'Not a night for facts': Donald Trump's first State of the Union address ripped apart by satirists

US president Donald Trump summoned the country to a “new American moment” of unity in his first State of the Union address . This concept of unity, however, was based on the notion that “Americans are dreamers too”. Trump also did not shy away from self-congratulation and boasting about the achievements of his government. Sometimes, the best way to analyse a speech as boring as Trump’s is through satire. And television show hosts and American satirists left no stone unturned in hilariously ripping apart Trump’s speech: Samantha Bee Canadian-American comedian Samantha Bee, host of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, took digs at Trump’s remarks on the immigration issue. “Last night, in his State of the Union address, Donald Trump took a break from screaming about immigrants to scream slightly more politely at lawmakers about immigrants,” she said. Bee also destroyed Trump’s “Americans are Dreamers too” remark by observing: “Oh my god! What a beautiful, proud, thoughtful way to say that you will only help white people.” “And Trump’s big speech was a chance for this shy little flower of a president to finally get out there and pat himself on the back a bit,” she also said sarcastically. “Rumour had it this would be an optimistic, glasses half-full type speech and it was, assuming that glass is half full of cyanide and I get to drink it,” Bee said. With her sharp wit and detailed analysis of not just Trump’s speech but the overall state of American politics, Bee was definitely the best out of all US TV satirists on the issue of the State of the Union address. She even said she would play dead for the next three years, after which she hilariously proceeded to lie down on the ground — and play dead.

Stephen Colbert “We are live right now and barely conscious after a 90-minute speech,” said American comedian Stephen Colbert, host of the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Colbert started off by joking about how there were “some amazing people” in the gallery. “And the president was there too,” Colbert added, after which the crowd burst into laughter. “The bar for success was pretty low. He just had to stay on script no matter what and he did,” Colbert further said. Making fun of Trump’s message to all those affected by natural disasters, Colbert said those people (like in Puerto Rico) needed to have access to electricity first to hear the president’s message. Colbert also mocked Trump’s “If there is a mountain, we climb it” remark by mimicking Trump and saying: “If there is a burger, we eat it…if there is an investigation, we undermine it.”

Jimmy Kimmel “This speech comes at a difficult time for the president. His approval rating is below 40 percent, and that was before his speech preempted a new episode of This Is Us,” said American comedian Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! Kimmel, after observing that some Democrats brought immigrants to the speech, said: “Not just Democrats, the president brought an immigrant as his guest too.” As Kimmel was saying this, the telecast immediately cut to Melania Trump at the State of the Union address. “There was more forced applause that a Kim Jong-un birthday parade at this thing tonight,” Kimmel also said.

Trevor Noah The host of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah, began by ripping apart Trump’s claims of the “biggest tax cuts”. “Like most of Trump’s ‘biggest’ things, these tax cuts were not, in fact, the biggest tax cuts in American history. This is a lie. It’s nowhere near it. But this wasn’t a night for facts. If you came here for facts, you came here for the wrong thing,” he said. “Tonight was all about celebrating Trump,” he added. Noah also mocked Trump when he got the nickname of a Homeland Security agent wrong and, instead of apologising, just decided to go along with it. “Because it’s Trump, it’s not a mistake. For him, it’s just an opportunity to redefine reality,” Noah said.