Trump of the Union

President Trump addressed both houses of Congress, several members of the Supreme Court, and assorted others.  In his speech, he outlined the goals for his presidency.  Some of his goals, I liked.  Repeal the Affordable Care Act, allow health insurance to be sold across state lines, enforce the immigration laws, put the interests of American citizens before those of non-Americans, reduce the administrative state by repealing two regulations for every new one added, tax reform, and sundry other items.  He also offered some things I don't like.  An infrastructure plan bigger than Obama's stimulus from 2009, replacing the Affordable Care Act with some Republican version of government overreach, protectionism, and so forth.  On the one hand, we need to get government out of the way so the people can innovate and on the other hand we need the government to solve your problems.

Trump's speech sought to engage the heart rather than the mind.  He would offer a rationale for his policy preference and then trigger the emotions with an appropriate guest.  The multiple guests who provided concrete evidence for his claims was effective for stirring the emotions he sought.  It is far easier to groan and shake one's head about criminal illegal immigrants when an actual victim of such is not present.  At times, it felt more like a speech a Democrat would give.  It was funny to see Bernie Sanders clap when Trump argued that it should be difficult for companies to leave the United States.  However, like Obama with Bush, Trump blamed his predecessor for whatever ails the country.  Sigh.

 

It was a better speech than his Inaugural Address.  Though he had the digs against Obama, he repeatedly called for unity and offered a number of issues that the Democrats could support.  Though the speech likely reads as well or better than most such speeches, Trump does not have the oratorical talents of President Obama.  Just listening to the tone and rhythm, Obama is like music and Trump is like construction foreman trying to talk over the jackhammer in the background.

 

The Democratic rebuttal was weak.  Governor Beshear rebutted a speech that wasn't given.  As a stand-alone speech, it works okay but it addressed the Democrats impression of Trump rather than the just presented policy prescriptions.  There were a couple lines where, if this had been a debate, the moderator would have said, "he addressed that point.  Weren't you listening?"  Of course, I'm not a fan of the rebuttals, regardless of who is president.  Maybe if the Libertarian Party got to do the rebuttal...

 

All in all, Trump gave a good speech that will benefit him in the near term.  Those who watched will long remember the emotions that were evoked while completely forgetting the content.  That is probably the point.