What happened exactly is hard to say — maybe he got sprinkled with fairy dust — but President Donald Trump was not just OK in his first speech to a joint session of Congress. He was superlative. He was better even than his gifted predecessor and, in his unifying, uplifting tone, his directness, his sense of sympathy, his focus on the relevant and his evocative delivery style, he said much that needed to be said.
The subjects were many, and an alert teacher would hardly be handing out top grades on every utterance, but here was someone using reality, not political correctness, as a guide on tough questions. Crime, for instance, is a real problem in our inner cities. Murder jumped up significantly a couple of years ago. In a place like Chicago, thousands get shot every year. A foremost answer is good policing, and what’s crucial is respect and help for those who do it.
Trump got that right, just as he was on target that too many of our schools are not getting the job done. If children are trapped in one that simply is not performing, let the parents put their children in a school that does work. It is known as school choice. Public programs facilitating it are especially crucial for the poor.
Our tax system is crazy, especially that part of it aimed at businesses. Our European cousins may flunk in many departments but they are smart enough to keep business taxes down so that businesses can compete better and flourish to the public’s benefit. Trump showed that he gets it that jobs will be generated by corporate and other taxes coming down and that this is a lot better for the human good than welfare that is ever-less affordable.