The State of the Trump: The Address to Congress.

There is a famous children's book, "Where's Spot?"  The main character, Spot, is hidden on every page and the child reader is asked to find him. On Tuesday night, I felt Mr Trump played the part of Spot. He gave an address to a joint session of Congress, but where was The Donald we had encountered over the past year? The bullying, hectoring, lying, divisive, racially prejudiced, misogynist was hardly visible. Instead we saw a calm, confident, measured President who kept to a carefully worded script which was a sea change from his threatening Inauguration address. Mr Trump set out a program which included aid for women and support for the environment and public education. Ostensibly, even the poor and disadvantaged were in his plans.

This American set-piece occasion is splendid, if not based on a well-established blueprint. Behind the President sit both the Speaker of the House and the Vice-President, in his capacity of President of the Senate. It is much more fun if the two are from different parties. During the Obama Presidency, John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi put on quite a show centre stage, as one stayed seated while the other stood and applauded the words of the President.

The Chamber is filled with all members of Congress. The President enters, walking past the Democrat section. There was much bonhomie as Trump shook hands with all and sundry, taking three minutes to reach the podium. But when he started to speak, I worried that the Chamber might topple in a game of one-sided see-saw. One half, the Republicans, often stood, cheered and applauded while the other half, the Democrats, sat silent and stone-faced.

More than once, the President said he wanted to reach out to both sides of the aisle so members of Congress would unite with him in the best interests of all Americans. In this, he said precisely what his recent predecessors in the Oval Office have done. However, the reality of Congressional politics came alive when Trump announced the repeal and reform of Obamacare. The Republicans stood and roared at the prospect of some 22 million Americans, newly insured under Obamacare, losing out because Congress is too mean to care for the health of its nation’s poor.

Mr Trump promised all sorts. Vast increases in government expenditure, including a 10% hike in military spending, as well as a huge investment on infrastructure, something Obama proposed and Congressional Republicans rejected. Roads, bridges and airports are to be rebuilt at a cost of a trillion dollars. Is this an annual expenditure? Who knows? I wonder what FDR would have thought. In his first term, he tackled America’s infrastructure, but he did not pay the cost from borrowed funds.

And The Wall is getting built too. Mr Trump did not quantify the numbers of jobs that would be created through all this expenditure but his mantra was ‘American people and American materials’ to complete all the tasks. In fact, Trump promised pretty well everything except a cure for cancer within ten years!

The President mentioned that a substantial tax cut was on its way for corporations and the middle classes. We seem to be returning to Reaganomics. If there is no government surplus and if taxes are reduced, how will he pay for his programs, let alone reduce the American debt? He says his economic proposals will result in massive growth which in turn will pay for the new expenditures. For those of us old enough to recall the heady days of the 1980s, this seems Reagan-like bunk. Reagan hung on to "trickle down" even when the well ran dry.

For now, Mr Trump has an easy task. He has no record to defend yet. However, I suspect his plea for Congress to do its job and govern for all Americans will fall on deaf ears. I have little doubt that the Congressional Democrats will do their best to run Trump programs off the road, much like the Republicans did to Obama. And don't expect Congressional Republicans to lie on their backs and kick their legs. To use an American expression, Trump and his budget might well be given the bum's rush. Already the influential Southern Carolina Republican Senator, Lindsey Graham, has announced Trump’s budget as “dead on arrival.”

I was relieved that Mr Trump did not take a pot shot at the Supremes, as he has at other judges. Still, I worried for them. They and the Joint Chiefs of Staff sat in the well of the Chamber almost underneath the President. At any time they might have been struck by the Pinocchio Syndrome: being hit by a liar’s growing nose. The Washington Post reported on numerous fabrications and economies with the truth in the speech, or as the administration puts it, alternative facts.

“We have begun to drain the swamp of government corruption by imposing a five-year ban on lobbying by executive branch officials — and a lifetime ban on becoming lobbyists for a foreign government.”

There is indeed a lifetime ban on administration officials lobbying for foreign governments but the five-year ban on lobbying does not extend to Congressional officials, nor does it apply to the lobbying of any other than the official’s former agency. Evidently, Mr Trump has weakened bans made by Presidents Obama and Bush (43), as well as reducing levels of transparency.

“We’ve saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by bringing down the price of the fantastic new F-35 jet fighter, and will be saving billions more dollars on contracts all across our government.”

Trump took credit for the reduced cost of the F-35 program. The Pentagon announced cost reductions of some $600 million before Trump began his meetings with Lockheed.

By this time, I truly feared for the Supremes and the Chiefs, especially when President Pinocchio announced a real doozy. I would not have blamed them had they headed for the hills.

“Ninety-four million Americans are out of the labor force.”

In 2016, The Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that 94.4 million Americans of sixteen years and older were not in the labor force. The Donald equated this with numbers out of work. True, there is a civilian, non-institutional American population of 254.1 million people, of which 159.7 million are in the labor force. The difference yields the 94.4 million figure. However, the US unemployment rate is 4.8%. 7.6 million are actively but unsuccessfully looking for a job. Who are the 94 million not in the labor force? According to BLS, 93 percent do not want a job at all. The 94 million consists mostly of people who are retired, students, stay-at-home parents or disabled.

So, what can one conclude? First, Trump was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Whilst his style was conciliatory, the substance of his message was “business at all costs.” Second, he had the barefaced cheek to dissemble to Congress. This shows not only disrespect but that the President still doesn’t understand that without the support of Congress, his administration will be on a treadmill with a fierce gradient. Third, America is in for a bumpy political ride as the legislative and executive branches of government clash. My money is on the folks on the Capitol Hill.