Pundits have been gushing over the fact that Donald Trump managed to deliver an address that was, as the BBC put it, "remarkably unremarkable." While any other politician would consider that assessment an oratory flop, it’s a compliment in Trump’s universe. But hey, this isn't our first rodeo. Trump's glimmers of sanity on the campaign trail always quickly and forcefully gave way to his temperamental irascibility. Just wait for it.
In the meantime, let's take a look at what Trump skipped over in his brief flirtation with normalcy, if not competency. Trump's omissions came in two forms: policy details the GOP doesn't have a clue how to solve and his favorite rhetorical flourishes that were just a little too hot to touch.
In policy terms, Trump solved almost nothing because he still wants almost everything: a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, a spike in defense spending, a "great, great" multi-billion dollar border wall, and (we'll believe this when we see it) maybe even new spending on affordable childcare and paid family leave. (He said nothing of Social Security or Medicare, but signaled he might be willing to block grant—as in, cap/cut—Medicaid spending.) All that and a bag of chips too, while providing "massive" middle class tax cuts and "historic tax reform," which may or may not provide any increased revenue. In short, he provided nothing to bridge the gap between the GOP's fiscal hawks and its defense hawks—who are diametrically opposed on increased spending.
Trump also offered no path forward on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act other than swapping out his earlier "insurance for everybody" pledge with simply increased "access" to health care. In other words, he gave Republicans the out of claiming people would have "access" to health insurance without promising that the GOP’s new plan would actually "cover" as many Americans as the ACA currently does, let alone more. Still, that concession does little to reconcile the differences between Republicans who are demanding immediate repeal and others who are hesitating to scrap the ACA with no alternative in sight.
Meanwhile, many of Trump's ol' favorites were left on the cutting room floor—basically every impulse that streams from his brain to his thumbs in the wee hours of the morning.
1. Russia: Someone was smart enough to yank the Putin love from Trump's prose given that inquiries into Kremlingate are starting to swallow his administration whole.
2. The Press: Spitting on the First Amendment by labeling journalists "the enemy of the people"—the brainchild of Steve Bannon—somehow didn't seem very presidential. At least not in a democracy, which we still are at present, much to the chagrin of Bannon.
3. Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria: For the first time since 2001, neither Iraq nor Afghanistan got a mention in a presidential joint session address. Trump did promise to "demolish and destroy ISIS," but somehow managed to overlook Syria in that equation. Of course, mentioning Syria might require mentioning Russia. (See No. 1 above.)