March 01, 2017 11:16 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (March 1)

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• by: Colorado Pols

March is definitely arriving in lamb form — in the Denver Metro area, at least. Let’s go ahead and see if we can Get More Smarter. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► President Trump delivered his first speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening (full text here). As Eli Stokols writes for Politico, Trump displayed a less-angry version of himself during his prime time address, but was no less vague on his many policy proposals:

Not an official “State of the Union” address, Trump’s first speech to Congress was an attempt to stabilize his administration and improve his standing with the public, which views Trump more unfavorably than any other president after only a month in office. Beyond showcasing a more presidential posture to the largest national television audience he’s had since his inauguration, Trump also sought to set out some shared goals for the Congress that will largely determine the nature and scope of his eventual accomplishments…

…After such a rocky first five weeks, Trump needed to present himself to members of Congress, many of whom have recently been met by anti-Trump mobs at town hall meetings, as a reasonable collaborative partner as they begin a long legislative journey. He spoke not of past grievances, but of a future full of opportunity. For an hour at least, beefs gave way to bright banalities. [Pols emphasis]

For the most part, the president’s specific policy prescriptions were as broad and vague as they were sweeping and ambitious. Trump called on Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare with reforms that “expand choice, increase access, lower costs, and at the same time, provide better healthcare.” He laid out a broad outline of what an alternative would look like, but steered clear of specifics that could jam up negotiations among congressional Republicans.

“Bright banalities” is a nice way to summarize Trump’s policy ideas on Tuesday. Trump stuck to his usual fact-free statements to introduce most proposals, and as Karen Tumulty writes for the Washington Post, he avoided the kind of specifics that Congressional Republicans were hoping to hear:

Nor did the president give his Republican allies in Congress what they had wanted to hear, which was a sense of clarity on how he plans to achieve the ambitious agenda he promised. There were few detail offered and no nod to the complexity of the issues nor the fact that achieving his goals will require navigating deep fissures within his own party…

…Trump’s address was also notable for some of the standard Republican themes it did not include. He mentioned the federal debt only once, and the deficit not at all.

There’s plenty of reaction to Trump’s speech on the Internet tubes. Here are five key takeaways from the New York Times. Check Politico for more fact-checking on the President’s speech. Denver7 compiles some of the local reaction to Trump’s speech.

► The Washington Post points to the influence of Ivanka Trump and chief strategist Steve Bannon for Tuesday’s “Teleprompter Trump.”

► President Trump is delaying the rollout of a new travel ban proposal on account of the fact that people didn’t completely hate his first big speech as President:

The decision came late Tuesday night as positive reviews flooded in for Trump’s speech, which struck a largely optimistic and unifying tone.

Signing the executive order Wednesday, as originally indicated by the White House, would have undercut the favorable coverage. The official didn’t deny the positive reception was part of the administration’s calculus in pushing back the travel ban announcement.

 

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► As conservative columnist Ramesh Ponnuru writes, perhaps the bottom line for Donald Trump is simply that he is not very good at being President:

Presidents before Trump have changed their minds about issues, let congressmen hash out issues, and tolerated factions in their administrations. The difference is one of degree, and it is substantial. Trump is doing much less to set a direction for his party in Congress than we have seen in decades…

…For congressional Republicans, the problem with Trump may not be that he is an authoritarian strongman, as so many of his critics say. It’s that he is, by the standards to which we have become accustomed, a weak president. [Pols emphasis]

► President Trump’s repeated claims of rising crime in America just don’t jibe with the actual facts, as Roll Call explains:

Here are the current crime rate numbers. pic.twitter.com/4O293mFcoC

— Roll Call (@rollcall) March 1, 2017

► Oprah for President?

► The Senate today confirmed Rep. Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior. NBC News has a handy breakdown of the status of President Trump’s various cabinet appointees.

► State Treasurer Walker Stapleton and his friends would like you to believe that he is hysterically clever, and not hopelessly inept. It’s not working.

► Congressional Republicans still seem far apart on any potential plan for the repeal/replacement of Obamacare.

► Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman continues her opposition to legislative efforts to make government more transparent.