Donald Trump delivered a combative State of the Union address on Tuesday night that hailed what he said was an American “turnaround for the ages”.
At a time when polls suggest many in the US are dissatisfied with the current state of the nation – and with Trump’s leadership of it – the president offered little hint of a change of course.
Instead, with an eye on crucial midterm elections later this year, he delivered a sales pitch to the nation, a patriotic rallying cry to his loyal supporters and taunts for his political opponents.
It was a speech filled with theatrical flourishes – the kind of made-for-the-cameras moments the man who once hosted a reality television show seems to enjoy.
Early on, he welcomed the US Olympic men’s hockey team to the gallery. They held up their gold medals as Republicans chanted “USA!” and even Democrats stood and applauded.
Later, Trump would call out military heroes, a 100-year-old World War Two veteran and a Coast Guard swimmer who rescued 165 people trapped in last year’s Texas flooding. The latter received a Congressional Medal of Honor and the former a Legion of Merit award for Extraordinary Heroism.
Although his speech set a record for length at 107 minutes, these moments quickened the pace of the evening and fit with the president’s larger theme of American patriotism and accomplishment.
