“With Donald Trump, the speeches don’t mean very much”, he told CBS News. This is complex. You can not take healthcare away from 18 million people. Or it could indicate that he is finally coming to terms with what the office of president of the United States entails.
Advertisement
He has used Twitter to criticize the news media and US intelligence agencies for reporting information critical of him and his administration. But even dogs-no offense intended toward dogs-can learn a new trick or two with enough help from a team of public relations people.
“This speech was a new face on the president that looked very presidential”, Rep. Michael McCaul (R) of Texas, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, told the Monitor in the Capitol rotunda afterward.
As for the policies Trump discussed during the address, I’m mostly neutral.
Trump’s advocacy of tremendous increases in the military budget is a populist political stance, as is his wall between the USA border and Mexico, but to his credit, Trump didn’t drop back to his anger-driven campaign speeches on those subjects. Under VOICE, which stands for Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement, the federal government will release regular lists of undocumented immigrants who commit crimes-a practice that recalls Nazi-era policies to scapegoat Jews, as Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! pointed out.
But if Trump loses support from this group, it could create a future fissure that stalls other agenda items.
Australia accepted 262,170 permanent migrants in 2016 (many of those people were already living in Australia on temporary visas).
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the theme of the speech to Congress, which is controlled by Mr Trump’s fellow Republicans, would be “the renewal of the American spirit”, and it would be grounded in how to solve the problems of everyday Americans.
Trump promised a massive renewal of American jobs, infrastructure, and the military.
For House GOP leaders, Trump came tantalizingly close to backing their plan to overhaul the tax code by imposing a new tax on imports while exempting exports. Sure enough, we learn that “the DHS has identified only $20m that can be redirected to the multibillion-dollar project, according to a document prepared by the agency and distributed to congressional budget staff last week”.
For a candidate who sold himself as a master dealmaker, Trump has shown little inclination to get deeply involved with the kind of nitty gritty negotiating that defines the legislative process.
Maybe I’m channeling Donald Trump. He pointed to the ginned-up controversy of Attorney General Jeff Sessions associations with the Russian government and U.S. Senate Democrats slow-walking Trump’s cabinet appointees.
AND SPEAKING of global war. Glum Democrats sat on their hands while Republicans praised Trump for keeping his campaign promises – promises that won him the presidency. Applause rang out for many minutes.
“And Ryan is looking down right now”.
Owens’ father, Bill Owens, wasn’t at the speech.
The tribute to Owens was stark reminder of the sacrifices the members of the armed forces and their families have made.
The real Trump, the one who is obsessed with “winning”, debased the moment completely by saying a dead man is “happy” because of the length and volume of applause, calling up the ghost of Jack Bailey, the emcee of that old early television cryfest Queen for a Day, where women vied for household appliances by narrating their catastrophic lives.
“What you saw last night was the president acting on priorities that he ran on”, said Vice President Pence. “Tonight, the President’s rhetoric did not match reality”.
Democrats’ reaction was remarkably similar to that of House Republican leaders in 2014, when they balked at President Obama’s overtures on immigration.
Advertisement
The administration recently gave the insurers one of their biggest requests and proposed a rule that would tighten eligibility verification for subsidized plans and allow them to seek unpaid premiums. “We will fight for them”.
