Political experts say Donald Trump’s SOTU speech had no substance and was fake

DONALD Trump’s optimistic State of the Union speech stunned many, but political analysts and body language experts say the president was deploying a facade — and his wife ain’t too happy.

US President Donald J. Trump claps after the State of the Union address. AFP/Win McNamee

DONALD Trump sensationally declared unity and a ‘new American moment’ during his first ever State of the Union speech as US President.

It was an out-of-character Trump. He was moderate, optimistic, and stuck to script for the marathon 80 minutes.

He even broke his tough stance on immigration, saying he would clear the path to citizenship for 1.8 million so called “dreamers”, who were brought to the US by their illegal immigrant parents as children.

But a leading US political expert, who says he failed by not offering any concrete changes to legislation or reforms in his address, said his attitude was a farce and he would return to himself “within hours”.

MORE: Everything that was said in Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech

President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. Picture: Photo/Susan Walsh

“It was a fairly predictable speech, with workman like delivery that actually won’t change anything,” Election Watch deputy editor James Cahill said.

“He was restrained and it was almost as though he read it through gritted teeth, like, I’m on a chain and I’d like to get off.

“That was not the real him.”

Leadership influencer and body language expert Dr Louise Mahler said the president’s gestures showed his speech was planned and studied.

“He used downwards inflection in his voice, strong eye contact and he had two gestures — his right hand up with his palm up flat or his right hand with his fingers together.

“Trump always uses his right hand for good and his left hand for bad, and it was all his right hand. The only time he used his left hand was when he said ‘We all together’ and brought up his left hand, otherwise his left hand stayed down,” she said. “It was strong and very studied.”

Trump delivered the 80 minute speech at the US House of Representatives. Picture: Getty Images/Mark Wilson

Mr Cahill said the President used the tactic of capitalising on fear and grief, drastically more so than previous leaders during their SOTU speeches.

Trump brought a number of grieving families as guests, including two couples, Elizabeth Alvarado and Robert Mickens, along with Evelyn Rodriguez and Freddy Cuevas, who are parents of girls killed by MS-13 gang members.

He also invited the family of Otto Warmbier, the student who mysteriously died last year after being imprisoned in North Korea for minor offences.

“Military and police were over represented, as well as grieving parents who tragically lost children, so there was quite a bit of use of grief,” Mr Cahill said.

“Former presidents have had more of a balance of positive and negative.

“Trump’s premier political skill is the exploitation of fear.

“He wants you to be fearful of immigrants and be afraid of what’s happening overseas. He wants you to believe the world is chaotic.

“In reality, crime in America has been dropping for the last 20 years, which is one of the best and most least understood stories.”

President Donald Trump clearly happy with himself at the end of his address. Picture: AP/Susan Walsh

Mr Cahill said he wasn’t surprised the President didn’t touch on gun laws, despite the worst mass shooting in US history happening in Las Vegas last year.

In fact Trump said he wanted to protect the Second Amendment, which protects rights of American people to keep and bear guns.

Mr Cahill also wasn’t surprised the President said he was keeping Guantánamo Bay jail open, despite Barack Obama’s moves to close it down before he finished his term.

He described Trump’s comments about North Korea’s nuclear missile regime as nothing out of the ordinary.

But he did say he was stumped the President did not mention a special counsel’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, headed by former FBI director Robert Mueller.

“Most presidents aren’t under massive investigations at the time of the State of the Union speech so there’s not much history to draw on, but I thought given the White House and Congress have veen very aggressive over the last 10 days, I thought it was leading up to the fact he might use the big platform to call it out.

“Obviously his legal team advised against it.

“I would’ve loved to be a fly on the wall when the advisers were discussing what he could and couldn’t mention during the speech. It would have been the most colourful, fascinating discussion.”

Wrapping up his speech on an inspiring ode to freedom, Mr Cahill said the “poetic words” sounded insincere coming out of Trump’s mouth.

“It was an interesting angle for him,” he said.

“At the end he had an optimistic poetry about America.

“Coming out of Trump’s mouth it seemed odd only because of how we normally hear him speak.”

US First Lady Melania Trump departs the US Capitol after US President Donald Trump's State of the Union address. Picture: AFP/Jim Watson

According to Dr Mahler, the First Lady was not happy with her husband, barely showing any emotion during his speech at all, following the President’s affair scandal.

“Melania was absolutely stony faced,” Dr Mahler said. “I mean, you’d think there’d be some smile in there. Nothing.

“There’s major issues going on — she should have been smiling and clapping — she was barely clapping. It’s her role to smile and support, and she was furious.”

Dr Mahler also said that Melania’s white outfit spoke volumes. “White is about, I’m not destroyed, I’m standing firm,” she said.

In terms of the seemingly “enthusiastic” crowd, Dr Mahler noted that the crowd was screaming success and joy — but nobody smiled. It was all aggressive positivism ... It was like a rally.”