5 themes for the State of the Union Amid turmoil, Trump seeking a reset with annual address
President Donald Trump has spent his first year in office breaking every rule of presidential communication, conducting policymaking and diplomacy by Twitter and eschewing the careful, subdued tones of most presidents in favor of no-holds-barred attacks on his adversaries and allies alike.
But Tuesday, Trump will embrace the most traditional of presidential venues — appearing before a joint session of Congress for his first State of the Union address — to reset his term beset by poor poll numbers and the grind of the Russia investigation.
The theme of his Tuesday night address to Congress and the country is “Building a safe, strong and proud America,” and the president is looking to showcase accomplishments of his first year while setting the tone for the second. Aides say the president plans to set aside his more combative tone for one of compromise and to make an appeal beyond his base.
But if his first year has proved anything, it is that there are no guarantees when Trump faces a television camera.
“Teleprompter Trump sounds like a regular president,” said Michael Waldman, who was director of speechwriting for President Bill Clinton from 1995 to 1999 and wrote four State of the Union speeches. “Off-the-Teleprompter Trump sounds like a fill-in radio talk show host.”
When Trump delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress, in February — not technically a State of the Union speech — he offered a mostly optimistic vision of America, speaking soberly and from a prepared text.
But Trump is giving the speech “with the lowest approval ratings of any president in his first year in the history of presidential polling, and … the least number of legislative accomplishments,” said Wendy Schiller, political science professor at Brown University. She said the address “could turn that around if he strikes a bipartisan conciliatory tone.”
Five themes are expected to dominate: the economy and the tax overhaul, infrastructure, immigration, trade, and terrorism and global threats.
1.
Selling the GOP’s tax plan is an election-year project as Republicans look to retain their majority in Congress.
Trump’s tax overhaul has been criticized for disproportionately favoring the wealthy. But he will try to make the case that all groups of people have benefited, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The tax changes are billed as essential to powering the ambitious projections of economic growth, and Trump is expected to cite the benefits to the public that proponents envision.
2.
Trump also plans to outline a nearly $2 trillion plan that his administration contends will trigger $1 trillion or more in public and private spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects.
Neil Bradley, the executive vice president and chief policy officer for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said he hoped Trump would make a forceful case for infrastructure spending, including a dedicated revenue source like an increase in the federal gasoline tax to fund transportation improvements.
3 .
Trump’s address could be a crucial moment in the debate over his immigration plan, which has been condemned by both sides since it was delivered to Congress on Thursday.
He will promote his new proposal for $25 billion for a wall along the Mexican border and for a path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of young people brought to the United States as children and now here illegally.
Immigrant advocates have called the proposal — which would end decades of family-based migration policies and bring a vast crackdown on immigrants living in the country illegally — a cruel plan to shut the country’s borders. Critics, latching on to the proposal to pave the way for citizenship for “Dreamers,” have derided it as amnesty for lawbreakers.
4 .
Trump’s trade talk will reflect what he discussed at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Friday: a preference for one-on-one deals instead of multilateral agreements.
James Jay Carafano, vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the Heritage Foundation, who worked on Trump’s transition, said he did not expect Trump to outline a new approach to foreign policy that goes beyond the “America First” credo. But he said the president might elaborate on his distinctive view of globalism — one that places heavy emphasis on a world of sovereign, strong and independent states.
5 .
The public should get an update on the fight against terrorism and an assessment of international threats, including North Korea. The senior administration official said Trump probably would avoid the taunts of “Little Rocket Man” for Kim Jong Un and “fire and fury” that he used before.
Trump’s aides said the president would make his case for a bigger military.
Elliott Abrams, who served in the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush administrations, checked off the administration’s decision to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine, its imposition of harsh sanctions on North Korea and Trump’s criticism of NATO, which he said had prodded members to spend more on their militaries.
Trump, he said, also needed to “analyze frankly the greatest threats to the United States,” which the National Security Strategy issued last month as China and Russia.