As Presidential speeches go, President Trump’s address to Congress tonight was more or less average. There were no great moments of rhetorical brilliance, and there were only a few extraordinary new initiatives announced, most notably one on shipbuilding and another about reciprocal tariffs.
That being said, what the speech very likely did accomplish was to push hard on the Democrats. That began when he called out their Dour Democrat faces and said quite bluntly that nothing he said or did would make the Democrats cheer for America.
That’s a potent charge, given that a YouGov poll conducted right after the address found the overwhelming majority of voters saw the speech as either “hopeful” or “proud”.
By even larger percentages, viewers found the speech “Presidential” and “Inspiring”.
Given the lasting nature of first impressions, with poll results such as these, even if people forget the substance of Trump’s speech—which they probably will—they will still likely remember that they liked the speech. That’s good news for the Republicans, and bad news for Democrats.
That bad news will likely get worse for Democrats with President Trump’s commitment to reinvigorate shipbuilding in this country. With a substantial number of America’s largest shipbuilders located in blue states, this is tantamount to a major jobs push in those states. Even a little success in jobs creation will go a long way towards pulling even more Democrat voters into the MAGA coalition.
There were some very good moments of political theater, especially when Trump called out all the guests who were attending. This is one of the things Trump does very well—and does not get nearly enough credit for doing—sharing the spotlight with others.
What the Democrats did very poorly was participate even in the obviously touching moments. Refusing to cheer making a 13-year old cancer patient an honorary Secret Service Agent is a brand of partisan heartlessness that is not going to win the Democrats any hearts or minds.
With Congress fumbling and bumbling its way through a continuing resolution to keep the government funded while they figure out the budget, Trump is putting pressure on the Democrats. The way they conducted themselves during this address shows he is still living rent-free inside their head.
Their challenge is they still do not have an effective messaging response to Donald Trump. As Hakeem Jeffries lamented a couple of weeks ago, “what’s our leverage?” Jeffries and the Democrats don’t have a plan for acquiring or simply making any leverage. Their triggered pearl-clutching is not getting it done because most anyone who voted for Donald Trump genuinely does not care that the Democrats are offended. They have demonized Donald Trump for so long that the most incendiary of their claims against him no longer resonate with anyone.
President Trump did show that he has a good grasp of statecraft fundamentals when he accepted Volodomyr Zelenskyy’s “apology” for last Friday’s meltdown. It was a smart way to rebuild that particular bridge. He allowed Zelenskyy to save face, and that is a gesture which is likely to pay dividends down the road. If this clears the way for the minerals deal to be signed, Trump will have the leverage of a signed deal with Ukraine in his pocket when next he engages with Vladimir Putin, and that allows for Trump to apply some novel pressures to Putin to move Putin in the direction of peace.
A word also needs to be said about reciprocal tariffs. President Trump indicated that, starting April 2nd, the United States will apply reciprocal tariffs, meaning that whatever tariff—monetary or non-monetary—gets applied to US goods will be applied to that country’s exported goods to the US. Presumably, if a country changes their tariffs, Trump will automatically adjust.
If they work the way Trump described, then a feedback loop is being established, which is not a phenomenon that is ever known for ending well. I am not yet sure of the full consequences of this particular tariff move by President Trump, but I am very certain there will be considerable consequences.
I am also certain that none of Trump’s opposite numbers in the capitals of the world have any real grasp of what is seeking to accomplish with tariffs. In virtually every instance where tariffs have either been threatened or briefly applied, President Trump has invariably used tariffs to achieve other goals on the world stage. No matter what Trump says about tariffs, what he does about tariffs says a great deal. Tariffs, at least this time around, are more about leverage for Donald Trump than anything else.
President Trump’s address to Congress was, on balance, an average speech. On balance, his address to Congress was very effective and significantly above average political theater.
If I were grading Trump on this speech, I would give him a B- for rhetoric, C+ for oratory, but A- for theater.
