President Donald Trump delivered his third State of the Union address (SOTU) late Tuesday.

“Our agenda is relentlessly pro-family, pro-growth, and most of all, pro-American,” Trump said as part of the opening of his address.

The SOTU is an annual speech given by the president to a joint session of the United States Congress at the start of the year.

Trump’s speech discussed reviving the American dream by decreasing unemployment rates, cutting taxes, bringing jobs back to America, as well as illegal immigrant crime rates and terrorism.

Prior to the speech, several Democratic lawmakers, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, arrived at the speech wearing white as a protest symbol against Trump. Pelosi said she has not spoken with the president since October.

“The vision I will lay out tonight will demonstrate how we are building the world’s most prosperous and inclusive society. One where every citizen can join in America’s unparalleled success and where every community can take part in America’s extraordinary rise.” – Donald Trump

After the president was introduced by Pelosi, Congressional Republicans began to chant “four more years.”

“Three years ago we launched the great American comeback,” Trump said. “Tonight I stand before you to share the incredible results: jobs are booming, incomings are soaring, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling, confidence is surging and our country is thriving and is highly respected again.”

Trump said this is the “blue collar boom” and claimed to have been the reason for the decrease in the unemployment rate. Unemployment among African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, women, veterans and disabled Americans has reached an all-time low during his presidency, Trump said.

“The vision I will lay out tonight will demonstrate how we are building the world’s most prosperous and inclusive society,” Trump said. “One where every citizen can join in America’s unparalleled success and where every community can take part in America’s extraordinary rise.”

Trump said during the administration of President Barack Obama more than ten million people were added to the food stamp rolls, but under his administration seven million Americans have come off food stamp rolls and 10 million people have been lifted off welfare.

“Pretty much, by definition, presidents have no real direct control of what other countries do. Any president is going to claim credit if the economy looks like it is in good shape, it would honestly be pretty stupid not to.” – Mack Shelley, Iowa State professor

In the three years of the Trump administration 3.5 million working age people have joined the workforce, Trump said.

Mack Shelley, Iowa State professor and chair of the political science department, said it can be difficult to gauge the effect a president has on unemployment rates.

“It is hard to get a direct […] connection between any given presidential action and economic performance, there are a whole bunch of different variables, including what happens in other countries that have an effect here,” Shelley said. “Pretty much, by definition, presidents have no real direct control of what other countries do. Any president is going to claim credit if the economy looks like it is in good shape, it would honestly be pretty stupid not to.”

Shelley said it is common for people to claim this is the best economy ever, but Shelley said he is concerned with Trump’s claim of rapid income growth for lower income people opposed to those at the top.

“I don’t think that is accurate, I suppose it depends how you spin numbers, but there are claims like that, that don’t really ring true at all,” Shelley said.

Throughout his speech, Trump mentioned multiple times the economic improvement for African Americans that has occurred as part of a “blue collar boom.”

Shelley said it is not wrong to claim that the economy is doing fairly well and Trump’s use of this to “bash” previous administrations is nothing out of the norm. 

Trump also used this tactic to condone the work of U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) while criticizing radical politicians of providing sanctuary for “criminal illegal aliens”.

“In sanctuary cities, local officials order police to release dangerous criminal aliens to prey upon the public, instead of handing them to ICE to be safely removed,” Trump said without offering evidence.

Trump then went on to tell the story of the rape and murder of a 92-year-old woman by a “criminal alien” who had been previously arrested but released under New York sanctuary policies.

Ryan Hurley, sophomore in pre-business and president of the College Republicans, said it was stories such as this one that really pulled heart strings and it was important to amplify his messages while not using the stories for political gain.

Members of the College Democrats at Iowa State did not respond to a request for comment.

“In America we don’t punish prayer, we don’t tear down crosses, we don’t ban symbols of faith, we don’t muscle preachers or pastors.” – Donald Trump

Shelley said telling stories such as this can be used to make it appear America is threatened and police and ICE are the only things standing between Americans and chaos.

“Immigrants have about the same, and some cities even suggest, lower crime rates than people who are born in the U.S.,” Shelley said. “This is a tactic that presidents use pretty commonly, [Ronald] Reagan did it quite effectively to use a story to overcome facts and that is kind of what he was doing. It was an argument for police dominance and not as much for people’s rights that might get trampled in the process.”

Trump touched on education and prayer in school in his speech. 

“My administration is also defending religious liberty and that includes the constitutional right to pray in public schools,” Trump said. “In America we don’t punish prayer, we don’t tear down crosses, we don’t ban symbols of faith, we don’t muscle preachers or pastors. In America we celebrate faith, we cherish religion, we lift our voices in prayer and we raise our sites to the glory of god.”

Hurley said there is no harm in praying in schools and views this as beneficial for students.

“I don’t really see how students praying in school can harm somebody,” Hurley said. “I think a traditional prayer before a meal or something to that effect for Christians is very nice. I think that he is harkening back to Reagan, and I think that is a good thing in that regard.”

Hurley said he appreciated the general focus on the U.S. and his presidency has exposed the battle of “Americanism against globalism.”

Shelley said Trump’s speech seemed more like a tactic to solidify his “followers,” and possibly recruit more for the next election and had moments that seemed to empathize with divisiveness opposed to unity.

“There was sort of a classic element in political symbolism that was evident tonight and I guess you can argue it has to do with arguments in favor of unity and arguments in favor of things that are meant to be divisive,” Shelley said.

“The American nation was carved out of the vast frontier by the strongest, fiercest and most determined, men and women ever to walk on the face of the earth.” – Donald Trump 

Shelley said an example of this was Trump’s $50 million increase towards neonatal care, and then went on to talk about abortion policy.

“[Trump] shifted in pretty much the same sentence from a unity message of bringing the country together, to one that is designed to be very divisive,” Shelley said. “His campaign to get into the White House and presidency for the last three years has been defined by extreme combativeness, deliberately dividing the country.”

Trump ended his speech by praising the people who “built” the U.S., and how he plans to continue to keep it “great.”

“The American nation was carved out of the vast frontier by the strongest, fiercest and most determined, men and women ever to walk on the face of the earth,” Trump said. “Our ancestors braved the unknown, tamed the wilderness, settled the wild west, lifted millions from poverty, disease and hunger, vanquished tyranny and fascism, ushered the world to new heights of science and medicine. […] And ladies and gentlemen, our ancestors built the most exceptional republic to have ever existed in all of human history, and we are making it greater than ever before.”