A winning record

The US President’s speech at the White House yesterday was vintage Donald Trump. He was celebrating his acquittal in the Senate, castigating his opponents and calling himself a martyr. Politicians do not normally talk like this, but that is the point. Mr Trump was elected as a “change agent”, an outsider, a businessman and a “regular Joe”. This is how many people speak to each other in the pub. What is more, the speech was highly entertaining.

During the 2016 election, Mr Trump showed an uncanny ability to grab and hold the media’s attention, eclipsing his opponents. He is doing it again. The Democrats wanted this week to be a showcase for their candidates in the first-in-the-nation caucus in Iowa, but the results were delayed, depriving moderate Pete Buttigieg of some much needed airtime, and Bernie Sanders, a socialist, claimed victory in the end.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, made matters worse by tearing up Mr Trump’s speech during his State of the Union Address, a disrespectful act that only added to the soap opera. Why do Mr Trump’s opponents continue to play into his hands? By engaging in personal attacks, they also misunderstand how his message has evolved. In 2016, he said America was a mess. In 2020, he is claiming that it is a jobs factory. The evidence is increasingly on his side.

Under Mr Trump, regulation, taxes and joblessness are down; wages are up. The culture war obscures these details and might defeat Mr Trump in the end, but he has perhaps proven that old-fashioned conservative policies are right. If you want to help the left-behinds, get the state out of the way and let free enterprise work its magic.