Donald Trump
promised a ‘new chapter of American greatness’ in his first
speech to Congress on Tuesday night that touched on immigration,
healthcare and national security. Trump struck a largely positive
tone in the address, in what was arguably his most presidential
speech to date. Watch full highlights
Donald Trump honored
Carryn Owens, the widow of US Navy Seal William ‘Ryan’ Owens,
during his speech to Congress on Tuesday night. Owens was the only US
fatality of a raid on al-Qaida in Yemen on 29 January which the
Pentagon said killed 14 militants. However, local sources said 25
civilians were killed, including women and nine children under the
age of 13. Trump called Owens ‘a warrior and a hero’
Analysis:
Trump shocks Congress with a speech that stuck to script
The
apocalyptic vision of ‘American carnage’ on show at the
inauguration was replaced with the kind of broad, sunny platitudes
Trump has rarely indulged in
The most shocking
part of Donald Trump’s speech on Tuesday was that there was nothing
shocking at all.
Ben Jacobs in
Washington
@Bencjacobs
Wednesday 1 March
2017 04.36 GMT
Speaking before a
joint session of Congress to an audience of senators, congressmen and
women, supreme court justices and generals, Trump mostly stayed on
script. He did not really brag about the size of his electoral
victory (except to declare that in 2016 “the earth shifted beneath
our feet”). He did not attack the media or go on any of his
frequent verbal detours.
Trump - with only a
few slips into “lawless chaos”- even mostly managed to avoid the
dark apocalyptic tones that punctuated his acceptance speech at the
Republican convention and his inaugural. There were no references to
American carnage or claims that illegal drugs are now cheaper than
candy bars.
Instead, he spoke in
the broad sunny platitudes typical of most politicians but that he,
the anti-politician, has rarely indulged in. Trump talked of a future
where “our children will grow up in a nation of miracles” and
when “we just need the courage to share the dreams that fill our
hearts”.
Trump did
occasionally escape from the text. The most notable example was when
the President said of Ryan Owens, the Navy Seal killed in a recent
raid in Yemen whom he mentioned in his speech, was in heaven, pleased
with the amount of applause he received “And Ryan is looking down,
right now, you know that? And he’s very happy, because I think he
just broke a record,” said Trump. It was undeniably awkward by
standards of presidential addresses but would have barely been a
footnote in most Trump rally speeches.
Democrats had warned
members to avoid booing or heckling the president and for the most
part they did. There were audible guffaws when Trump bragged about
“draining the swamp” and groans when he discussed a newly created
federal office that serves to advocate for victims of crimes
committed by undocumented immigrants.
But no one shouted
“you lie” or audibly disrupted the speech. The most gauche
displays where when two Democratic members gave thumbs down signs
when Trump called for the repeal and replacement of Obamacare and
when New York congressman Joe Crowley shook his hand in the air after
Trump said “the time for trivial fights is over”. It was
apparently a reference to the many trivial fights that Trump has
engaged in, including debates over the size of his hands and the
number of people who attended his inauguration.
Many Democratic
women notably wore white, the color of suffrage and symbolic of
protest and across the chamber, Democrats rarely applauded even for
things where they agreed with Trump. In contrast, to past speeches to
Congress where presidents received bipartisan applause for
noncontroversial platitudes, many Democrats sat on their hands,
refusing to acknowledge even the most anodyne statement from the
President.
The only Democrat to
stand with any frequency was Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate who is
running for re-election in 2018 in West Virginia, a state where Trump
had his strongest performance, winning nearly 70% of the vote.
Many Democrats did
not even stand for a call for a major increase in infrastructure
spending, something where Trump has long diverged with many in his
own party. One Democrat urged others to stand as many Republicans sat
awkwardly, eventually, tentatively, standing in support of their
party’s leader.
Trump’s speech is
not likely to change the political landscape. We have been here
before, where he has seemed presidential on one day and launched a
6AM tweet storm the next, making any gains in gravitas temporary. But
the occasion did show how divided the country and this Congress is.
When Democrats won’t even stand or clap when Trump is talking about
a fallen soldier, it’s not likely that they will be willing to make
deals on infrastructure, let alone controversial topics like
immigration reform.
It does not matter
what Trump says or how formal the setting within which he speaks. No
matter what words come out of Trump’s mouth, Democrats are only
going to ever hear the echoes of “lock her up”.
Donald
Trump tones down the dark rhetoric
The
president ditches the talk of ‘American carnage’ and makes an
appeal to ‘hopes and dreams’ in first speech before Congress.
By ELI
STOKOLS 3/1/17, 5:05 AM CET Updated 3/1/17, 9:12 AM CET
U.S. President
Donald Trump eased up on his deeply dark rhetoric during his first
address before Congress on Tuesday night, instead infusing his speech
with aspirational talk of Americans’ “hopes and dreams” while
making bold promises about his presidency.
While Trump still
engaged in some charged language — including his use of the term
“radical Islamic terrorism” — the speech was far less
confrontational than his “American carnage” inaugural address and
arguably the most unifying moment of his divisive and chaotic first
39 days in office.
Reading almost
exclusively from prepared remarks on a teleprompter, the president
pledged to provide “massive” tax relief for the middle class,
extinguish the “vile enemy” that is ISIS, and rebuild America’s
military.
Trump called on
Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that “expand
choice, increase access, lower costs, and at the same time, provide
better health care.” He laid out a broad outline of what an
alternative would look like, but steered clear of specifics that
could jam up negotiations among congressional Republicans.
Trump’s
first speech to Congress is an attempt to stabilize his
administration and improve his standing with the public, which views
Trump more unfavorably than any other president after only a month in
office.
He also declared
that his administration is ready to work with both Republicans and
Democrats to improve childcare, invest in women’s health, promote
clean air and water, and to strengthen America’s infrastructure.
Not an official
“State of the Union” address, Trump’s first speech to Congress
is an attempt to stabilize his administration and improve his
standing with the public, which views Trump more unfavorably than any
other president after only a month in office, and with the members of
Congress who will largely determine the nature and scope of his
eventual accomplishments.
“Think of the
marvels we can achieve if we simply set free the dreams of our
people,” the president said. “The time for small thinking is
over. The time for trivial fights is behind us.”
Trump, who has
stoked racial division with his brand of white identity politics,
began his address with a nod to African-American history month and by
recognizing that “work still remains” for the country to achieve
its founding ideals. He also condemned a recent spate of anti-Semitic
attacks targeting Jewish Community Centers and cemeteries. “While
we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands
united in condemning hate and evil,” Trump said.
Yet, his remarks
included some of the partisan vitriol reminiscent of his campaign.
Trump implored
Congress to act “to save Americans from this imploding Obamacare
disaster,” despite the significant increase in the number of
Americans in favor of the landmark healthcare law that has insured an
additional 20 million Americans. Unease is growing among
congressional Republicans about the difficulty of following through
on years of political promises to roll back the program.
“Mandating every
American to buy government-approved health insurance was never the
right solution for America,” Trump said. “The way to make health
insurance available to everyone is to lower the cost of health
insurance, and that is what we will do.”
Although he didn’t
say it as bluntly, Trump continued to speak about the supposed mess
he inherited upon taking offices, citing lost manufacturing jobs,
factory closures, the 43 million Americans on food stamps, a
ballooning trade deficit and “a series of tragic foreign policy
disasters.”
Trump
ignored pleas from his newly appointed national security adviser H.R.
McMaster to avoid the term “radical Islamic terrorism.”
Trump also touted
the accomplishments of his first five weeks in office, highlighting
executive orders related to trade, energy development and immigration
and claiming credit for a rise in the stock market and a new, more
advantageous deal to build a new generation of F-35 jet fighters —
even though the contract was negotiated before he took office.
Vowing to keep his
campaign promises to the American people, Trump reiterated his pledge
to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, despite skepticism
among Republicans and Democrats in Congress that the project is worth
its $25 billion-plus price tag.
Trump also claimed
his revamped travel ban, likely to be signed on Wednesday, will keep
the nation safe. “We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form
inside America,” Trump said. “We cannot allow our nation to
become a sanctuary for extremists.”
After a robust
discussion in the days leading up to Tuesday night’s speech, Trump
ignored pleas from his newly appointed national security adviser H.R.
McMaster to avoid the term “radical Islamic terrorism,” stating
each word with added emphasis as he said he is “taking strong
measures to protect our nation from radical…Islamic…terrorism.”
Trump on Tuesday
night also outlined his administration’s budget proposal and what
he described as “one of the largest increases in national defense
spending in American history.”
In perhaps the most
emotional and unexpected moment of the speech, Trump welcomed the
widow of Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, who died in a controversial raid in
Yemen.
Republicans and
Democrats in Congress have already signaled that the Trump budget,
which also includes drastic cuts to the Department of State and
Environmental Protection Agency budgets, is dead on arrival.
And after
campaigning as an anti-immigration hard-liner, Trump issued a call
for lawmakers to come together on immigration reform.
“I believe that
real and positive immigration reform is possible,” Trump said.
But even as Trump
urged lawmakers to come together, he cloaked his characteristic
demagoguery on immigration issues in genuine concern and empathy for
three invited guests seated in the gallery, all of whom have seen
their loved ones, in the president’s words, “viciously gunned
down by an illegal immigrant with a criminal record.”
And in perhaps the
most emotional and unexpected moment of the speech, Trump welcomed
the widow of Navy SEAL Ryan Owens, who died in a controversial raid
in Yemen.
“I just spoke to
General Mattis, just now, who reconfirmed that, and I quote, ‘Ryan
was a part of a highly successful raid that generated large amounts
of vital intelligence that will lead to many more victories in the
future against our enemy’,” Trump said.
In the moment, any
lingering questions about whether the highly risky operation,
approved by Trump’s new defense secretary, were swallowed up in the
poignancy of the moment, as applause rose in the House chamber and
the television cameras focused in on Carryn Owens’ tear-streaked
face.
“Ryan’s legacy
is etched into eternity,” Trump said as the applause continued.
“Thank you. Thank you.”
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