A surprisingly Presidential address from a President

Well, for the most part, he was Presidential.

Mostly effectively reading from a Prompter, Donald J. Trump showed unusual self-control, again, for the most part.

In interviews before the State of the Union address Tuesday night, Trump said the speech would be “long,” and he did not disappoint.

If you heard any of his campaign speeches, you heard almost nothing new in the SOTU. He claimed the economy was up, inflation was down, the stock market was up, egg prices were down, and so on.

His speech, for the most part, was a blend of braggadocio and grievance.

“Our nation is back,” was his opening line, to great applause from Republicans, and stone-faced silence from Democrats who sat on their hands, for the most part.

To everyone’s surprise, including Trump’s, even Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats applauded Trump's ask for a law banning insider trading.

Unable to control himself, Trump made an allusion to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose family has an astounding record of success in the stock market.

He introduced the victorious U.S. Olympic hockey team, to wild applause, including Democrats, I believe, because the camera shot did not show them.

Trump laid one skillful trap for Democrats about halfway through the speech.

In a lengthy diatribe against illegal immigrants, which included a poorly constructed swipe against Somalis, he stated that government’s “first duty is to protect American citizens” and not illegal aliens. He asked everyone who agreed to stand.

As far as I could tell, not a single Democrat stood to endorse a basic truism of government, and I predict you will be seeing that clip in campaign commercials.

“These people are crazy!” Trump said at another moment, pointing at Democrats.

It took him almost 90 minutes to get to foreign affairs, starting with Iran, and said nothing that would start a war. He reiterated that U.S. policy is to insure the Islamic Republic never gets nukes. Nothing new there.

He also talked about his expansion, and love, of the military, and first responders and firefighters. Nothing new there.

Throughout the speech other guests in the gallery were introduced to applause from most of the audience.

Early in the proceedings, Democratic Congressman Al Green, who made a cane-waving ass of himself last time, this time was caught by cameras being escorted out early. Also caught on camera was Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar screaming at Trump, seated next to Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, wearing a “Fuck ICE” pin. 

Along the way, Trump awarded not one, but two, Congressional Medals of Honor, America’s highest military honor.

Democrats stood and applauded the recipients.

Toward the end of the speech, Trump turned positive, in talking about America’s approaching 250th anniversary.

“The Golden Age is upon us,” he said, concluding a 1 hour and 47 minute speech by my clock. A record for length.