Donald Trump is president at last
It was a long time coming, but Donald Trump this week finally became president of the United States. In an hourlong speech before a joint session of the Congress, Trump spoke in the measured tones Americans expect of their leader, but which Trump has long eschewed. This time it was different.
It might only have been for a moment, and one swallow does not a summer make, but his wellcrafted and gently modulated speech was genuinely presidential. Republicans and conservatives will have been delighted, and my guess is the rest of the country, the majority of whom did not vote for him, were glad that Trump did not embarrass himself and the nation. So, for once, well done.
It was, in fact, a good speech, though not a great one, and there was a moment or two of genuine nobility, especially when he introduced Carryn Owens, the widow of William Ryan Owens, a member of a Navy SEAL team killed in a commando raid in Yemen authorized by the president.
Yet there was, in fact, little or nothing new in the address, as Trump gave his supporters a lot of red meat in his references to the impending end to “Obamacare” and the need to build a wall along our southern border with Mexico. These were campaign promises that he insists he is going to keep. What he did not mention was any new openness to immigration reform by allowing undocumented immigrants to find a path toward legal residence, though not citizenship, a proposal he had made earlier in the day to a group of television news anchors at a meeting in the White House. (Later, CNN reported that Trump misdirected anchors to get better coverage.)
But however well-crafted his speech — and it was — it was soon overshadowed by the Russia controversy that has hung over him and his administration for weeks. The latest development involved newly installed Attorney General Jeff Sessions, formerly the longtime senator from Alabama who was once attorney general of that state and Trump’s earliest supporter in the U.S. Congress. Sessions has been forced to recuse himself from investigations into charges that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. The charges, supported by the entire U.S. intelligence community but frequently denied by Trump as “false news,” prompted former President Barack Obama to impose new sanctions against Russia.
And here is where it gets both tricky and murky. Though Trump in the past has denied his election team had any dealings with Russian officials, it is clear that some of Trump’s people had numerous meetings with members of the Russian Embassy, including Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Some, perhaps all, of these meetings were routine in the world of Washington, but Trump’s people, including Sessions and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, were quick to deny any such meetings. Flynn never mentioned them to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, and for this mistake he was forced to resign. Sessions denied any such meetings with Russian officials before a Senate committee when he was seeking confirmation as attorney general. Why?
It is perfectly plausible for a busy senator to forget a meeting or two with a foreign official. These meetings take place all the time. But to forget two December meetings with the Russian ambassador at a time of controversy over sanctions? That doesn’t add up. And now the Democrats are calling for Sessions’ resignation on the grounds he lied under oath before a Senate committee.
Trump has had a stormy beginning to his presidency, with Democrats doing their best — or their worst — to delay confirmation of his Cabinet appointments. Many secondary but nevertheless important appointments have yet to be made. His first, and successful, address to Congress has been overshadowed by the continuing Russia scandal. And you can be sure there’s more to come.
Bill Stewart writes about current affairs from Santa Fe. He is a former U.S. Foreign Service officer and worked as a correspondent for Time magazine.
Sessionssuch meetings denied with any Russian officials before a Senate committee when he was seeking confirmation as attorney general. Why?