Trump touts early victories, calls for policies that put America first

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump championed his early victories in rolling back regulations on business and called for economic prosperity and military might in a rousing speech Tuesday to Congress.

“America must put its own citizens first,” Trump said. “Because only then can we truly make America great again.”

Trump used the one-hour speech delivered on primetime television before a joint session of Congress, U.S. Supreme Court justices and Cabinet members to call for unity and an America-first agenda.

A major focus of the speech, applauded loudly by Republicans, was his call for a repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, the health care law passed by Democrats and signed into law by President Barack Obama.

“Obamacare is collapsing, and we must act decisively to protect all Americans,” Trump said. “Action is not a choice. It is a necessity.”

It was a night of lofty rhetoric after just five rollicking weeks in office following a bitterly fought presidential race. Trump sought to extend an olive branch with the speech, with a theme of a renewed American spirit.

But Trump echoed the slogans of his presidential campaign, and the night exposed the partisan divides that remain.

Democrats responded with former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, who said the rollback of regulations and picking a Cabinet of billionaires doesn’t favor the middle class.

“That’s not being our champion. That’s being Wall Street’s champion,” Beshear said. The governor pleaded for continued health care coverage, saying that before Obamacare was passed, too many working people were without insurance and were one “diagnosis away from bankruptcy.”

Beshear also said that Trump’s attacks on the courts, intelligence agencies, the media and those who disagree with him are an attack on American principles.

“He’s eroding democracy, and that’s reckless,” Beshear said following the president’s speech.

BIG-TICKET ITEMS

For his part, Trump ticked off a number of big-ticket items he wants: a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, tax reform, trade agreements that favor American workers and a $54 billion hike in defense spending.

“To keep America safe, we must provide the men and women of the United States military with the tools they need to prevent war,” Trump said.

His first trip following the speech will be to a naval facility near Norfolk, Virginia, on Thursday to highlight the need to rebuild the military.

In his first month in office, Trump also unveiled controversial proposals that include building a wall along the 2,000-mile U.S. border with Mexico. Democrats have opposed the wall and his immigration policies.

But Trump stuck with those themes in his speech, calling for strengthening border enforcement and reducing illegal immigration.

Trump said that “by finally enforcing our immigration laws, we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions of dollars and make our communities safer for everyone.”

Trump has repeatedly told White House audiences that his immigration policies are aimed at criminals and getting the “bad ones” out of the country.

U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., invited Astrid Silva, a Las Vegas immigration activist, to sit in the gallery. Silva, who qualifies for protected status under the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, delivered the Spanish-language response to the president’s speech.

Cortez Masto said, “Astrid serves as a reminder that we are a country that fights for those who need protection.”

Trump has called for the hiring of 5,000 new border patrol agents and 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to step up immigration enforcement.

White House guests at the speech included families of people killed by undocumented immigrants.

The widows of Detective Michael Davis and Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver were killed in 2014 in California. Also there was Jamiel Shaw, the father of a Jamiel Shaw Jr., a Los Angeles high school football star killed in 2008.

GUESTS FROM NEVADA

Trump also has signed an executive order banning entry to the United States by people from seven predominantly Muslim countries, an order being challenged in the courts.

U.S. Rep. Ruben Kihuen, D-Nev., invited Dr. Zia Khan, a Muslim-American cardiologist who moved to Las Vegas in 2002 and who has been involved in helping Syrian refugees.

Khan is a naturalized citizen who came to America looking for “the American Dream.”

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval was in the gallery as a guest of U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, a Republican, was a guest of U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., the Trump’s state campaign chairman during the presidential race.

“Tonight marks a fresh start for a new Administration and begins a new chapter in American history,” Heller said in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., invited disabled war veteran Fred Wagar of Las Vegas to highlight how the federal hiring freeze imposed by Trump has had an impact on federal workers who need employment more than “lip service.”

Trump called on Congress to do more for veterans.

POLITICAL POLARIZATION

Democrats panned the speech. It served to illustrate the divide in the country following a brutal presidential campaign and political polarization.

Trump’s 42-percent approval rating is the lowest for any other president over the first month in office, according to a recent Gallup Poll taken Feb. 17-20.

Trump addressed the polarization and issued a call for unity on some social issues, like a wave of recent hate crimes.

Jewish cemeteries were vandalized and a number of social gathering spots were subjected to bomb threats on Monday, including the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas.

Trump said that “while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms.”

To bridge the political divide, Trump said he wants Democrats and Republicans to support his infrastructure proposals to create jobs in states across the country. And he asked for bipartisan help in replacing Obamacare.

Democrats remained seated when he asked for repeal of the law that provided coverage for 37 million previously uninsured people.

Trump said he wants to see a plan that continues coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions, but he did not specify which GOP proposal he would support. He called for tax credits and health savings accounts to provide coverage plans of choice.

Many states, like Nevada, expanded Medicaid to provide coverage for more poor and elderly people.

Sandoval, the Republican Nevada governor, was in Washington this week to urge Congress and the White House to keep coverage for those who were brought into the system under the current health care act.

Trump said he wanted to appease the governors with flexibility that would allow Medicaid coverage to continue for those enrolled.

On education, the president called on Congress to pass a bill that allows school choice to help African-American and Latino children succeed outside public schools and take advantage of private, charter and religious schools.

“Education is the civil rights issue of our time,” Trump said.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.