What can we expect from President Trump’s State of the Union address?
Here’s what to expect from President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
Television network C-SPAN has put rumors to rest after a suspicious phone call that resembled that of President Donald Trump sparked a storm of speculation.
“Since so many people are talking about the caller to C-SPAN on Friday who identified himself as ‘John Barron,’ we would like to put this matter behind us. It was not the President,” C-SPAN said in a social media post on Sunday, February 22nd. He went on to say that the call came from a central Virginia number while the president was meeting with governors at the White House.
“Tune into C-SPAN to see if the actual president appears in Tuesday night’s State of the Union address,” he concluded.
The caller was using a pseudonym previously used by President Trump.
Jokes and theories flooded the Internet over the weekend after a man identified as a Virginia Republican called out to the network on Friday, February 20, commenting on the Supreme Court’s decision to cancel President Trump’s tariffs.
His speech pattern sounded so distinctly presidential that people began to suspect it was himself, or at least someone else making an impression.
“This is the worst decision of my life,” the man told host Greta Browner. “This is a terrible decision.”
“And then there’s Hakeem Jeffries, he’s a dope, and there’s Chuck Schumer who can’t make a cheeseburger,” he continued. “Of course these people are happy. Of course these people are happy. But true Americans will not be happy.”
A 2016 report in the Washington Post spurred speculation. It was revealed that Trump had previously used the name “John Barron” as a pseudonym, often redirecting questions to the fictitious Mr. Barron as his “spokesperson.”
“Barron (also spelled ‘Baron’ in some reports) appears to have been President Trump’s go-to alias when he was under intense scrutiny, needed a tough frontman, or wanted to get his message across without using his name,” the Post reported.
Trump used the name throughout the 1980s, but only used it in 1990 after appearing in court in a lawsuit and testifying under oath, “I think I used that name from time to time.”
Rumors surrounding C-SPAN’s “Trump” remarks
While some commenters expressed skepticism in response to C-SPAN’s post about the phone, many also joked about the situation.
“Trump has a burner VA phone in the White House bathroom,” one commentator said, referring to the popular murder mystery game “Clue.”
“Yes, it was him…no matter how much you told us to trust you, brother, it wasn’t him…she said the evidence that it wasn’t him was provided by him and the White House…and that evidence was, ‘No, dude, it wasn’t me,'” another claimed. “Mr. Trump was not in the public meeting when the call to C-Span came in,” another person agreed.
Some people were not so convinced by this call.
One commenter said: “Why would anyone think it was Trump? It’s clearly a prank.” “Yes, obviously. But as we’ve seen in the past, he’s not above doing it. That’s why it’s funny,” said another.
“Let’s make CSPAN prank calls great again (MCPCGA caucus),” one social media user joked.
How to watch President Trump’s State of the Union address
President Trump is scheduled to deliver his first official State of the Union address of his second term on Tuesday, February 24th at 9pm ET. Coverage of the event will run from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM ET.
USA TODAY will provide live streaming coverage of President Trump’s State of the Union address on both its YouTube channel and website. Aside from the USA TODAY livestream, the speech will also be broadcast on other stations including ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, NPR and PBS.
