Tuesday night, President Trump stood before a joint session of Congress and touted the economic successes of his term so far. He embraced reasonable conservative positions with broad backing. He pointed out the opposition’s recent excesses on abortion and its frightening drift toward the ruinous ideology of socialism.

Trump argued for diplomacy and for an end to the wars in which America is currently involved. He did all this with an understated tone and a smile on his face, which has been a rare sight in recent months. The magnanimous image that Trump projected was enough to make Stacey Abrams’ partisan response seem small and factually challenged (“plants are closing, layoffs are looming”) in comparison.