[W]ASHINGTON — In a stark shift from the divisiveness that has marked Donald Trump’s first few weeks in office, the Republican president laid out an inclusive vision of America Tuesday night.
Trump’s first speech to Congress was restrained, but in the larger context of his presidency, it was rife with paradox.
Hours after dismissing a rash of bomb threats directed at Jewish community centers as possibly originating from the Jewish community itself, Trump decried the racist actions in the first lines of his speech. He also, for the first time, spoke out against a racially motivated shooting of two Indian men in Kansas last week, and he hailed the significance of Black History Month.
“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,” Trump said.
The president is known for hurling attacks and falsehoods from his Twitter account, but on Tuesday he struck a conciliatory tone, asserting that “the time for trivial fights is behind us.”
And while he pledged unwavering support of key Republican planks, he also endorsed a handful of Democratic ideas.
“I am asking all members of Congress to join me in dreaming big, and bold and daring things for our country,” he said. “And I am asking everyone watching tonight to seize this moment and believe in yourselves.”
Among the lines that elicited some Democratic applause was the president’s call for a $1 trillion infrastructure bill paid for by a combination of public and private capital. He also endorsed paid family leave, efforts to lower prescription drug costs and a ramped up fight against the opioid epidemic.
After telling reporters early Tuesday that he was open to a bipartisan immigration overhaul, Trump retrenched in his speech that evening.
He reiterated his commitment to building a “great wall along our southern border” and announced the creation of the Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement (V.O.I.C.E) task force, which would seek out undocumented immigrants accused of committing crimes.
“As we speak, we are removing gang members, drug dealers and criminals that threaten our communities and prey on our citizens,” Trump said. “Bad ones are going out as I speak tonight and as I have promised.”
“We want all Americans to succeed — but that can’t happen in an environment of lawless chaos,” he said.
Trump said the White House is working to pass tax cuts for corporations while scaling back burdensome regulations. He said Congress must repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, but any replacement plan should cover pre-existing medical conditions and residents should be able to purchase health insurance plans across state lines.
“Mandating every American to buy government-approved health insurance was never the right solution for our country,” Trump said.
The three members of Vermont’s U.S. congressional delegation panned the speech.
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., hosted Vermont constituents in his D.C. office Tuesday, and decried reports that Trump was looking to bolster military spending while cutting major domestic programs. Late Tuesday a bipartisan group of senators, including Leahy, penned a letter to Trump demanding that he not cut domestic violence grant programs authorized in the Violence Against Women Act.
Leahy’s reaction to the speech was incredulous. It was “a long speech, to say so little,” the senator said.
“What we’ve seen so far about the president’s budget priorities is deeply disturbing,” said Leahy, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “We see grossly unbalanced priorities, in which the Pentagon would be given tens of billions of dollars, at the cost of programs that help working Americans.”
“He needs to work, with at least a hint of humility, to unite our country, and not to further divide it,” Leahy added.
In a Facebook video following the president’s speech, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., derided Trump for the issues he didn’t mention.
“At a time when over half of older Americans have no retirement savings, I did not hear President Trump say one word — not one word — about Social Security or Medicare,” Sanders said.
“I urge President Trump — keep your promises, tell the American people — tweet to the American people — that you will not cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” Sanders continued.
U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said Trump’s moderated tone had not won him over.
“Tonight President Trump delivered a speech soft in tone but steeped in the all too familiar hard-edged policy agenda of his campaign,” Welch said in a statement shortly following the remarks. “While I hope to find common ground with him on rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure and cutting the cost of prescription drugs, I believe his actions going forward will speak louder than his words tonight.”
