose to loudly accuse the Trump administration of attempting to defund Medicaid. Green was ordered out of the chamber by House Speaker Mike Johnson (above photo, right).

In a break with past protocols (and good manners), Trump repeatedly lambasted President Biden, at one point calling his predecessor “the worst president in American history.” This claim could not be fact-checked.

Trump also called Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas,” a nickname Trump has used for years for the senator because of a claim she made at least as far back as 2012 that she is part Native American, specifically Cherokee. The claim was subsequently debunked. 

Fact check: Pocahontas was a Powhatan, not a Cherokee. For her part, Warren appeared dignified and unfazed when she was shown on-camera.

Dignified is not a word I would associate with either the Democrats or the Republicans Tuesday night.

The Republicans chanted “U.S.A!” as if a joint session of Congress, in perilous times such as these, is a football game.

The Democrats childishly held up signs saying things like “Musk steals” and “False.” 

After so many years of it, the divisive carrying-on every year at the President’s annual Address to Congress (sometimes known as the State of the Union) gets wearisome. Was it always this way?