Understanding President Trump’s joint session address By Ben Voth
On President Trump’s last occasion of speaking in the House for a State of the Union speech, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi tore up the speech while seated behind the President. Last night signaled important political changes since that time. Speaker Michael Johnson and Vice President J.D. Vance were seated behind President Trump. The speech was an important indication of the rapid pace of accomplishments for the president.
The tradition of speaking before Congress is relatively unique in American history. Speaking to Congress in this direct manner was a tradition that began just over 100 years ago when Woodrow Wilson sought to build various political foundations for a more powerful executive branch. The State of the Union message as specified by the Constitution as an annual report to Congress was delivered as a written letter until Wilson changed this tradition in the early 20th century. Wilson, FDR, Obama, and Biden have all made important efforts to expand the practical power of the presidency beyond its constitutional limits. Biden repeatedly ignored Supreme Court rulings against his executive actions, such as forgiving student loan debt. Democrat presidents played an important role in expanding executive power throughout the 20th century.
The Democrat congressional membership employed exceptional resistance tactics including the use of handbills and a speech by Texas representative Al Green seeking to interrupt the President’s speech. Speaker Mike Johnson ordered the removal of Green from the chamber. Green was the first House member to file impeachment charges against Trump in the current presidential term. One of the most consistent messages of the handbills was the word “False” presumably asserting that the President’s statements were false.
The important accomplishments President Trump pointed to included: 1) government waste discoveries made by DOGE, 2) reductions in illegal immigration, 3) the renewal of tax cuts and new tax cuts, 4) a new policy of tariffs on many foreign nations, 5) the introduction of new cabinet members. He ended the speech with an intensive peroration that reconnected with the assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania. Calling for the nation to fight, fight, fight for the coming “golden age” of American formed a passionate ending to the speech.
The Democratic Party plan for resistance to the President did not appear to form a meaningful coherence. No singular complaint or message appeared to unify the opposition to the president. Nonetheless, the Democrat congressional members appeared exceptionally unwilling to applaud or provide meaningful evidence of support.
Trump’s speech was the longest joint session speech in history and surpassed the previous record held by President Clinton. Trump appeared to draw energy and motive from the entrenched resistance of the Democratic Congressional members. Nancy Pelosi, seated as a guest in the chamber registered a generic but intense angst upon her face that was emblematic of the President’s opponents.
Trump’s gallery guests were well chosen. Family members of victims of illegal immigrant crime were honored. Young men interested in police service and military service were honored and even surprised by unexpected decisions by the president. Trump read a letter from Ukrainian President Zelensky that appeared to reverse the rhetorical attack launched in the Oval Office on Friday and indicated an opening to peace in the Ukraine/ Russia war. The speech was on the whole an exceptional display of Trump’s tenacity and seemingly boundless ability to feed upon the negative energy of his opponents to build an ever more triumphant sense of patriotic vision.
Dr. Ben Voth is professor of rhetoric and director of debate at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He is the author of several academic books including Political Communication — the 10th edition with Robert Denton, Bob Friedenberg, and Judith Trent (2024) and The Presidential Rhetoric of Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, and Calvin Coolidge: The Centennial of the Modern American Presidency (2024).
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