After the contentious meeting with Ukraine President Volodymr Zelenskyy last week, President Donald Trump told reporters, “This is going to be great television, I will say that.” In fact, all of the past five weeks have made for great television, making the president’s March 4 speech before Congress almost a footnote in an astounding moment in time.
Consider what has happened in just a few days leading up to Tuesday’s address: The acrimonious encounter with Zelenskyy aborted the expected signing of a minerals deal, effectively stalled a Russia-Ukraine peace agreement, and prompted European leaders, appalled by the spectacle, to ramp up support for Ukraine. The U.S. paused aid to Ukraine but now seems poised to heal the rift.
Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico caused our neighbors to retaliate, sending the stock market into turmoil for two days. Repercussions from Elon Musk’s budget-slashing romp through federal agencies abound, with government credit cards declined and firings mounting (including meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), amid myriad court cases trying to block Trump’s orders.
Every moment in an administration has the potential to be historic. But it’s too soon to know whether Trump’s start will prove to be beneficial or detrimental to the country. Does the incident with Zelenskyy reveal that Trump is a tough negotiator, a leader to be reckoned with? Or, as his opponents say, a man determined to bend the nation, if not the world, to his will for his own purposes? David French, no fan of Trump, says it will take a generation for the country to recover from the damage of the Trump presidency. But it also could take decades to learn if Trump is right, if his brash acts are, as he says, ushering in a new golden age.
“I was saved by God to make America great again — I believe that,” he said Tuesday night.
We’ll be arguing over this for years, but for now, no one is debating the enormity of what is happening.
In the midst of all the turmoil and angst, Trump strolled leisurely down the aisle of the House chamber Tuesday night before taking his place at the lectern, flanked by Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson. And then proceeded to do what he does best — TV. (”Donald Trump is the most influential character in the history of TV,” declared James Poniewozik in his 2019 book “Audience of One.”) He was in control and in his element, confident, focused, on script, and clearly enjoying himself. At times, he seemed like the grown-up in the room, compared to behavior of others who offered their own protests.
“America is back,” the president announced, as the chamber erupted in chants of “USA,” reminiscent of a campaign rally, and Elon Musk, who put on a suit for the occasion, smiled and clapped.
It was, as expected, very good TV — even in the cringy moments, as when Texas Rep. Al Green was ejected from the chamber for being disruptive, and Democrats repeatedly held up small signs — the kind you might see at a bachelorette party — that read “Musk steals,” “False” and “Save Medicaid.” And Trump, for all his control, slipped up at times too — as when he succumbed to his old habit of name calling, with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as his target.
But it was a powerful speech — Trump ascendant — that left his political rivals with nothing to celebrate. In fact, Democrats suffered by not rising to Trump’s invitation to “just this one night” celebrate the nation together. They looked alternately stricken, angry or bored — those looking at their phones as if they had some place better to be were the worst. They had a free ticket to history but could not be bothered to pay attention or show respect, even to the mothers of murdered girls.
It’s not unusual, of course, for a president to bring in guests to such a speech, but they are usually pro forma, the honored person nodding and awkwardly accepting the applause. But ever the showman, Trump, like Willy Wonka, had little surprises around every corner — naming a wildlife refuge in Texas after the late Jocelyn Nungaray while her tearful mother looked on; making a 13-year-old cancer survivor an honorary member of the Secret Service, introducing the 95-year-old mother with her son, Marc Fogel, recently released from a Russian prison.
How people think Trump did Tuesday night, of course, will largely correspond with what they thought of him going into the speech.
The nation hasn’t been able to catch its breath since the inauguration, so brazen and sweeping are the orders issuing from the Oval Office. For many Trump fans, the first weeks of his second presidency have been exhilarating: “I voted for this” has become a tagline on social media. For Trump’s opponents — and yes, even some people who voted for him — it’s what they feared.
As Trump walked into the chamber, Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico held up a sign that said, “This is not normal” before it was ripped from her hands. The most surprising thing about the night, though, was how shockingly normal it was, compared to the first few weeks of the presidency.
One of the selling points of Trump 2.0 was, ironically, that the world — or democracy — hadn’t ended the first time he was president, despite his opponents’ predictions to the contrary. This time, a lot of people aren’t so sure. But the Trump that we saw Tuesday night wasn’t a mercurial dictator or dangerous king, or even a reality star, but an American president who seemed ... presidential. It says a lot that this counts as a win, but after the Oval Office debacle, the nation needed that. Six weeks down, four years to go.