Thread by @jseldin

Happening now: @POTUS @JoeBiden delivers #SOTU2022

"Tonight, we meet ...with an unwavering resolve that freedom will always triumph over tyranny"

.@POTUS wastes little time getting to #Russia-#Ukraine

"6 days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the very foundations of the free world thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated..."

#Russia #Putin "thought he could roll into #Ukraine & the world would roll over" per @POTUS "Instead he met a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined"

"He met the Ukrainian people"

"From President Zelenskyy to every Ukrainian, their fearlessness, their courage, their determination, inspires the world" per @POTUS

"Groups of citizens blocking tanks w/their bodies. Everyone from students to retirees teachers turned soldiers defending their homeland..."

Standing ovation for #Ukraine's ambassador to the US

"Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson-when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression they cause more chaos. They keep moving. And the costs and the threats to America and the world keep rising" per @POTUS

.@NATO - "It matters. American diplomacy matters. American resolve matters" per @POTUS

#Putin "thought the West & NATO wouldn’t respond. He thought he could divide us at home, in this chamber, in this nation. He though he could divide us in #Europe, s well. Putin was wrong"

"We shared w/the world in advance what we knew #Putin was planning & precisely how he would try to falsely justify his aggression" per @POTUS "We countered Russia’s lies with truth"

"Now that he has acted the free world is holding him accountable" per @POTUS "Putin is now isolated from the world more than he has ever been"

"Together with our allies we are right now enforcing powerful economic sanctions" per @POTUS "We are cutting off #Russia’s largest banks from the int'l financial system"

"We are choking Russia’s access to technology that will sap its economic strength & weaken its military..."

"Tonight I say to the #Russia|n oligarchs & corrupt leaders who have bilked billions of dollars off this violent regime -- no more" per @POTUS

"We are coming for your ill-begotten gains" @POTUS tells #Russia's oligarchs

"And tonight I'm announcing that we will join our allies in closing off American air space to all Russian flights – further isolating Russia – & adding an additional squeeze on their economy"

"He has no idea what's coming" @POTUS says of #Russia's Putin

"The Ruble has lost 30% of its value. The Russian stock market has lost 40% of its value...Russia’s economy is reeling and Putin alone is to blame"

"We will continue to aid the Ukrainian people as they defend their country and to help ease their suffering" per @POTUS on US help to #Ukraine

"Our forces are not engaged & will not engage in conflict w/#Russia|n forces in #Ukraine" per @POTUS

"Our forces are not going to #Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our @NATO Allies in the event that #Putin decides to keep moving west"

"As I've made crystal clear the #UnitedStates and our Allies will defend every inch of territory that iso @NATO countries w/the full force of our collective power" per @POTUS

"Every single inch"

"We're clear-eyed" per @POTUS "The Ukrainian ppl are fighting back w/pure courage but the next few days weeks, months, will be hard on them"

"Putin has unleashed violence & chaos. But while he may make gains on the battlefield he'll pay a continuing high price over the long run"

"To all Americans, I will be honest with you...a #Russia|n dictator, invading a foreign country, has costs around the world" per @POTUS

US will "use every tool at our disposal to protect American businesses and consumers" due to sanctions vs #Russia

"I know the news about what’s happening can seem alarming but I want you to know that we are going to be okay" per @POTUS

"When the history of this era is written #Putin’s war on #Ukraine will have left #Russia weaker & the rest of the world stronger"

"In the battle between democracy & autocracy, democracies are rising to the moment, & the world is clearly choosing the side of peace & security" per @POTUS

"Let us continue to draw inspiration from the iron will of the #Ukrainian ppl" per @POTUS

"Putin may circle #Kyiv w/tanks but he will never gain the hearts&souls...He will never extinguish their love of freedom.He will never weaken the resolve of the free world"

Economic competition w/#China - "I’ve told Xi Jinping, it is never a good bet to bet against the American ppl" per @POTUS

"We have lost so much to #COVID19. Time w/one another & worst of all, so much loss of life" per @POTUS

"Let’s stop looking at COVID-19 as a partisan dividing line and see it for what it is: A God-awful disease.

"Let’s stop seeing each other as enemies, and start seeing each other for who we really are: Fellow Americans" per @POTUS

"If we are to advance liberty & justice, we need to secure the #Border & fix the immigration system" per @POTUS

US #bordersecurity: "We’ve installed new technology like cutting-edge scanners to better detect drug smuggling" per @POTUS

"We’ve set up joint patrols with #Mexico & #Guatemala to catch more human traffickers"

"We’re putting in place dedicated immigration judges so families fleeing persecution & violence can have their cases heard faster" per @POTUS

"We’re securing commitments and supporting partners in South & Central America to host more refugees & secure their own borders"

"We can do all this while keeping lit the torch of liberty that has led generations of immigrants to this land - my forefathers & so many of yours" per @POTUS

"Provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, those on temporary status, farm workers & essential workers"

"#Immigration reform is supported by everyone from labor unions to religious leaders to the US Chamber of Commerce" per @POTUS

"Let’s get it done once & for all"

"Support our veterans" per @POTUS in #SOTU2022

"We have a sacred obligation to equip all those we send to war & care for them and their families when they come home"

"Our troops in #Iraq & #Afghanistan faced many dangers" per @POTUS "One being stationed at bases & breathing in toxic smoke from burn pits ...that incinerate waste, the wastes of war: medical & hazard material, jet fuel & more"

"When they came home, many of the world’s fittest & best trained warriors - never the same" per @POTUS

"Headaches. Numbness. Dizziness. A cancer that would put them in a flag-draped coffin..."

"...we're expanding eligibility to veterans suffering from 9 respiratory cancers" per @POTUS

"I’m also calling on Congress to pass a law to make sure veterans devastated by toxic exposures in #Iraq & #Afghanistan finally get the benefits &comprehensive health care they deserve"

"My fellow Americans, tonight we have gathered in a sacred space, the citadel of our democracy" per @POTUS

"In this Capitol, generation after generation, Americans have debated great questions amid great strife & have done great things..."

"...We have fought for freedom, expanded liberty, [defeated] totalitarianism & terror...built the strongest, freest & most prosperous nation the world has ever known" per @POTUS

"....Now is the hour. Our moment of responsibility. Our test of resolve & conscience, of history itself" per @POTUS

"It is in this moment that the character of our nation is formed..."

"I know this nation. We will meet the test...We will save democracy" says @POTUS

"So on this night, in our 245th year as a nation, I have come to report on the State of the Union" per @POTUS

"My report is this: the State of the Union is strong—because you, the American people, are strong"