The Reset- Trump’s Address to a Disjointed Session of Congress

The Reset- Trump’s Address to a Disjointed Session of Congress

Last night, before a worldwide audience, President Donald Trump masterfully delivered his first presidential address to both houses of congress. Widely hailed as the best speech he has ever given, the new president stuck to his stated themes of “unity and strength… in a message deeply delivered from (his) heart.”

Recounting the many executive actions taken thus far, in an administration all of six weeks old, the president outlined a broad legislative agenda, enumerated the economic challenges facing the nation- including unemployment, stagnant economic growth, growing dependence on food stamps, and an $800 billion dollar trade deficit. Calling on both houses of congress, he beseeched both parties to join together in solving these problems:

“…solving these, and so many other pressing problems, will require us to work past the differences of party. It will require us to tap into the American spirit that has overcome every challenge throughout our long and storied history.”

To look at most of the Democrats, many of whom boycotted his inauguration, it was as though they were not listening at all to the president’s call for unity, and instead sat there calculating how they might possibly spin their post-address commentary to their dwindling liberal base. Their churlishness and contempt, based on little more than utter hate for the man who upset their dreams of a Hillary presidency, showed them to be petulant children unhappy with not getting their way… and the more they complain, the smaller they seem. While they can get away with such bad behavior in the short term, Americans will continue to grow weary of their partisan posturing, and it will be the Democrats who continue their dive into the wilderness of fewer numbers and shrinking support.

While a few Democrats, most notably Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), were moved to give several standing ovations, most Republicans enthusiastically received the speech, rising to their feet upwards of eighty times. A few, like Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and his #NeverTrump aide-de-camp, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), bore noticeably sour-puss expressions much like their Democrat counterparts but, after all, they are just as unhappy about Trump’s election and therefore cannot help themselves but to throw water on the president’s campfire.

Nevertheless, remaining Republicans now have a president who will work with them on the key issues of repealing and replacing ObamaCare, revising the tax code and providing for national security, both at our border and around the world- and one, by the way, who is not afraid to name the enemy for who and what it actually is- Radical Islamic Terrorism.

The mainstream media even chimed in, condescendingly saying that as a result of the speech, Donald Trump was, at long last, President of the United States- that the speech might well prove to be the much ballyhooed “reset” of the Trump presidency- from the “dark campaign mode” of Donald Trump to a brighter, “more presidential mode” befitting the office he holds.

Well, it was a reset- but not the kind of reset the mainstream media has in mind.

The “reset” President Trump delivered was rather to those in the television audience who, for the first time, heard the man speak without the partisan and disparaging spin, oft-provided by his political opponents and their partisan allies in the mainstream media. Considering the fact that he won the presidency with less than half of the popular vote, and even though his approval ratings are supposedly in the low-to-mid forties, the speech proved to be a home-run for the president, based upon follow-up polling that showed a 69% optimistic response (as compared to a 28% pessimistic response) to his address.

Essentially, only the most strident opponents to the president could be critical of an address so adroitly delivered, so artfully composed, and so succinctly clear in message and mindset.

While it is still very early in the administration, there can be no doubt that there is a new president who, given the support of his own Republican party, is perfectly poised to make meaningful and much-needed change in Washington, DC.

Furthermore, there is now a notable benchmark that has been set to adjudge his presidency, going forward.

The more carping on the part of his opponents, the more criticism on the part of the mainstream media, the more successful President Trump will be in delivering on the promises he has made to the American people…

…and for all of those who trudged through the last eight years, “ain’t we got fun?”

 

-Drew Nickell, 1 March 2017

© 2017 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

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