Walsh speaks with Trump on his mind

At his fifth State of the City address Tuesday, Mayor Martin J. Walsh ticked off achievements and initiatives like he was sinking shots at TD Garden, but every time he sailed through the air, dunked the ball and hung from the basket, he was talking about Donald Trump.

The mayor didn’t mention POTUS by name but he didn’t need to. All the money lines were shots at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

“It’s a pivotal time in our country,” he declared. “Too many people in too many communities are being left behind. Yet instead of being called to unify, we’re driven further apart. Instead of solutions, we’re offered scapegoats. Our democracy that we fought for right here in Boston … is under attack.”

“So the state of our city is strong, but I’m concerned about the state of our union.”

And why shouldn’t he be, if our democracy is under attack?

“What happens in Washington we feel on the streets of Boston,” Walsh said. “There is no federal policy on housing. There’s no national infrastructure plan.”

Walsh continued down the list of liberal talking points.

“The White House turned its back on climate change, but in Boston we believe in science,” Walsh exclaimed before flashing his progressive ideological bona fides. “We put social justice at the heart of our vision … so we’ll keep leading the fight to defend immigrants.”

And the line of the night: “Instead of building walls, let’s show them how to build bridges.”

The crowd was on its feet and to raucous applause Walsh finished with a final admonition to the Beltway: “To our national leaders I say, if you want to learn how to bring people together, not push them apart, look to Boston,” and the chorus of “Look to Boston” rejoinders closed out the evening.

Again, Walsh’s State of the City address was not confined to the president whatsoever, but the resounding note in the speech was the condemnation of Trump and his ilk.

And why?

Is Walsh eyeing higher office? Maybe a VP nod?

Or is this the price of living in a one-party town where discourse is so homogeneous that supplanting innovative ideas with haggard slogans is the way to win the crowd, and the likeminded media?

Unfortunately, the effect is the same. What should have been the State of the City address was just another meeting of the #Resistance. That is not what we “look to Boston’s” mayor for.