Trump speech sells ‘fantasy,’ but voters see ‘a reality that’s getting worse and worse,’ analyst says

CNN political analyst Van Jones knows why Democrats were heckling President Donald Trump throughout the longest presidential Congressional address in history on Tuesday night — a speech that likely included a record number of lies.

As a CNN panel chuckled that the 99-minute speech was as long as the movie “Wicked,” Jones picked up the joke and ran with it in the network’s postgame show.

“The problem is, like ‘Wicked,’ it’s fantasy, and then you come back home. You gotta deal with reality,” Jones said.

“In the speech, he loves the military. In reality, he’s cutting the [Veterans Administration] and throwing veterans out of work.

“In the speech, he loves cops. In reality, he’s pardoning everybody from January 6 who beat the hell out of cops.

“In the speech, he holds up this cancer kid that everybody fell in love with. In reality, he’s cutting cancer research.

“In the speech, he talks about a strong economy. In reality, it’s tariffs and the stock market’s in free-fall.

“In the speech, he’s got ‘MAHA’ — Make America Healthy Again — and my good buddy, Bobby Kennedy Jr. [as Secretary of Health and Human Services], but in reality, there’s measles ripping through Texas. There are more measles cases in Texas than there are transgender athletes in the country.

“So there’s a speech which is ... you know, fantasy. And then there’s a reality that’s getting worse and worse.”

In his prime-time speech, Trump said little about the cost of living, but instead trotted out the greatest hits from his campaign rallies — a long string of grievances, falsehoods and exaggerations, while targeting immigrants and transgender Americans.

Trump also maintained his lust for Greenland and the Panama Canal, and he assured the world that the U.S. would get them both “one way or another.”

Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who delivered the Democratic response following Trump’s speech, allowed that “America wants change, but there’s a responsible way to make change and a reckless way, and we can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country and as a democracy.”

Emboldened after overcoming impeachments in his first term, outlasting criminal prosecutions in between his two administrations and getting a tight grip on the GOP-led Congress, Trump has embarked on a mission to dismantle parts of the federal government, remake the relationship with America’s allies and slap on tariffs that have sparked a North American trade war.

The AP contributed to this report.