99 Minutes of Typical Trump

The American president’s speech to Congress was unusual and outrageous, but still the usual Trump style and rhetoric.

The good news: Donald Trump didn’t announce any new atrocities in his “joint address,” just the old ones. Nevertheless, he met expectations in his first keynote speech before the U.S. Congress: His performance was unworthy of a head of state. This was not a speech from a U.S. president, but a defiant, pathetic plutocrat. Full of self-praise, with countless false claims and accusations. A “worst of” account of the past election campaign and the inauguration speech, and a summary of the tsunami of decrees of the past six weeks. Most of his well-known exaggerations and lies, which he repeated in front of the assembled Congress, have already been proven false. However, the Trump Republicans enjoyed it.

For everybody else, what was most interesting was what the president didn’t say during the record-breaking 99-minute speech. For example, the topic of the rising cost of living, which, according to opinion pollsters, is ultimately what gave Trump victory, was mentioned only in passing. While Trump admitted that the numerous U.S. tariffs could lead to “disruptions” to the economy, he reassured everyone that it wouldn’t be “too severe.”

Here lies the greatest danger to Trump’s popularity. The longer Trump remains in power, the harder it will be for him to blame the Democrats for rising costs. Some voters are already beginning to realize that the wealth from the announced tariffs might make “America rich,” but the riches will not reach them. Elon Musk and his administrative chainsaw won’t do much to change that.

Trump and Putin

From a European perspective, the low point of the speech was the subject of Ukraine. The U.S. president had a friendlier tone after the scandal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday. But it became clear once again that America, the leading power in the West, had defected to the camp of Vladimir Putin.

Trump apparently sees this as a strength, but it is a historic weakness. Although Trump appears to have accommodated Putin very well, there’s no sign that the Kremlin boss will change his own demands. Will Trump —and all of Europe with him — be ripped off in this deal? With his relationship to Putin, Trump repeatedly gives the impression of a trainee dictator who has chosen the Russian president as his mentor. Like Putin, Trump wants to secure the regional influence of his superpower through authoritarian means and, for example, “get” Greenland.

It hurts that in his central inaugural speech the U.S. president spoke like the ruler of a rogue state that doesn’t care about international law. The congressional Democrats protested against the atrocities with signs and by leaving the hall. However, except for the interjection of Texan Al Green, the protest was surprisingly restrained. It is to be hoped that soon the party will wake up from its state of shock at the national level and that well-known Democrats will finally find their voices. Not least to send a signal to Europe that America has not yet completely drifted over to the dark side.