WASHINGTON – On Jan. 20, 2017, newly elected President Donald Trump took the oath of office and addressed the nation as its commander in chief for the first time from the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
In his typical bombastic, combative style, the billionaire businessman opened his inaugural address by darkly chastising establishment politics, promising to end “American carnage” and gang violence in the cities and bring back jobs to abandoned coal mines and long-shuttered factories.
“Today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another, or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people,” Trump declared, with former President Barrack Obama seated just off to his left.
“We will make America wealthy again,” Trump bellowed. “We will make America proud again…And, yes, together, we will make America great again.”
On Tuesday night, Trump delivered his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. It came eight days after a government shutdown, with a possible second looming on Feb. 8; a little more than a month removed from a GOP-tax reform victory; and amidst a special counsel investigation circling accusations of White House obstruction of justice.
While the tone struck by Trump was more positive last night than his inaugural address and subsequent declaration and tweets, the substance of what he was talking about had changed little. Gone from his rhetoric were denunciations of “radical Islamic terrorism,” his dystopian view of urban America and his inflammatory attacks on illegal immigrants.
Dan Mahaffee, director of policy at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, said that there was a change in Trump between his two presidential addresses because Trump was speaking to the country and not solely to his narrow political base, which eagerly laps up Trump’s more controversial and devisive comments.
“Having one year in office behind him, he had to be more optimistic and upbeat than the tone of his inaugural address,” Mahaffee said in an email. “Other than his harsh tone on immigration, there was much in that speech that appealed to a wide range of Americans.”
Much of the fiery rhetoric was missing last night, as Trump once again tried to be more presidential in delivering a highly important speech. Yet the substance of his ideas – from America’s preeminent place in the world to the goal of eradicating ISIS to a new economic model based on massive tax cuts for business and government deregulation – remained at the heart of his speech.
“We have shared in the heights of victory and the pains of hardship,” Trump said. “But through it all, we have seen the beauty of America’s soul, and the steel in America’s spine.”
In reality, Trump’s “America First” platform has never gone away. He campaigned on it during the primary and general election campaigns, he toppled Democrat Hillary Clinton with it, and he bragged of its successes Tuesday night.
Trump wasted little time boasting about the strong economy, the low-unemployment rate, the record-breaking stock market rise and even rising wages after years of stagnation when some of the good news stemmed from the economic policies of his predecessor, Barack Obama.
With much riding on whether public sentiment gradually changes in favor of the Trump-GOP $1.5 trillion tax cut that largely benefits corporations and wealthy Americans, the president provided a laundry list of benefits that he attributes to the legislation passed late last year: Lower tax rates, a doubling of standard deductions, a doubling of the child tax credit, more take-home pay, corporate bonuses for workers, and on and on.
“This is our new American moment,” he said. “There has never been a better time to start living the American Dream.”
When Trump first took office, he rebuked “globalists” and called for a new national pride and a withdrawal from internal entanglements and treaties – part of his determination to put America first. But as his military advisers briefed him on the grim realities on the ground, Trump has expanded operations in Iraq and Syria in pursuit of his goal to eradicate ISIS.
The president has increased troop levels in Afghanistan to continue a 16-year-long war. And, the administration’s National Security Strategy and the National Defense Strategy named China, Russia, and North Korea as new threats that could increase America’s involvement abroad even more.
Trump’s strong tone and shift in focus towards North Korea and it’s mounting nuclear threat is the largest difference between Trump’s first two speeches and his SOTU address. Trump’s spate of nasty tweets regarding North Korean president Kim Jong Un – dubbing him “Little Rocket Man” and a “short and fat” man – triggered global concern about a nuclear war.
For those who were expecting more of the same in Trump’s speech last night, they may have been pleasantly surprised.
“We need only look at the depraved character of the North Korean regime to understand the nature of the nuclear threat it could pose to America and our allies,” Trump said, even inviting a North Korean defector, as one of his guests. But there were no gratuitous presidential slaps at Kim.
Trump did not mention North Korea once in his inaugural address or his joint sessions speech.
Over the last year – between threats of “fire and fury,” insult filled tweets between the country’s leaders, and successful North Korean missile launches – tensions between the U.S. and North Korea have significantly grown.
According to the Pentagon, the U.S. is currently in a de-confliction with North Korea for the duration of the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea, but we are not suspending any scheduled military movement or focus in the region. And Trump drove this point home Tuesday.
“North Korea’s reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles could very soon threaten our homeland,” Trump said. “I will not repeat the mistakes of past administrations that got us into this dangerous position.”
Despite this extreme focus on North Korea, the administration still may be unprepared.
Chris Adelson, a political science professor at American University, said that an individual that was being prepared to be the ambassador to South Korea – Victor D. Cha –has been dropped by the administration because of his disagreement regarding a preemptive strike on North Korea.
“This is fairly stunning considering what is going on,” Adelson said of the unfilled position.
Throughout another attempt by Trump at a presidential moment, and between the standing ovations, Trump once again stressed the importance of a strong and unified country. He did this despite the fact he has been at the center of many issues that have divided the country since he stepped into office.
People packed airports in protest of his travel ban in the early days of his presidency. The country has seen moments like hate-group marches in Charlottesville, Virginia, two women’s marches protesting Trump’s policies that attracted millions of people across the country.
According to a Gallup poll, Trump currently has a 38 percent national approval rating and has never risen above his highest rating of 46 percent from Jan. 25 of last year.
While the president’s claims about unity may be consistent, they have little basis in reality.
“It’s one of a number of dissonant comments,” Edelson said of Trump’s speech. “The country is certainly not united. This is a deeply unpopular president, this is a president who actively seeks to divide people.”
Despite the composed and restrained picture that Trump sought to project Tuesday night, Mahaffee said that it may not be able to distract away from moments in the past when Trump has been anything but composed or restrained.
“Even as he pursues policies that span the political continuum, the events of his first year in office cast a shadow over this agenda,” Mahaffee said. “If the tenor of his speech had been the norm, rather than the exception, there’d be a very different political landscape in Washington.”