Expect Trump as statesman for State of Union
President will bear positive message, senior official says
WASHINGTON — Beset by poor poll numbers and the grind of the Russia investigation, President Donald Trump will look to reset his term with his first State of the Union address, arguing that his tax cut and economic policies will benefit all Americans.
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.
Trump often engages in highly partisan politics, and his 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 during his watch, according to a senior administration official who was not authorized to preview the speech for the record and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The annual address is a big set piece for any president, a prime-time window to address millions of voters. Every word is reviewed, every presidential guest carefully chosen, every sentence rehearsed.
Trump is giving the speech “with the lowest approval ratings of any president in his first year in the history of presidential polling, and can point to the least number of legislative accomplishments,” said Wendy Schiller, political science professor at Brown University. “Every month that goes by in which Trump fails to increase his support works against him because voters’ negative impressions of him will just solidify.”
She said the address “could turn that around if he strikes a bipartisan conciliatory tone and makes it more about the country than about himself.”
Five themes are expected to dominate: the economy and the tax overhaul, infrastructure, immigration, trade, and terrorism and global threats.
Selling the GOP’s tax plan is an election-year project as Republicans look to retain their majority in Congress. The tax changes are billed as essential to powering ambitious projections of economic growth, and Trump is expected to cite the benefits to the public that proponents envision.
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.
On immigration, 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.
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.
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.
The White House says one of Trump’s guests for the speech will be someone who has been affected by the opioid crisis.
Trump wants to move past the government shutdown that coincided with the anniversary of his inauguration and prepare for an election season that is shaping up as a referendum on his leadership. Trump and members of his Cabinet are expected to travel in the days after the speech to drive home its themes.
Critics wonder how the president will show the resolve to stay on message.
“The most capable White Houses use the State of the Union as an organizing moment to set agenda for the whole year, from both a messaging and legislative perspective,” said Jennifer Palmieri, former communications director for President Barack Obama. “I don’t think this White House is capable of that kind of discipline.”
Sometimes, the address is a high-water mark for a president.
In 2002, Republican George W. Bush used the speech to define the “axis of evil” — Iran, Iraq, and North Korea — that he believed supported terrorism and sought weapons of mass destruction.
In 1996, Democrat Bill Clinton declared that the “era of big government is over” after emerging from a shutdown fight.
In 1941, Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt outlined the “four freedoms” that people across the globe held dear in the face of World War II’s horrors.