Washington – Donald Trump spent his first 40 days as president inflaming the opposition with executive orders and antagonizing the media with his tweets in an unprecedented White House whirlwind.
In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, though, Trump finally followed in the footsteps of his predecessors, reaching across the aisle on issue after issue.
The right-wing populist showed up Tuesday night on Capital Hill with a new look – buttoned jacket, higher-collared shirt and striped blue tie. His softer approach saw him take a positive tact brimming with platitudes.
“Everything that is broken in our country can be fixed. Every problem can be solved,” Trump told Congress.
“Our citizens deserve this, and so much more, so why not join forces and finally get the job done, and get it done right? On this and so many other things, Democrats and Republicans should get together and unite for the good of our country and for the good of the American people.”
US President Donald Trump delivers his first address to a joint session of Congress from the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington on February 28, 2017. (Credit Image: © Jim Loscalzo/Pool/CNP via ZUMA Wire)
He struck unusual tones – “condemning hate … in all of its very ugly forms” – and even surprised on policy, suggesting that “real and positive immigration reform is possible.”
But Trump stuck to his populist guns on many issues: insisting that low-skilled immigration is a drain on taxpayers; vowing to build a “great, great wall” on the Mexican border; bashing trade agreements and demanding “fair” trade; and promising a 1-trillion-dollar infrastructure surge that will “buy American and hire American.”
Still, the speech might have offered a glimpse into a coming phase of Trump’s presidency.
The unceasing uproar over his bashing style, insensitivity and the right-wing impulse to make America “great again,” has long masked the degree to which Trump has drawn his politics from beyond the conservative Republican Party.
His upstart capture of the party’s nomination last year overturned the party’s decades-old stances in support of trade and foreign alliances. Trump, who publicly supported Democrats until a decade ago, was the first Republican nominee to speak warmly of gay rights, and has shown a more centrist attitude toward the welfare state than many of the party’s free-market ideologues.
“My administration wants to work with members in both parties to make child care accessible and affordable, to help ensure new parents have paid family leave, to invest in women’s health, and to promote clean air and clear water, and to rebuild our military and our infrastructure,” he told Congress.
“True love for our people requires us to find common ground, to advance the common good, and to cooperate on behalf of every American child who deserves a brighter future.”
Trump’s speech saw Republicans standing to applaud family leave, which had been a Democratic issue for decades.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, who was slow to embrace Trump last year as the Republican nominee, called the speech a “bold, optimistic message to the American people.” He said Trump is “serious about tackling our biggest challenges and improving people’s lives.”
But early reactions from Congressional Democrats, themselves, were not promising.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, whose own populist opposition to trade agreements nearly carried him as an insurgent presidential candidate to the left-leaning party’s nomination, barely clapped when Trump demanded fair trade.
Charles Schumer, leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, said that the speech “had an air of unreality” because what Trump said in the House chamber “was so different than how he has governed in the first 40 days.”
“The president is simply using populists rhetoric,” Schumer said, “to cloak his hard right, anti-middle class agenda.”
In the House, Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi took an even harder line after the speech, accusing Trump of a “bait-and-switch assault on America.”
She accused him of “dangerous, incompetent and unconstitutional actions” during his first 40 days in office.
“The president speaks like a populist,” Pelosi said, “but he is selling working people down the river to Wall Street.”
-dpa
