When he goes before a joint session of Congress tomorrow night, President Trump should use the formal occasion and national audience to explain what his new administration is doing on behalf of the American public who used their votes to put him back into the White House. At this point, it’s impossible to tell.
In dozens of executive orders, pronouncements on his Truth Social and endlessly talking to the press (which we are not complaining about), the president has yet to lay out a coherent vision to such core concerns like the cost of living, which is a major reason he beat Kamala Harris last November. Remember the high price of eggs, which is now much higher (assuming the stores haven’t run out)?
Trump’s punishing tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China are supposed to begin tomorrow, which will raise prices even higher, bringing more pocketbook pain. Maybe the levies will be called off or delayed again, or maybe they will really take hold. Trump says he loves tariffs, but consumers sure don’t.
As for another big Trump initiative, we doubt that many voters marked their ballots for Trump because they wanted Elon Musk to be in charge of firing thousands of federal workers without any rhyme or reason, leaving dangerous holes in everything from air traffic control to securing nuclear weapons to monitoring bird flu outbreaks.
Does Trump assume that Musk alone will catch the blowback for forcing unsuspecting people out of their jobs? If so, the president should look at the House members and senators seated before him tomorrow night who were besieged by constituents back home livid about the DOGE slashings.
No, the public’s ire won’t land only on Musk. And this isn’t partisan. We’d guess about half of those sacked government employees supported Trump and this is how he shows his thanks?
We also don’t think that more than a tiny percentage of Americans wanted Trump to have this country switch sides in the war in Ukraine, with Trump teaming up with Vladimir Putin to oppose Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump’s Oval Office ambush of his guest Friday was appalling and while the president was correct that, “this is going to be great television,” it was horrible statecraft and a disaster to everyone but the Kremlin and Trump sycophants.
A peace plan for Ukraine doesn’t mean just stop fighting and leaving Russia in control of conquered Ukrainian lands. A just peace is a full Russian withdrawal and making sure to protect against a renewed invasion. Trump told Zelenskyy that Trump’s trusting relationship with Putin is the guarantee against future aggression by Putin, but even if that is true (which it isn’t), who is the guarantor after Trump departs office? Or will Trump never depart office?
The House Republicans passed a bill with deep cuts in Medicaid to fund tax cuts. Is this something that Trump also wants? He’ll have his chance tomorrow night when he’s at the rostrum in the House chamber.
In recent decades, this speech just weeks into a new president’s term has not been called the State of the Union, so consider this the state of Trump’s administration.
