Trump Is Caught

 

Kenny Holston-Pool

The first State of the Union address of President Donald Trump’s second term is now in the books. I have covered these supernovas of political rhetoric since 1998, so let me tell you what I saw in a speech that stretched all over the policy landscape over the course of nearly two hours.

The Surprise SOTU

Forgive me for starting with the stagecraft rather than the substance. But this was the surprise State of the Union – every few minutes, the showman-turned-president sprang a theatrical moment on his audiences in the chamber and watching at home.

Not quite 15 minutes into his remarks, Trump made good on his promise to have the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team at the event. The athletes, each wearing a smile and sporting a shiny gold medal, walked down the aisles of the press area of the gallery above the floor of the House of Representatives.

While that had been telegraphed, what happened next had not: Trump announced that he was awarding the team’s goalie, Connor Hellebuyck, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The moment got one of the night’s loudest bipartisan standing ovations.

(Trump, who welcomed the team at the White House earlier in the day, said America’s gold medal-winning women’s hockey team would come to the White House soon.)

There were other surprises – the Legion of Merit medal for a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, the Congressional Medal of Honor for the chief warrant officer who led the raid that arrested former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the same for a U.S. pilot in the Korean War who shot down several Soviet fighters, the Purple Heart for a National Guardsman shot and grievously wounded in Washington, D.C., last year, the surprise appearance of a Venezuelan dissident recently released from a notorious prison.

Many of the most heartwarming, bipartisan moments were packed in the first hour or so of this speech, when the annual address typically has its largest audience.

‘Just Hold On’

One question before the speech was what approach Trump would take to win over Americans unhappy with his handling of the economy – specifically the cost of living. The answer is that the president scoffed at Democratic claims of an affordability crisis and basically declared he had already done a lot.

“Prices are plummeting,” he said. “Just hold on a little while, we're getting it down. And soon you will see numbers that few people would think were possible to achieve just a short time ago.”

Inflation has eased slightly in his second term, but prices on the whole, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, have increased.

Trump’s other nods to the cost of living included pressing Congress to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes, adopt his health plan and codify his efforts to reduce prescription drug prices. He also promised he would give $1,000 annually to workers who do not benefit from a retirement plan with matching employer contributions.

Iran War Rationale

Trump gave probably his most expansive remarks justifying a potential war with Iran, echoing rhetoric of many past presidents but adding a layer of his own.

The president, who has insisted for months that U.S. and Israel strikes last year “obliterated” Tehran’s nuclear program, said “they want to start all over again and are, this moment, pursuing their sinister ambitions.”

He said Iran has “already developed” missiles that can reach Europe and America’s overseas bases and is working on missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland.

“We are in negotiations with them. They want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon,’” Trump continued. “My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world's No. 1 sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon.”

Iranian officials have said since the 1990s that they do not want nuclear weapons and said as much again hours before Trump’s speech.

Banning Congress From Selling Stocks

Another big bipartisan standing ovation rewarded Trump when he seemed to side with legislation that would restrict lawmakers’ ability to trade individual stocks. The ban would also apply to their spouses and dependent children.

“Let's also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information,” he said. “Pass the Stop Insider Trading Act without delay.”

This is a popular issue that never seems to clear the House, whether the speaker is a Democrat or a Republican. Let’s see what happens when this president pushes for it.