Donald J Trump’s State of the Union was as expected: long, boastful, cheesy — and largely right. Trump says he is creating a ‘new American moment’ — and it’s hard to deny that he is.
Before he was president, and even in his inauguration speech, Trump painted only a vision of America in ruins. Now, after a year of him in charge, his message is reassuring and upbeat. It’s not the same as Reagan’s sunny optimism — it’s more post-modern and surreal than that — but it’s not far off. You could call it Trump’s electric sunbed optimism. It’s feel-good, it’s a bit orange, and it seems to be rubbing off on the world. ‘Our families will thrive,’ he said in conclusion. ‘Our people will prosper, and our nation will forever be safe and strong and proud and mighty and free.’
Trump had prepared quite hard — his Twitter account has been notably quiet in the last two days — and he stuck to his promises theme, which was ‘building a safe, strong, and proud America.’
In a bit of good news for Brexit Britain, he stressed that he wanted to pursue bilateral trade deals ahead of multilateral ones.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in