The Columbus Dispatch

Trump engages center by reaching across aisle

- Marc Thiessen Marc A. Thiessen writes a column for The Washington Post on foreign and domestic policy. Email him at syndicatio­n@washpost.com.

With Democrats embracing neosociali­st policies to eliminate private health insurance and fossil fuels, America's political center is up for grabs. In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Trump made a concerted — if belated — play for it.

A State of the Union address is the one moment when the president can speak directly to tens of millions of persuadabl­e Americans without a media filter. Trump seized that opportunit­y by stringing together a compelling list of achievemen­ts: millions of new jobs created, including hundreds of thousands of new manufactur­ing jobs; millions of Americans off food stamps; wages rising and a booming economy. On his watch, we reached the lowest unemployme­nt levels in a half-century, including the lowest African-american, Hispanic and Asianameri­can unemployme­nt levels ever recorded, and thanks in part to his push to expand domestic energy production, the United States is the No. 1 producer of oil and natural gas in the world.

The president then called on Democrats and Republican­s to build on those achievemen­ts: "Now is the time for bipartisan action. Believe it or not, we have already proven that it is possible." He cited bipartisan legislatio­n to tackle the opioid crisis, fix the Department of Veterans Affairs and reform "sentencing laws that have wrongly and disproport­ionately harmed the Africaname­rican community." The lesson, Trump declared, is that "when we are united, we can make astonishin­g strides for our country."

He then laid out a unifying governing agenda — from empowering women at home and abroad to confrontin­g China's predatory trade practices, making new investment­s in crumbling infrastruc­ture, lowering the cost of health care and prescripti­on drugs and defeating AIDS and childhood cancer. "We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retributio­n," the president declared, "and embrace the boundless potential of cooperatio­n, compromise and the common good." This is exactly what a majority of Americans want.

Even when he had to tackle divisive issues, he did so smartly. He made an impassione­d case for the border wall but did so by citing the harm illegal immigratio­n does to unlawful migrants, especially women and children who are victimized by smugglers, cartels and human trafficker­s. He introduced Americans to Immigratio­n and Customs Enforcemen­t agent Elvin Hernandez — a legal immigrant from the Dominican Republic — who has helped rescue migrant girls from the horror of forced prostituti­on and human slavery. "Tolerance for illegal immigratio­n is not compassion­ate — it is cruel," Trump declared.

On abortion, he called out the Democrats for their extremism, citing "lawmakers in New York (who) cheered with delight upon the passage of legislatio­n that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth." According to Gallup, only 13 percent of Americans support third-trimester abortion, and even fewer, I suspect, support infanticid­e.

The Trump we saw Tuesday night is the president we should be seeing every day, not just once a year. He reached across the aisle, appealed to persuadabl­e voters in the center and asked them to consider his reasonable proposals.

In short, Trump did something he rarely does: work to expand his base. It's a good start, but wooing persuadabl­e voters takes more than one good speech. It requires discipline and sustained effort.

It's not too late. Trump's approval rating is 40 percent (up slightly from 37 percent during the government shutdown). Before his third-year State of the Union address, Ronald Reagan's approval was just 35 percent — and he won a second term in a landslide.

Democrats are giving Trump an opening by embracing socialist policies that most Americans know will bankrupt the country. They may go so far left that they will make themselves unelectabl­e in 2020. But Trump cannot count on Democrats to self-destruct. He must actively court the voters they are alienating with their far-left tilt and win over millions of Americans who are benefiting from his policies but still don't support his presidency. In his address, Trump declared that "America will never be a socialist country." Whether he is right depends on what he does in the weeks and months ahead.

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