Well what do you know? Donald J. Trump can deliver a speech in a traditional “presidential” fashion.
He did so tonight. He hit a lot of high points, drew a lot of applause — mostly from fellow Republicans, which is no surprise to anyone — and resisted the urge to veer too far off the text written and displayed on the Teleprompter.
I’ll give him props for that.
He walked us through many of the points he sought to make. I had read something in advance of the speech that said it would be uplifting and optimistic.
Hmmm. I didn’t feel much optimism or lifting of spirits. I heard some of the stuff he had said about drugs and crime; about illegal immigration; about the alleged failure of the Affordable Care Act; about how our allies need to pay their “fair share” for us to defend them against our common enemies.
The president didn’t offer any specifics. He didn’t tell us:
How he plans to replace the ACA; how we’re going to afford the huge increase in defense spending; how he hopes to do better for our veterans; how he intends build that “great, great wall along our southern border”; how he plans to pay for massive infrastructure improvements.
I am hoping all of this will come in due course. His friends in Congress will demand it of him, which is their right and obligation under the Constitution’s co-equal branch of government stipulation.
No one expected him to deal with the myriad controversies that have plagued his first month in office. I’m quite sure others will bring all of that to the fore.
As far as speeches go, I hereby acknowledge that Donald J. Trump is able to rise to the occasion, to act very much like the president of the United States. There was none of that stump-speech shouting, which many of us have come to expect from this individual.
And, by golly, there were no disruptions provided by Democrats who are still stung by the very idea that Donald Trump is president of the United States.
But … I’m waiting to hear just how precisely the president plans to make all these grand promises a reality.