“Good evening, America.”
As seasons greetings go, this was as sombre as they come. US president Donald Trump stood behind the lectern while behind him, an oil-painted, framed George Washington observed the 47th president and perhaps America itself with a sidelong, sceptical glance. Christmas decorations – lush green and twinkling whites – lifted the room but Trump’s tone was cheerless as he began Wednesday night’s formal address to the nation.
The live television address is a quaint idea now, a throwback to Roosevelt’s fireside chats. But the hastily announced address had, over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday given rise to speculation that Trump would unveil a significant development, including an elevation of military engagement against Venezuela.
Instead, it was a parade of old promises and boasts, a glowing summary of the achievements of the first year. He struck a weary tone. But still, it felt like one of those US presidential appearances that will frame a moment in time.
READ MORE
There is a quickening sense that the age of Trump may already have passed: that the fever has broken within the Republican Party and across the Republic itself. Trump’s polling numbers make for scary reading. The stunningly indiscreet portrayal of key figures within the administration by chief of staff Susie Wiles in this week’s Vanity Fair interview was so blunt that it stunned both sides of the political aisle.
And who would have guessed, at January’s inauguration, that Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump’s move vociferous champion in Congress, would by December have cut herself loose from the Maga movement and announce, on CNN, that “lame duck season” had already begun on Trump’s second term? Her view is that Republican lawmakers are reading the tea-leaves and eyeing next year’s midterms and are beginning to turn their thoughts to survival.
And there were other troubling signs. Trump’s public message in the hours after the horrific murder of Rob Reiner, one of America’s most beloved cinema storytellers, and his wife, Michele, possibly by their own son, left many Americans of all political persuasion feeling nauseated.
The appearance of a series of presidential plaques, in bright, gaudy gold along the gorgeous colonnade that runs along the Rose Garden to the Oval office, also looked off.
The presidential “walk of fame” featured photographs of previous occupants along with a Trump-slanted summary of their achievements. Biden’s tribute begins: “Sleepy Joe was, by far, the worst President in American history.” Barack Obama was “one of the most divisive political figures in American history”.
If there was a time when Trump’s base would have delighted in the irreverence and trolling of enemies and predecessors, it has passed.
So, too, has the first year of Trump’s second term and here he was now, pausing the regular network schedule and invoking the ghost of White Houses past by continuing to blame Joe Biden.
“Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess and I’m fixing it. When I took office inflation was the worst in 48 years and some would say in the history of our country which caused prices to be higher than ever before making life unaffordable for millions of Americans. This happened during a Democratic administration. Our nation was invaded by an army of 25 million people, including 11,188 murderers who had killed more than one person. This is what the Biden administration did to our country and it can never be allowed to happen again.”
That was the heart of the election message which persuaded 77 million people to vote for Trump last November. If he was speaking directly to them on Wednesday night, it was in a voice heavy with frustration and irritation that they could not recognise the fact that they cannot see the golden age has already arrived.
“There has never been anything like it,” he told them.
“I was elected in a landslide, winning the popular vote, winning all seven swing states and everything else.”
On it went. Eight wars in 10 months. Peace restored to the Middle East for the first time in three thousand years.
“I am bringing those high prices fast and bringing them down very fast. It’s not done yet but boy are we making progress. Nobody can believe what’s going on.”
[ ‘Gold cards’ and a gilded toilet: Donald Trump’s affordability message problemOpens in new window ]
Irish insomniacs of a certain age who may have watched the speech might have heard within it odd, inverse echoes of Charles J Haughey’s infamous “we are living beyond our means address”.
Here, Trump was insisting to America that the people have never had it so good. There was a bonus for all 1,450,000 military members: a “Warriors Dividend” cheque of $1,776 in honour of the founding fathers. But that gift to the military will do little to quell the general winter of discontent.
“When the world looks at us next year let them see a nation that is faithful to its citizens, loyal to its workers, confident of its identity, certain to its destiny and the envy of the entire globe,” the president declared.
“We are respected again like we have never been respected before. For the first time in years wages are rising faster than inflation. Prices are down. We are poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen.”
By Trump’s standards, the speech was historically brief. Afterwards, the Democratic glee and mockery was general. This week will end with the enforced release of the Epstein files by the department of justice. As ever, Trump’s assertions were fact-checked and disputed in the hours afterwards. But all of these claims, all of the words, he has said before.
No, the compelling thing about Wednesday night was his expression. Donald Trump looked like he didn’t want to be there. It may have occurred to him as he spoke, as well as to millions watching, that he has another three years left in office. It seemed – as he has observed himself in recent weeks – like “an eternity”.
Good night, America, wherever you are.
