The 2020 State of the Union address was yet another massive exercise in gaslighting the American people. 

Since he took office three years ago, President Trump has told lie after lie after lie, and his 2020 SOTU was no different, misrepresenting his intentions and completely fabricating a record of achievement. Trump twisted reality, sowed confusion, spouted xenophobia, and hid the truth – it was gaslighting of the highest order:

• He lied about protecting our healthcare, especially people with pre-existing conditions.
• He lied about protecting safety net programs, when his administration and Republicans intend to gut Medicare and Social Security.
• He lied about his paid family leave policy, which wouldn’t be “paid” but would require new parents to borrow from future benefits.
• He lied about our nation’s economic health, citing stock market highs and economic growth numbers that were irresponsibly stoked by a tax plan that added trillions to our deficit and lined the pockets of Wall Street and billionaires while working families continue to live paycheck-to-paycheck.
• He lied about “criminal aliens” to justify his hateful immigration policy and his wasteful wall, when in fact undocumented immigrants are more law-abiding than the general population, and nothing could ever justify the cruelty of separating families and putting children in cages.
• He lied about lifting everyone, regardless of race and creed, when his policies and rhetoric put targets on the backs of people based on the color of their skin, religion, gender and sexuality, leading to rising hate crimes.
• He lied about supporting people on food stamps when he has in fact proposed three different rules that would take away SNAP from millions of families.

People in this country are living in a very different America than the one President Trump bragged about. For moms, women, people of color, immigrants, the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities, working families, seniors, and so many others, since Trump took office, life has become harder, hatred and discrimination more ominous, government services more scarce, health care more tenuous, and our country much less united, safe and fair.

Women and families are tired of being taken for fools, and we are furious at the unending stream of lies flying in the face of what we can see with our own eyes and experience every day. We know what is really happening to our families, communities, democracy, and to our country, and no amount of gaslighting will change that.