1. New month, new me
The primary takeaway from Donald Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress seems to be that it was remarkable, precisely for how unremarkable it was.
Teleprompter Trump
Trump stayed on script and on message, a rare performance for the president who often digresses into ad-libs during public remarks. For this, Trump earned a fair amount of praise from media and political pundits, praise many felt was unwarranted and the product of a “low bar” Trump has set for himself.
I got a new platitude
A new chapter of American greatness is now beginning. A new national pride is sweeping across our nation. And a new surge of optimism is placing impossible dreams firmly within our grasp. What we are witnessing today is the renewal of the American spirit.” – Donald Trump
Summary
Some sources in WH are frankly surprised at how pundits are warming to the speech. Say Trump has not changed, no big shift in policy coming.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) March 1, 2017
It’s sad that Trump has set the bar so low for himself that just reading his empty speech off the teleprompter is considered “presidential.”
— Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) March 1, 2017
'Condemning hate'
Trump began by condemning a wave of antisemitic threats and vandalism, as well as the racist murder of an Indian man in Kansas by a xenophobic white man, declaring that the US is “united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms”. Just hours earlier, Trump had suggested the spate of bomb threats against Jewish centers might be “the reverse” of what they appear, “to make others look bad”.
Updated
Suffragettes sitting
Democrats, including many female lawmakers dressed in all-white, offered no applause at any point during Trump’s remarks, even for bipartisan proposals and lines. Only one Democrat, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, stood and applauded Trump with any frequency.
2. The doctor is in?
Trump outlined a bit of what has been a characteristically vague plan to replace the Affordable Care Act in last night’s address. The most important provision Trump supported was “tax credits” for obtaining private coverage. Similar to the current system of subsidies, Republicans want them to be less generous, and to distribute them by age – not income.
3. I'll never be your chief of burden
More than 60 law enforcement heads have appealed to the White House against a push to enlist police officers in the highly contentious job of deporting undocumented immigrants.
In a joint letter, the chiefs objected to being thrust into “new and sometimes problematic tasks” that will “harm locally based, community-oriented policing”.
4. Dreams from my publisher
The rights to Barack and Michelle Obama’s forthcoming memoirs were acquired by Penguin Random House at auction for a price believed to be in excess of $60m.
Barry the bookish
The former president has sold more than 4m copies of his three books already, and it’s likely that number will skyrocket when his yet-to-be-written post-presidency manuscript hits shelves.
... And this
"Let’s get some iced tea and talk about how to take people’s health insurance away." pic.twitter.com/8bs5M6UMmd
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 1, 2017
... Last but not least
!! Oprah says she's rethinking if she could be president: https://t.co/Z5YhLP32jF pic.twitter.com/yvhEDy6sBV
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 1, 2017
