State of the Union 2020
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump delivered his third State of the Union address, and it was a doozy. Although much of it was the same speech as last year’s State of the Union, it had everything that one could possibly have imagined: partisanship, a strong economy, the taking out of terrorists, a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony, another Infrastructure Week, and a military reunion. This was Trump on full display, much to the chagrin of the Democrats and the media. As Comfortably Smug tweeted, “Season 4 of Trump is the best season.”
Donald Trump has turned the State of the Union into reality television, with drama, pettiness, and the like. At the beginning, he refused to shake Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s hand (although he might not have seen it), and the Speaker of the House reciprocated by breaking traditional protocol; instead of introducing the president by saying, “Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and the distinct honor of presenting to you... the President of the United States” she merely said, “Members of Congress, the President of the United States”. She even ripped up his speech when he finished!
The speech itself was like your average Trump rally: there was the typical rehearsal of the strong economic numbers for all categories of Americans, the various accomplishments of the Trump presidency including judges, tax cuts, and the attack on the “radical left” who want to take your healthcare away. All of these things are true and good things in and of themselves, but the added element of being delivered in front of a captive, national audience made it feel different.
There were many memorable moments: President Trump offering a scholarship to a sixth-grader who was on the waiting list to attend her dream school, recognizing Venezuelan President Juan Guaido, honoring a military wife and son whose husband/father was killed in Iraq, the recognition of one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, and the reunion of a military veteran with his wife and kids.
But perhaps the most memorable of all, not without controversy, was the honoring of conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh who had just been diagnosed with a serious form of cancer. Limbaugh was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented to him by the First Lady. Some people, such as Erik Erickson, cheered while others like Commentary Associate Editor Noah Rothman were critical of the presentation. As Rothman tweeted, “I am sure I’m being annoying by saying that was entirely inappropriate, cheapening the medal and its recipient in the process. Maybe it was good theater, but that wasn’t good form.” Indeed, good form it was not.
Overall, President Trump’s speech was a new direction for him politically. As Dan McLaughlin noted: “This was a really good speech. Delivery started sleepy, stayed somewhat low-key. Too many gimmicks? Sure, but they landed. Fact-checkers will have a field day; it’s Trump. Not much for small-government folks. But the tone, the themes...the right notes.”
This was not Donald Trump “American Carnage” circa 2017. This was a different Trump; one that was more measured and thoughtful. Last night’s speech was a trial balloon for how he might conduct his reelection campaign, but as Rothman said, “If every third word out of Trump’s mouth was either economy, jobs, tax cuts, criminal justice reform, this would be tough to beat. But he knows what the crowd wants, and this isn’t it.”
Donald Trump will probably not stay on-script like he was last night all 2020, but do we care? His message to the American voters as portrayed last night is essentially this: “You know what you are getting with me, a little bit of rudeness but a whole lot of money and jobs. It sure looks a whole lot better than what the other party is proposing.” But more importantly, his message to weary conservatives is this: “Love me or hate me, but this is who I am. This is what I do. You are either fully on the train, or you are just in the way.”
For many conservatives, the 2020 election will be just like 2016: a lesser-of-two-evils election. But if Donald Trump acts and talks like he did last night, many will find it a little bit easier to swallow four more years of Donald J. Trump.