President Donald J. Trump delivered a spirited and upbeat address to a joint session of Congress on the State of the Union Tuesday night to a packed House chamber, despite dozens of Democrats boycotting the event.
“When I last spoke in this chamber 12 months ago, I had just inherited a nation in crisis with a stagnant economy, inflation at record levels, a wide-open border, horrendous recruitment for military and police, rampant crime at home, and wars and chaos all over the world,” Trump said.
“Tonight, after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before and a turnaround for the ages,” he said. “It is indeed a turnaround for the ages. And we will never go back to where we were just a very short time ago. We’re not going back today.”
The president spoke for just 12 minutes short of two hours, setting a new record and beating last year’s record-setting address by eight minutes.
Trump spent most of his speech touting his economic and immigration policies, the two issues that have always been his strongest bond with Americans.
Of late, however, with the messy launch, execution, and drawdown of his Minnesota immigration law enforcement operation, Arctic Frost, the left and their media allies sensed an opportunity. Trump attacked that notion directly.
“Tonight, I’m inviting every legislator to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle,” he said. “If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
Predictably, Democrats—including those who skipped a boycott event at the National Press Club—sat on their hands and scowled. Then Trump closed the trap.
“Isn’t that a shame? You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up,” Trump told them. “That is why I’m also asking you to end deadly sanctuary cities that protect criminals and enact serious penalties for public officials who block the removal of criminal aliens, in many cases drug lords and murderers all over our country.”
It was not the only time Trump called out Democrats for not standing. After recounting how 23-year-old Ukrainian immigrant Iryna Zarutska was viciously murdered on a Charlotte commuter rail, he introduced her mother in the gallery. As Democrats again sat silently, Trump said, “How do you not stand? How do you not stand?”
When Trump introduced Sage Blair and her mother, he detailed how Virginia teachers, behind her parents’ backs, groomed Sage into a gender transition that led to her running away from home. She eventually ended up in a Maryland home for boys, where she was abused and assaulted.
“Fifteen years ago, if somebody was up here and said that, they’d say, what’s wrong with him? But now we have to say it because it’s going on all over, numerous states, without even telling the parents,” he noted. Trump called for legislation to ban the practice, drawing loud applause, a familiar rally issue for him.
“Surely, we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will,” he said. Again, Democrats remained seated, prompting Trump to say, “Look, nobody stands up. These people are crazy. I’m telling you, they’re crazy.”
The president may have gone off script, but he tapped into a key political construct. In Washington, the debate often turns not on right or left, Republican or Democrat, but on whether something is perceived as crazy. In Trump45, wavering Republicans could be pushed into opposing the president with the suggestion they were crazy like him.
What Trump accomplished Tuesday was resetting the scale of what is considered crazy—and what is considered appropriate. He claimed that binary for himself.
Eight months before the midterms, House Republicans were handed a roadmap to victory by their leader, a man who, despite being shot, impeached, sued, and arrested, stood before them as President of the United States. Soon, we will find out if they will follow it.