Trump’s Speech to Congress Killed Conservatism But, at Least for Now, Saved His

Source: Mediaite | March 1, 2017 | John Ziegler

Trump’s Speech to Congress Killed Conservatism But, at Least for Now, Saved His Presidency

Who the heck was that guy who gave a speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night? It sure looked like Donald Trump, but other than that, there wasn’t much evidence that it was the same person who has dominated our national consciousness for over a year and a half.

In fact, if everything else was exactly the same, but Trump identified himself as a Democrat and acted like the man who gave that speech all of the time, I would have whole-heartedly endorsed him in his race against Hillary Clinton. I might even have been a little excited about it.

Under that scenario, he would be, by far, the best Democrat on the issues possible, though Republican majorities in Congress would not feel compelled to go along with all of his ample big-government fantasies. Also, we would not have massive increases in government spending and power instituted under a ‘Republican’ president, thus ending, for all time, any chance that we ever return to Reagan-like principles of smaller government before we inevitably suffer a financial implosion under the weight of massive debt.

For the first time since taking office, Trump was, for him, remarkably disciplined and, yes, really rather ‘presidential.’ Ironically, that was mostly because he stuck strictly to the very same teleprompter which he has roundly mocked Barack Obama for relying on too much.

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As a conservative, I really only had two problems with the speech. The first is that, other than on defense, taxes, and immigration (maybe), most of the speech was filled with extremely liberal concepts and proposals.

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But it’s not just Trump’s specific big-government proposals that should be troubling for the 58 or so real conservatives left in America. The entire tone of the speech was one that felt like it was written from a liberal perspective, in that greater government involvement was the foundational answer for nearly every problem. I honestly believe that if Obama had spoken exactly the same words, sans some of the military/immigration red meat, that Trump’s biggest fans would have HATED it.

The second thing about the speech that bothered me was just how different Trump’s performance was from the person we have seen almost every day for since late 2015. This was far beyond simply his toning it down, or a softening the sharp edges, for a prestigious event. His transformation was the stuff of some sort of multiple personality disorder.

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Is it possible that, just as the chattering class is currently speculating, this is indeed the beginning of a new Trump presidency with enormous upside potential politically? Yes, it is. But, if history is any guide, the more likely scenario is that we will look back on this night as mostly an aberration and a sign of what might have been.

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  • Discussion
  • Consistent #13992

    Consistent #13993

    ConservativeGranny #13997

    They don’t let Trump write these big speeches. You can tell someone else wrote it. I do think he probably has some imput. Trump doesn’t speak like this. A few times he went off script and added a comment or two and you could immediately tell it wasn’t on the teleprompter. It sounded more like the real Trump.

    They know they have to keep this guy on script or it can be a disaster. He is too unpredictable and has a tendency to spend time bragging about himself and going off on incoherent tangents.

    He won’t be writing his own SOTU address next January either.

    But Trump will get all the applause for something he probably had very little to do with.

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