How the US press reacted to Trump's Congress speech
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/01/how-the-us-press-reacted-to-trumps-congress-speech Version 0 of 1. Donald Trump gave his first presidential address to Congress on Tuesday. Here is a sample of the reaction to the speech in the US press: Boston Globe Trump may have been inaugurated on 20 January, but he might as well have become president on 28 February. While his inauguration speech will be known for its gloomy words like ‘carnage’, this speech will be remembered for his upbeat tone about the promise of America. In many ways, it was the long-awaited pivot that Trump has always promised. This was unlike any other speech we have seen from Trump: he was disciplined, didn’t veer much at all from the script and hit his marks. Los Angeles Times President Trump’s well-delivered speech to Congress on Tuesday night answered one major question – whether he could offer the country a less divisive tone – but provided almost no clarity about how he hopes to fulfil the promises that he made in his campaign … For now, Trump seems intent with doing what he did in the campaign: promising occasionally contradictory goals and brushing aside concerns about how to pay for it. At times on Tuesday he spoke as if the Treasury were flush with cash; more than a chicken in every pot, he was promising a whole flock. New York Times Rising to the occasion, Mr Trump on Tuesday night sounded as presidential as he ever has since taking office. He invoked Abraham Lincoln and Dwight D Eisenhower, heralded Black History Month, condemned antisemitic vandalism, celebrated American entrepreneurs like Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, and promised a ‘renewal of the American spirit’. He followed the written text on the teleprompters more closely than any major speech of his presidency. Still, the paradox remained. He called for working ‘past the differences of party’, just hours after he called Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader from California, ‘incompetent’. He declared that ‘the time for trivial fights is behind us’ just weeks after engaging in a public Twitter war with Arnold Schwarzenegger over the ratings for Celebrity Apprentice. USA Today President Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night underscored how he has redefined the Republicans’ political base and their policy message on issues from trade to immigration to deficits to international alliances. While he struck a sunnier tone than he did in his inaugural address six weeks ago, when he had talked darkly of ‘American carnage’, he once again warned that the nation was threatened with decline at home and threats from abroad … Reaching his most consequential goals, including a repeal of the Affordable Care Act and an overhaul of the tax code, will require building congressional coalitions to pass legislation. Providing some details about what he wants to see in a big health care bill, he called on ‘all Democrats and Republicans in the Congress to work with us to save Americans from this imploding Obamacare disaster’. Republicans applauded that line. Democrats didn’t. Washington Post The president’s agenda is nothing if not ambitious. Again, on Tuesday, he spoke about a big infrastructure initiative. He is a builder, after all. Such a plan would be a key element of a jobs agenda, something he says is a priority. So it is a costly priority and he offered no timetable for bringing it forward … Tuesday’s address was described in advance as a moment for Trump to reset his presidency after an opening that included controversies, missteps and internal turmoil. In tone, he succeeded in offering an alternative to what many saw as the harshness of his inaugural address. In substance, much was familiar – the speech went only a few steps beyond where he has been before. Now comes the less glamorous work of governing and finding the balance between Inauguration Day and Tuesday night. |