On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time. While I have been quick to criticize the president in previous columns, this speech should be hailed as a tremendous success for the fledgling commander-in-chief.
The president opened his address with a reference to Black History Month and condemned the rise in anti-Semitism that has been seen across the country in recent days. Most recently, this ugly trend has manifested itself through the over 100 bomb threats at Jewish centers.
He even went so far as to say that there was still much more that needed to be done on civil rights. This opening was incredibly important, especially since the president has struggled to get support from minority communities and has had a record of troubling statements about Mexican and Muslim Americans. The words of our president matter not only when they are negative but also when they are positive.
These unifying statements helped to bind the wounds of a nation still divided in the wake of one of the most polarizing presidential elections in a generation.
The president also articulated his policy agenda for the next four years in the speech and, to his credit, appears determined to deliver on the promises he made to the American people during the campaign. Some of these promises, such as increased barriers to trade and additional infrastructure spending, break from Republican orthodoxy. Democrats will without doubt find much of the president’s agenda unsavory as well.
These important policy decisions will undoubtedly be debated in the halls of Congress, and both sides will need to make compromises in order to conduct the business of the nation before the midterm elections next year, but for the first time since Jan. 20, the president was able to give some direction on where his administration would like to go on issues ranging from health care to defense spending.
The president further unified the country by paying tribute to a recently killed American hero, Navy SEAL Ryan Owens.
His widow, Carryn Owens, was present in the gallery and was honored with thunderous ovations from nearly everyone in the chamber while she fought back tears.
This is something that regardless of how we voted in November, should move us all. However, there were some sitting on the Democratic benches, such as former Democratic National Committee chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, D-Florida, and the recently appointed vice chair of the DNC, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, who refused to pay tribute to the widow of our fallen hero.
This act of putting partisanship above patriotism falls beneath the dignity of the American political system. All of our gold-star families deserve our respect and eternal gratitude regardless of which president sent them into harm’s way. The Democratic party must accept Trump is and will continue to be our president for at least another three years and eleven months.
To solve the incredible challenges we face as a nation, we need to cool the tensions which are still felt after the elections of last year. While some Democratic members of Congress still refuse to set their shock and disappointment at the results aside, for the first time Tuesday, our president seemed willing to do so.
If this trend continues for the duration of his term, I have no reason to think he will not be re-elected in 2020.
jusexton@umail.iu.edu
