Trump reinvents himself

For Republicans who have been concerned that President Trump has not been specific enough about his policies and about where he wants to take the country, Tuesday night’s address to Congress and the nation was a welcome relief. For liberals, however, it was a problem precisely because he offered specifics.

Before the speech, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., repeated the familiar and overused claim that Trump wants tax cuts for “the rich” and his “his wealthy friends.” Is that the best he and his aging fellow Democrats can do? Re-runs should be limited to summer TV shows.

If the Democrats remain frozen in a time warp of their own making, Trump’s speech was focused on solutions and full of optimism for a change. Finally gone were the dark utterances of the campaign about the sad shape of the country. This time the country heard positive solutions, even when Trump mentioned nagging problems, such as violent crime in our cities. To address that issue, he has named a Department of Homeland Security task force.

To the probable surprise of the left, the president responded to criticism that he had not said much about recent attacks on Jewish cemeteries, saying, “We are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms.” He even referenced the recently concluded Black History Month, reminding his audience that while civil rights progress has been made “much remains to be done.” Democrats joined Republicans in applauding that line.

He touched on familiar themes—removing criminal aliens and not allowing what he called “a beachhead of terrorism” to be created by “radical Islamic terrorists” who are let into the country without proper vetting.

He pitched school choice as a civil rights issue and introduced Denisha Merriweather, an African-American woman in the gallery, who Trump said failed third grade twice before being given a tax voucher she used to attend a better school. She eventually became the first in her family not only to graduate from high school, but from college. She will earn a master’s degree in social work later this year.

Instead of the harsh and condemning personae he projected during the campaign and his first month in office, the president displayed kindness, compassion, and a love for America.

More than offering specifics, Donald Trump reinvented himself with this speech. Instead of the harsh and condemning personae he projected during the campaign and his first month in office, the president displayed kindness, compassion, and a love for America. Americans want their president to love the country, and Trump succeeded in that pursuit.

“My job is not to represent the world,” he said. “My job is to represent the United States of America.”

At the end he said, “The time for small thinking is over” and he called for “trivial fights” to be left behind. Glimpses on the faces of congressional Democrats, especially the frozen visage of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, does not offer much hope this will happen. Opposition is all Democrats have.

In an interview before the speech, presidential historian Jon Meacham told Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly, “Great presidents don’t govern from their base, but from their base plus.”

President Trump may have added some plus to his base with that speech.

Most Americans prefer optimism to pessimism and vision to uncertainty. Donald Trump promised to pivot from campaigner to president after he was inaugurated. It took him a little more than one month, but Tuesday night he made that pivot and it was pleasing to watch and soothing to the ear.

Now the question is, can he keep it up?

Listen to Cal Thomas’ commentary on the March 2 edition of The World and Everything in It.