Say what you will about the man — fear him, hate him, or love him — during an address before the joint session of Congress, President Donald J. Trump fully (and finally) demonstrated his ability to “be presidential.”
An argument can be made that Tuesday’s speech should have been his inaugural address, which struck many Americans as being anything but presidential. Critics blasted the inaugural as being foreboding, pessimistic, and apocalyptic.
Tuesday’s speech was wholly different.
It was sober. It was somber. It was statesmanlike. And in it, there were key takeaways for those in the law enforcement profession.
Continued support for law enforcement
Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump painted himself as a “law and order candidate.” He repeatedly showed signs that he would move swiftly to reverse some of the anti-cop sentiment which was prevalent during the Obama administration. Candidate Trump was seen on numerous occasions shaking hands with officers assigned to his protection detail.
Then, less than two hours after taking the oath of office, the Trump administration posted a statement on the White House website entitled, “Standing Up For Our Law Enforcement Community.”
It is unsurprising, then, that in this week’s speech before Congress, Trump said:
Every American child should be able to grow up in a safe community, to attend a great school, and to have access to a high-paying job. But to create this future, we must work with — not against — the men and women of law enforcement.
We must build bridges of cooperation and trust — not drive the wedge of disunity and division. Police and sheriffs are members of our community. They are friends and neighbors, they are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters — and they leave behind loved ones every day who worry whether or not they’ll come home safe and sound.
We must support the incredible men and women of law enforcement.
Ever since the middle 1980s, it has become commonplace for presidents to invite guests to sit in the gallery next to the first family. Among the guests for this speech, Trump invited Jessica Davis and Susan Oliver — the widows of Detective Michael Davis and Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver. Davis and Oliver were murdered by Luis Enriquez Bracamontes, an illegal immigrant who was arrested and deported twice before successfully re-entering the country. Trump said:
Their husbands — Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver and Detective Michael Davis — were slain in the line of duty in California. They were pillars of their community. These brave men were viciously gunned down by an illegal immigrant with a criminal record and two prior deportations. Sitting with Susan is her daughter, Jenna. Jenna, I want you to know that your father was a hero, and that tonight you have the love of an entire country supporting you and praying for you.
That was a powerful moment. For good or ill, it was quickly upstaged by the two-minute-long standing ovation for Carryn Owens, the widow of Senior Chief Ryan Owens, a Navy SEAL who was killed in a recent counter-terror raid in Yemen.
Trump also announced in his speech that he has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office called VOICE, which stands for Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement. Their mandate will be to serve victims — and their families — of crimes committed by illegal immigrants. The office is called upon to report on a quarterly basis “the effects of the victimization by criminal aliens present in the United States.”
An intriguing twist to this order is that in order to fund this new office, the DHS Secretary will reallocate resources currently being used to advocate on behalf of illegal immigrants.
Reactions, expected and unexpected
It is interesting that some of Trump’s most staunch detractors were surprised by the fact that his first address to a joint session of Congress was as presidential as it was. CNN commentator Van Jones — who has been extremely critical of the president — even praised the speech.
Jones said, “He became President of the United States in that moment. Period.”
The Washington Post has been anything but supportive of Donald Trump, but the opening line of one of their opinion pieces on the speech was, “Only the willfully blind saw anything except a well-constructed, powerfully delivered address by President Trump to Congress on Tuesday night.”
Wow. Just... WOW.
Further, according to a poll conducted by CBS News and YouGov, among the people who watched the speech, 76 percent approved of the speech while only 24 percent disapproved. In today’s political landscape, that’s an astonishing set of numbers.
Of course, not everyone felt that Trump hit a home run with his hour-long presentation at the Congressional podium. Those who hate the president — and who are terrified by him — were in full throat on a variety of news programs following the speech.
This is to be expected. As the saying goes, “Haters gonna hate.”
That having been said, the president’s critics correctly point out that reading well-crafted prose from a teleprompter and effectively governing the nation are very different things. The test for the administration will be to fulfill campaign promises in a way that demonstrably benefits all Americans. The test for Trump, on a personal level, will be to deliver his message more consistently like he did this week and not in 140-character bursts on social media. If Trump is going to accomplish what he’s laid out for law enforcement — and really, anything on his agenda — he’s going to have to strike the same tone he had Tuesday.
Trump has the lowest approval ratings of any incoming commander-in-chief in memory. Winning over even a tiny fraction of his critics on the far left will be a monumental task. Even getting the support of some of the “Never Trumpers” on the right will be difficult. The challenge before Trump is certainly great. Only time will tell if he can overcome the hurdles before him and ignore the insults being hurled at him.
