The common sense revolution

President Donald Trump presented his fifth speech to a joint session of Congress on the evening of March 4. By virtually any account, it was a success with the audience that tuned in. Trump struck the pose of a happy winner trying to coax joyless scolds in the opposition into celebrating the things he considered to be public policy wins and his heroes on the balcony. In terms of political theater, Trump performed well with a public that resonates with him more than it did in the past as evidenced by his more convincing electoral victory in 2024.

But what about substance? What can we take away from Trump’s nearly two-hour address?

First, Donald Trump is doubling down on America’s sense of itself as a great country with a bright future. The history of the United States is as complex as that of any other nation with injustices and failures balanced over against the triumphs. The past couple of decades have been a time in which American identity has been fiercely contested, with the New York Times’ 1619 Project attempting to depict the United States as a nation fundamentally built on slavery instead of the more traditional view of America as a propositional country founded on the Declaration of Independence and the quest over time to fully realize its aspirations. Trump emphatically chooses to highlight America’s possibilities as the nation that built the world’s largest economy, decisively opposed totalitarianism in the 20th century, and looks forward rather than being spent and demoralized.

Second, and almost surely the most popular part of the speech, Trump talked about a “common sense revolution.” It was there that he made strong points about immigration, especially when he noted that solving the border problem actually did not require sweeping new legislation but instead could be fixed with a leader with the will to do so. The impact of Trump’s election and new administration on border crossings shows that immigration works much like New York City’s approach to crime in the 1990s. If the government gives the impression that it lacks the moral determination and the will to enforce the law, then chaos slowly overtakes a city (or a border) much like kudzu spreading over a forest. A more active and insistent approach, on the other hand, can yield results very quickly. It is common sense that if you want a lawful and orderly community, you will have to enforce the law with vigor and consistency.

Further, Trump’s common sense revolution applies to the broad social confusion over human sexuality, most dramatically evidenced by the push to encourage young people to explore sex change procedures and to include biologically male athletes in women’s sports. The pressure to move rapidly and decisively in these areas raises concerns about social conditioning of the type described by C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man. By encouraging Americans in their resistance to this new understanding of gender, Trump employs the idea of a common sense that is not easily moved by fashion. This common sense can act as a kind of close relative to the natural law. His persistent effort to rally a kind of moral-intuition coalition appears to be working with voters tired of being intimidated into rearranging some of their most basic understandings of the world and of human beings.

Finally, there is the issue upon which Trump seems to be betting both his presidency and his legacy, which is tariffs. For many decades, it has been free-market orthodoxy that tariffs are economically inefficient and harmful. Trump has long been on the other side of that debate, insisting that the United States has been foolish to participate in foreign trade like a kind of generous and even credulous uncle on the world stage. Instead, he alternately seems to want either to use tariffs to invigorate American manufacturing or to establish even terms with every nation of the globe. In other words, he would be content to have high tariffs or no tariffs as long as the deal is equitable in his eyes.

He acknowledged that there could be “a little disturbance” and that voters need “to bear with him” as he pursues the current course. There is little question that tariffs could raise prices, which would hit hard in an economy that has been rocked by inflation in recent years. How much will prices increase and for how long? And how committed are Trump’s voters to his plan? If his policies work out, we could see an American manufacturing renaissance with all that means for workers. But if not, a costly trade war could lead to higher prices and recession. He has put his administration on the line with these tariffs, and he made that clear.

The public clearly appreciates Trump’s patriotism and his insistence upon common sense. But it is likely that “it’s the economy, stupid” remains true in America. Trump surely knows that as he builds his presidency and his legacy—and both are on the line.