President Trump’s congressional address on Tuesday received praise for precisely being…boring. To the point of relief, even.
Our own Becket Adams was not alone in noting this. Trump managed to gain enormous positive publicity by just being sort of presidential, or more presidential than usual. He delivered a speech which, though perfectly consistent with the issue themes he had raised throughout his campaign, lacked the bluster, wildness, unpredictability, name-calling and anger that had become his trademark. The speech was so completely conventional that almost any Republican could have delivered most of it. It was also unusually optimistic for Trump.
Is this the dawning of a new Trump? Perhaps it’s too soon to hope, but as National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar points out, Trump’s Twitter feed has nearly gone unusually quiet since he delivered it. Aside from an all-caps “THANK YOU” delivered early on the morning after his speech, Trump has tweeted only once in two days, and it wasn’t one of his (ahem) hair-raisers:
Since November 8th, Election Day, the Stock Market has posted $3.2 trillion in GAINS and consumer confidence is at a 15 year high. Jobs!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 2, 2017
And what could be more conventional than a politician taking credit for stock market gains?
Trump may well go back to form right after I post this — perhaps even before this goes live. That is, unless he’s so happy with the press he just got for his “gloriously boring” speech that he’s shifting gears. Which would be a bit of a relief.
