Amid turmoil, president eyes a reset with speech
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 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 said 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 hyperpartisan 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. The stakes are enormous for Trump, hoping to move past a turbulent first 12 months in office. The State of the Union address will be aired by all major U.S. broadcast and cable-news networks, and some outlets will stream the address online.
› When: 9 p.m. EST Tuesday
› TV: C-SPAN, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, Univision, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, PBS
› Online: C-SPAN, Twitter, White House YouTube and Facebook, as well the online streaming options of networks
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 the 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 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” he used before.