US President Donald Trump addresses Congress in Washington, DC on February 28, 2017 (AFP Photo/JIM LO SCALZO)
President Donald Trump
took his first mission-critical trip down Pennsylvania Avenue on
Tuesday to address a Joint Session of Congress, telling his political
opponents that 'the time for small thinking is over, the time for
trivial fights is behind us.'
At that very moment, a member of the Democratic Party hissed.
But
Trump's 60-minute speech drew 94 interruptions for applause, including a
sustained, tear-jerking
ovation for the widow of a Navy SEAL killed in
action just eight days after Trump took office.
As Carryn Owens wept and Ivanka Trump comforted her, Trump said her husband Ryan was happy that the lengthy applause 'broke a record.'
The
slain sailor's father made headlines last week when he said he had
refused to speak with the president when his son's remains were returned
to the U.S. in a somber ceremony. He also blasted Trump for
green-lighting what he called the 'stupid mission' that claimed Ryan's
life.
But the president praised Ryan as 'a warrior and a hero, battling against terrorism and securing our nation.'
'Ryan's
legacy is etched into eternity' Trump said. 'For as the Bible teaches
us, there is no greater act of love than to lay down one's life for
one's friends. Ryan laid down his life for his friends, for his country,
and for our freedom. We will never forget Ryan.'
Trump
began Tuesday night with a claim on the role of political peacemaker,
saying he wanted to bring Americans who voted for him together with
those who didn't.
'I am here tonight to deliver a message of unity and strength, and it is a message deeply delivered from my heart,' he said.
That followed a stunning condemnation of anti-Semitism and other hatred.
Trump
declared that the close of Black History Month led him to remember 'our
nation's path toward civil rights and the work that still remains.'
Recent
threats targeting Jewish Community Centers and vandalism of Jewish
cemeteries, as well as last week's shooting in Kansas City, remind us
that while we may be a Nation divided on policies, we are a country that
stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms.
'Recent
threats targeting Jewish Community Centers and vandalism of Jewish
cemeteries, as well as last week's shooting in Kansas City, remind us
that while we may be a Nation divided on policies, we are a country that
stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms.'
Some
of Trump's other rhetoric was full of hopeful Kennedyesque loft –
notable after four contentious weeks marking the beginning of the
president's Washington odyssey.
'Think
of the marvels we can achieve,' Trump urged, speaking of his
still-incubating science reform proposals, 'if we simply set free the
dreams of our people, cures to illnesses that have always plagued us are
not too much to hope.'
'American
footprints on distant worlds are not too big a dream. Millions lifted
from welfare to work is not too much to expect. And streets where
mothers are safe from fear, schools where children learn in peace, and
jobs where Americans prosper and grow are not too much to ask.'
Trump,
70, was predicting a safer and more prosperous world when America
celebrates its 250th birthday in 2026. He noted the centennial
celebrations in 1876 where 'the country's builders and artists and
inventors showed off their creations' in Philadelphia.
'Alexander Graham Bell displayed his telephone for the first time.
Remington unveiled the first typewriter. An early attempt was made at
electric light,' he mused. 'Thomas Edison showed an automatic telegraph
and an electric pen.'
RED MEAT ON ISIS AND IMMIGRATION
On
Tuesday they joined the GOP in applauding Trump's condemnation of the
ISIS terror army as 'a network of lawless savages that have slaughtered
Muslims and Christians, and men, women, and children of all faiths and
beliefs.'
There was no such bipartisan appreciation when the president boomed the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.'
The
degree to which Trump has polarized Washington could be seen on the
faces of lawmakers, and in the reactions of TV hosts Joe Scarborough and
Sean Hannity. Both men were guests of congressmen.
Hannity,
a Fox News conservative, applauded and roared as Trump outlined his
agenda. MSNBC's Scarborough, a former Republican congressman who now
mocks the White House daily, scowled and shook his head.
Trump called on Tuesday for Congress to
'increase funding for our veterans,' pass 'historic tax reform' for
middle-class Americans, make good on his campaign pledge to 'repeal and
replace Obamacare,' help soften the financial burden of child care, and
'help ensure new parents have paid family leave.'
His
speech also included a demand that the government 'invest in women's
health' and 'promote clean air and clean water and rebuild our military
infrastructure.'
And Trump boasted that
'by finally enforcing our immigration laws, we will raise wages, help
the unemployed, save billions of dollars, and make our communities safer
for everyone.'
Trump's domestic policy prescriptions were led by his death prognosis for the Obamacare medical insurance overhaul experiment.
'Mandating
every American to buy government-approved health insurance was never
the right solution for America. The way to make health insurance
available to everyone is to lower the cost of health insurance, and that
is what we will do,' he pledged.
'Remember
when you were told that you could keep your doctor, and keep your plan?
We now know that all of those promises have been broken.'
Trump
said he will support retaining one aspect of the Affordable Care Act,
ensuring that patients with pre-existing medical conditions can't be
denied insurance coverage.
He also demanded 'a stable transition for Americans currently enrolled in the healthcare exchanges.'
NO BACKING DOWN: SCHOOL CHOICE AND DEPORTATIONS
The
president challenged Congress to develop a plan that will use tax
credits and 'Health Savings Accounts' to give Americans a broader choice
of plans – including those offered by insurance companies in other
states.
Trump also planted a stake in
the ground for school-choice advocates, saying that 'education is the
civil rights issue of our time.'
He
asked Congress for an education bill 'that funds school choice for
disadvantaged youth, including millions of African-American and Latino
children.'
'These families should be
free to choose the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home
school that is right for them,' he said.
Another
dramatic moment came when he acknowledged Jamiel Shaw, the father of a
17-year-old boy who was 'viciously murdered by an illegal immigrant gang
member who had just been released from prison.'
Shaw, along with a group of 'Angel Moms' who lost children in similar attacks, was a fixture at Trump campaign rallies.
Next
to him sat the widows of two police officers 'gunned down by an illegal
immigrant with a criminal record and two prior deportations.'
The
central philosophy of the president's economic and foreign policies is
the 'America first' agenda he promised would guide him in his
inauguration speech.
SOLVE PROBLEMS AT HOME FIRST
On
Tuesday he sat comfortably with that idea, making the case that the
U.S. should look inward to enact some of the solutions it has spent
generations
'For too long, we've watched our middle class shrink as we've exported our jobs and wealth to foreign countries,' he said.
'We've
financed and built one global project after another, but ignored the
fates of our children in the inner cities of Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit
– and so many other places throughout our land.
'We've
defended the borders of other nations, while leaving our own borders
wide open, for anyone to cross -- and for drugs to pour in at a now
unprecedented rate.
'And we've spent trillions of dollars overseas, while our infrastructure at home has so badly crumbled.'
Trump
painted his own political rise as the antidote, saying that last year
'the earth shifted beneath our feet' as a quiet conservative
counter-culture became a 'loud chorus' and then a political 'earthquake'
of millions who elected him.
Later he
declared that while 'America respects the right of all nations to chart
their own path,' his own job is 'not to represent the world: My job is
to represent the United States of America.'
More
members of Congress – including a nearly full complement of Democrats –
heard Trump's message Tuesday in person than anything the brash
billionaire had said previously.
FIVE MINUTE OVATION AS HE ENTERED TO CHEERS
Following
a rash of Democratic boycotts of his January 20 inauguration, only one –
Rep. Maxine Waters of California – announced that she would purposely
skip Tuesday's speech.
The far-left partisan reportedly said during a Democratic Caucus meeting that any lawmaker 'who can't sit still shouldn't go.'
Others,
including New York Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel, said they would attend
but go out of their way to avoid shaking Trump's hand – something few
members of Congress get close enough to do.
Texas
Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee, known for hogging an aisle seat every time
President Barack Obama delivered a State of the Union speech – the
better to be seen on TV shaking his hand – said through a spokesman that
she didn't plan to repeat the effort.
New
Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell, another Democrat, was also fond of sitting
on the aisle so he could share a few words with Obama once a year.
But
as Trump turned the page and builds his own relationship with Congress,
Pascrell told Fox News: 'I will not take an aisle seat.'
Trump entered the House chamber to raucous cheers from the GOP and polite claps from Democrats.
He
pumped a fist, straightened his blue-and-white striped tie, and
acknowledged more than five minutes of sustained applause. Another
ovation came after House Speaker Paul Ryan pounded a ceremonial gavel
and introduced him
The
occasion of a president's first speech before the entire federal
legislature and most of his cabinet – one member always stays away as a
'designated survivor' in case of the unthinkable – is a 'State of the
Union' address in all but name.
CAMPAIGN PLEDGE TO REPEAL OBAMACARE GETS FRESH AIRING
On Tuesday that honor went to Veterans Administration Secretary David Shulkin.
Trump's main job Tuesday and in the days that follow is to give his administration a booster shot of enthusiasm.
Many
of the key issues in the president's stable, all campaign rally
standards, had lost their luster in the corrosive air of government.
His
once-rock-solid pledge to begin repealing and replacing Obamacare on
the first day of his presidency ran into the buzz saw of internal
Republican politics, with warring factions disagreeing about whether the
two halves of the promise need to happen simultaneously.
Trump's prepared remarks include a firm
marker, however, demanding 'reforms that expand choice, increase access,
lower costs, and at the same time provide better health care.'
'Mandating every American to buy government approved health insurance was never the right solution for America,' Trump said.
'The way to make health insurance available to everyone is to lower the cost of health insurance and that is what we will do.'
Trump
once vowed to rebuild America's 'decimated' military, but the reality
of cutting $54 billion per year from domestic spending to pay for it has
drawn jaundiced stares on Capitol Hill from both sides of the aisle.
Even
his signature issue – illegal immigration – has seen the Trumpian
bravado quieted into a quietly whispered cascade of maybes.
On
Tuesday afternoon multiple sources in a lunch meeting the president
held with television anchors said he made an overture to Democrats about
an immigration reform proposal.
'The time is right for an immigration bill as long as there is compromise on both sides,' he reportedly said.
Those
words hung in the Washington air for hours on Tuesday as pundits and
lawmakers alike wondered if Trump was ready to embrace the kind of 'Gang
of Eight' compromise he mocked during the Republican primary season.
A
law offering some illegal immigrants a pathway to legal status – or
even citizenship – was the sort of sausage-making that made Marco
Rubio's path to the White House impossibly fraught.
MELANIA GETS BIPARTISAN SUPPORT
His
first move may be to lower the bar for so-called 'DREAMers,' people
illegally brought to the U.S. years ago when they were children.
Trump called their situation 'very, very difficult' during a press conference just a dozen days ago.
'To
me, it’s one of the most difficult subjects I have because you have
these incredible kids ... they were brought in here in such a way. It’s a
very, very tough subject,' he said, while emphasizing that some of them
have turned criminal and should be deported.
The
president's campaign persona emphasized a one-size-fits-all approach,
saying last August that every illegal immigrant would have 'to return
home and apply for re-entry like everybody else,' as part of his bid to
'break the cycle of amnesty and illegal immigration.
There
is a long tradition of the party out of power sitting out applause
lines thrown at them by the president during a speech they are forced to
watch on camera.
Democrats on Tuesday
took their opposition to a new level. When the president got announced
and entered the chamber, dozens of Democrats stood, but kept blank
expressions on their faces and refrained from clapping.
Even when Trump made non-controversial statements about lowering prescription drug costs, many Democrats sat on their hands.
There were a few holdovers from the traditional theater that comes with the speech.
When
First Lady Melania Trump first entered the chamber – after an awkward
interlude where she stood without waving – the chamber erupted into a
big round of applause with approving yells.
RUSH: — we’ll get ’em next time, we’ll kick the can down the road, we’ll get ’em next time.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — we’ll have to do one more bill, Rush, to sweep
away the remaining vestiges and the president’s vision to let people buy
health insurance across state lines. But this is an enormously
important first step toward taking the American people back to a health
care system that’s based on freedom of choice, freedom to choose your
doctor, the free market principles that you and I know will increase
quality and reduce the cost of health care in America.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I remember standing at the DMZ looking in the
faces of North Korean guards and, uh… And you were literally looking
into the face of repression.
'American
footprints on distant worlds are not too big a dream. Millions lifted
from welfare to work is not too much to expect. And streets where
mothers are safe from fear, schools where children learn in peace, and
jobs where Americans prosper and grow are not too much to ask.'