Trump’s Tour de Force

A Tour de Force is also called leadership. Here is Janice Shaw Crouse:

Tuesday night’s State of the Union Address — President Donald Trump’s first — was, in the view of many clear-minded, experienced observers such as Newt Gingrich and Powerline’s John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson — a tour de force. CBS noted a 98 percent approval rating among Republicans. By all but the most partisan critics, the President’s recounting of the successes of 2017 was impressive, even record-setting. There are numerous conservatives giving Trump very favorable comparisons to Reagan with some finding Trump’s accomplishments even more impressive than the iconic conservative leader. According to CNN, the 80-minute speech was interrupted by applause 117 times and received a 75 percent approval rating. A major media critic, the Washington Post, ruthlessly trashed the speech but gave Trump backhanded praise by asking a snarky question about whether the “presidential transformation” would last.

By now, viewers are jaded by the typical SOTU guests. It’s a practice that heretofore has seemed extraneous and forced. Trump’s skillful weaving of his guests’ stories into American values and his policies was movingly impressive, gaining continuous applause throughout the speech. More importantly, the heroic stories of the guests humanized cold policy positions and revealed the president’s warm heart in a gripping way.

Rather than the typical laundry list of accomplishments, Trump’s speech wove stories and promises into the real-life experiences of Americans in 2017, including the natural disasters of hurricanes and fires, terrorist attacks, violent mass shootings, gang cruelty, and the everyday heroism of law enforcement, military, firefighters, and ordinary citizens who go far beyond duty to protect the vulnerable and perform miracles under duress.

After Trump’s stellar performance in his first SOTU address, it may be risky for his critics to disparage Trump’s presidency, especially among independent voters who are critical to Democrat’s prospect for 2018. I believe that the lasting images of the SOTU broadcast will be, first and foremost, the hero’s faces as Trump told their stories.

Read more: American Thinker