President Trump marked his first State of the Union address Tuesday with a call for concrete bipartisan achievements in the year ahead, using the momentous occasion to unveil an expansive infrastructure plan aimed at improving rural landscapes and major U.S. cities, while also emphasizing his desire for the swift enactment of immigration reform.
Like the substance of his speech, Trump maintained a measured and optimistic tone. He mentioned some of the problems that arose during his first year in office, like the GOP’s failure to repeal Obamacare, promised to avoid repeating “the same mistakes” of previous administrations when it comes to countering North Korea’s aggression, and promised to check more items off his agenda over the next several months and ensure Americans’ safety.
“Tonight, I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground, and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people — this is really the key — who we elected to serve,” Trump said, eliciting applause from those gathered in the House chamber.
The president used a variety of special guests to highlight the many triumphs of his administration so far: Corey Adams, an Ohio-based welder, plans to start a college education fund for his daughters with money he will save from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; Steve Staub and Sandy Keplinger, owners of a manufacturing company, added 15 new employees to their payroll last year because of the booming economy; Evelyn Rodriguez, Freddy Cuevas, Robert Mickens, and Elizabeth Alvarado were invited to honor their daughters who were fatally attacked by members of the MS-13 gang, a transnational criminal group that has seen an 83 percent increase in arrests since Trump took office.
“Tonight, everyone in this chamber is praying for you,” Trump said to the parents of the two girls. “Everyone in America is grieving for you. And 320 million hearts are breaking for you. We cannot imagine the depth of your sorrow, but we can make sure that other families never have to endure this pain.”
That moment, along with the president’s recognition of the parents of Otto Warmbier, a U.S. student who suffered fatal injuries during a monthslong imprisonment in North Korea, drew the longest applauses of the night.
Trump also thanked the first responders who tended to victims of three massive hurricanes that devastated parts of Florida, Texas, and Puerto Rico last year.
“We heard tales of Americans like Coast Guard Petty Officer Ashlee Leppert,” Trump said, gesturing to a young woman seated next to the first lady. “Ashlee was aboard one of the first helicopters on the scene in Houston during Hurricane Harvey. Through 18 hours of wind and rain, Ashlee braved live power lines and deep water to help save more than 40 lives.”
Sticking to prepared remarks and the stated theme of “building a safe, strong, and proud America,” Trump detailed his top priorities as the country enters its second year under his leadership. He envisioned another year of job growth and decreased unemployment, and mentioned several steps he and Congress can take to boost national security, including controlling legal immigrant flows.
“Under the current broken system, a single immigrant can bring in virtually unlimited numbers of distant relatives,” Trump said, urging Congress to consider a White House immigration plan that would curb family-based chain migration. “Under our plan, we focus on the immediate family by limiting sponsorships to spouses and minor children.”
The president noted that such a “vital reform” to the legal immigration system would benefit struggling immigrant communities who “will be helped by immigration policies that focus on the best interests of American workers and American families.”
Trump harkened back to one of the keynotes of his campaign when he promised to more aggressively pursue bilateral trade deals this year, after withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and demanding the renegotiation of NAFTA at the outset of his presidency.
“From now on, we expect trading relationships to be fair and to be reciprocal,” Trump told the crowd, declaring the end of “decades of unfair trade deals that sacrificed our prosperity and shipped away our companies, our jobs, and our nation’s wealth.”
And the president spent much of his speech touting the impact of his administration’s aggressive deregulatory efforts and the GOP tax bill.
“Very soon, auto plants will be opening up all over our country,” Trump said, mentioning Chrysler’s decision to relocate one of its vehicle manufacturing facilities from Mexico to Michigan in the coming months. “This is all news that Americans are totally unaccustomed to hearing.”
After spending months gathering interagency input, marking up rough drafts, and working with White House speechwriters to channel his personality, Trump’s State of the Union went off mostly without a hitch. Democrats loudly booed when he mentioned a plan to restrict chain migration and some reacted to other comments with disapproving looks.
For instance, Trump alluded to professional athletes who have refused to stand during performances of the national anthem when he praised the patriotism of a young boy named Preston who placed wreaths and flowers on the graves of veterans.
“Preston’s reverence for those who have served our nation reminds us why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and why we proudly stand for the national anthem,” he said, drawing applause from Republicans in the chamber.
Several Democratic lawmakers boycotted the president’s speech, while others dressed symbolically in black or brought scores of so-called “Dreamers” as their guests. The latter move was intended to throw shade at Trump, who has refused to back a clean bill extending legal status protections for illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.
“Tonight, when President Trump looks into the gallery during his State of the Union, he will see the dignity, courage, and patriotism of dozens of Dreamers,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters ahead of Trump’s speech, leading one of her Republican colleagues to contact the Justice Department and U.S. Capitol Police.
“Of all the places where the Rule of Law needs to be enforced, it should be in the hallowed halls of Congress,” Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. “Any illegal aliens attempting to go through security, under any pretext of invitation or otherwise, should be arrested and deported.”
Though the president dedicated a significant portion of his speech to discussing what his administration has already accomplished, his look backwards excluded many of the issues that have rocked Washington and presented unique challenges for Republicans since he took office.
Borrowing a page from former President Bill Clinton’s playbook, who was facing trial in the Senate when he delivered his State of the Union address in 1999, Trump pointedly avoided mentioning the probe into Russian election interference that has captured the media’s attention and closed in on the White House in recent days. Like Clinton, Trump kept his remarks focused on policy rather than the investigation, which began to heat up last fall after three of his former campaign hands were charged by special counsel Robert Mueller and one pleaded guilty to providing false statements. Ex-White House national security adviser Michael Flynn was later pleaded guilty to perjury and has since been cooperating with Mueller and his team.
Trump kept his distance also from the lower points of his presidency, like the tongue-lashing he received from several members of his own party for his response to a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., last summer.
The Charlottesville episode, along with myriad tweets and comments by Trump, has caused most Washington veteransto lose hope that he can unite and orient both political parties toward their shared goal of passing an infrastructure package and solving the nation’s immigration crisis. Fully aware of such skepticism, Trump told network anchors ahead of his remarks on Tuesday that he would make a point of stressing the need for unity later in the evening.
“I want to bring our country back from a tremendous divisiveness,” he said. “Without a major event, where people pull together, that’s hard to do. But I’d like to do it without a major event, because usually that major event is not a good thing. I would love to do it.”
Trump appeared before the same body a little more than a year ago to deliver his first major speech to a joint session, during which he boldly proclaimed, “The time for trivial fights is behind us.”
As they head into a midterm year, where some polls have already hinted at a bloodbath, many Republicans likely left the Capitol hoping the president would heed his own message from last year and recommit to helping them deliver on the promises he outlined in his State of the Union.
“Americans love their country, and they deserve a government that shows them the same love and loyalty in return,” he said Tuesday, adding that “as long as we have confidence in our values, faith in our citizens, and trust in our God, we will not fail.”
“Our families will thrive. Our people will prosper, and our nation will forever be safe and strong and proud and might and free,” Trump concluded.
