Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, other Democratic lawmakers walk out on President Trump's 2020 State of the Union address, the president's stats on Black unemployment and jobs still questionable, and he and Speaker Pelosi are at unprecedented odds in the midst of his impeachment trial....Overdoses for opiate related deaths were discussed by Trump, Ohio second nationwide...By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog and top in the Midwest

United States President Donald Trump delivers his third State of the Union address before a joint chamber of Congress on Feb. 4, 2020. Sitting behind the president to his direct left is Vice President Mike Pence, and to his direct right is United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat and the first and only woman to lead a majority party in Congress. 

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog and top in the Midwest.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher

United States President Donald Trump

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-WASHINGTON, D.C.-United States President Donald Trump delivered his 2020 State of the Union address before a joint chamber of Congress Tuesday night, his third official address since taking office in 2017, and on the eve before the U.S.  Senate will vote to either acquit or remove the president from office relative to a pending impeachment trial, his impeachment in the U.S. House of Representative on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress regarding a Ukraine scandal the impetus for such trial. 

"Three years ago we launched a great American comeback," said Trump, who is currently seeking reelection. "Tonight I stand before you to share the incredible results."

The president spoke for nearly 120 min.,  a minute shy of his 2019 State of the Union address and almost one half hour longer than the one in 2018, which was 88 min.

He did not mention impeachment and he was not as antagonistic as usual, though he remained divisive and continually criticized the Obama administration, and the Democrats in Congress.

Distinctly different this year in comparison to last year's State of the Union was more disgust for the president by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat who was House Speaker from 2007-2011 and regained the position this year following the November 2018 midterm elections where the Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives

The  first and only woman to lead a majority party in Congress, Pelosi was seen allegedly tearing up her copy of the president's speech, and ironically while he was delivering it, the president upset with her too and visibly snubbing her when she sought to shake his hand before he spoke. 

A handful of Democratic lawmakers walked out of the speech saying the Republican president is simply a liar and that they could not take anymore, his alleged lie of protecting preexisting conditions, they say, the tip of the iceberg as Democrats and Republicans continue to quarrel of the Affordable Care Act, the signature legislation of Trump's predecessor, former president Barack Obama, a Democrat and the nation's first Black president. 

Ohio Congressman Tim
Ryan, a Niles Democrat

"I've had enough. It's like watching professional wrestling. It's all fake, " tweeted Rep Tim Ryan after he walked out, Ryan a Niles, Ohio Democrat and former presidential candidate, and one of 16 members of Congress from Ohio, only four of them Democratic. 

Like last year, Trump's speech comes amid a politically divided country on policy issues ranging from healthcare to tax reform, public education, immigration, infrastructure, the economy, and women's reproductive rights.

In addition to an impeachment trial led by a Republican-dominated Senate another difference this year is that it is an election year for president, the president delivering his speech just a day after the Iowa Caucuses, the first primary election for the Democrats, which is steeped in mounting controversy and claims of impropriety and ineptness by voting officials.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is leading the Democratic presidential candidates in Iowa with 62 percent of the vote counted, followed by Sen Bernie Sanders, who is nearly neck and neck, and then Sen Elizabeth Warden and national front runner vice president Joe Biden, Biden leading in the national polls among some 10 major candidates who are left, followed by Sanders, Warren and Buttigieg respectively.

Trump talked about his version of immigration reform and promised more troops at the southern border.

While the president denounced what he referred to as illegal immigration, he did not use his typical tough talk, and said he embraces immigrants that come into the country legally.

Republicans began chanting "four more years," a first, said political analysts regarding members of Congress literally rallying for a political candidate during a State of the Union speech. 

Areal estate mogul and former television personality, the president's overall poll numbers are at 49 percent, the highest rate since he took office in 2017.

Trump courted the Black vote and discussed what he says is ground breaking criminal justice reform by his administration under the First Step Act. 

He called for Congress to outlaw 'late term' abortions, wants charter schools over public education, and advocated for increased military spending.

Democratic female members of Congress wore suffragette White Tuesday night, most of them, and by design as a symbol of their disdain for the Republican president, and his policies, and in support of reproductive and other rights for women. 

The president acknowledged First Lady Melania Trump in attendance and said that Democrats and Republicans alike must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution, and instead embrace the boundless potential of cooperation.

It all sounds good but is unrealistic, critics say, given the infighting between the two political parties that  has almost taken the country hostage.

The nation's 45th president, Trump said he wants to bridge the partisan divide, an unlikely agenda, whether sincere or not, given his stances on issues such as healthcare, immigration, and tax reform, stances that his opponents, largely Democrats, say are racist, and detrimental to the nation's most vulnerable people. 

Speaking on the economy, the president said unemployment is down and jobs are up across the board, including for the Black community.

The president pushed for infrastructure reform and said jobs have become increasingly more available to Americans since he took office. 

But he did not mention the trade wars, federal deficits, and unemployment disparities between Blacks and their White counterparts .

According to research by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate nationally is at percent and for Blacks it dropped to 7 percent in December 2019, the lowest since the government began tracking the figure in 1972.

It is now at 5.2 percent for Blacks, 2.6 percent lower that when the president took office. 

It peaked for Blacks at 16. percent 1984 and has declined about a percentage point over the last eight years, and after Obama took office in 2009.

Black leaders say the unemployment rates in the Black community are still deplorable and that the president is being disingenuous in suggesting that the Black community has prospered economically under his leadership.

Obama, says groups such as the NAACP, planted the seeds for what Trump is bragging on as to jobs and unemployment, much if it, including some governmental research data, elevated, and not quite true in some respects, at least not from a Black perspective, pundits argue.

Trump advocated for lower health care prescription drug prices and he spoke on foreign tariffs, and NATO. 

The president touched on energy and oil and natural gas, and said that America is now a net  exporter of energy.

Likely the most stunning act was the president, via Melania Trump, awarding American radio personality and conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh the congressional medal of honor, the highest honor given to a civilian, Limbaugh currently fighting a stage four cancer diagnosis. 

The nationwide opiate crisis was mentioned, with the state of Ohio, which was not mentioned, garnering second place nationwide since 2017 for drug related deaths from opiate overdoses at 40 percent in 2019, West Virginia ranking first at  50 percent.

Ohio's remains a pivotal state with it presidential primary election set for March 17.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.