Trump's 'clarity' about adversaries shows US is still stuck in the past

In what was part elegy of remembrance for days now past and part call for action so they might be relived, US President Donald Trump delivered his first State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Characterized by his usual chronic ballyhooing, it was notable not because it offered anything new, but because of its affirmation that for his administration everything can be boiled down to the simple binary choice of you are either with us or against us.

While patting himself on the back and offering a full helping of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for those his administration considers American, his speech set out a similar proposition to that of one of the previous occupants of the White House, who proclaimed "there can be no divided allegiance here", and once again laid bare his administration's reductive and confrontational view of the complexities of international relations.