President Doanld Trump sought to repackage his hard-line campaign promises with a moderate sheen Tuesday night, declaring what he termed “a new chapter of American greatness” of economic renewal and military might in his first joint address to Congress.

Seeking to steady his presidency after a tumultuous first 40 days, Trump had an air of seriousness and revealed flashes of compassion as he broadly outlined a sweeping agenda to rebuild a country he described as ravaged by crime and drugs, deteriorating infrastructure, and failing bureaucracies.

Trump’s 60-minute speech touched on his plans to overhaul the nation’s health-care system and tax code, but it was short on specifics and heavy on lofty prose. Struggling to steer a bitterly divided nation with his job-approval ratings at historic lows, Trump effectively pleaded with the American people to give him a chance and to imagine what could be achieved during his presidency.

“We are one people, with one destiny,” Trump said quietly near the end. “The time for small thinking is over. The time for trivial fights is behind us. We just need the courage to share the dreams that fill our hearts.”

Trump extended olive branches to his opponents. He called on Congress to pass paid family leave, a reference to a long-held Democratic Party priority that brought liberal lawmakers to their feet to applaud. And he pledged to work with Muslim allies to extinguish Daesh terrorists, going so far as to acknowledge the killings of Muslims as well as Christians in the Middle East

Still, Trump did not back away from his most controversial policies. He used typically bellicose language to describe the fight against the Daesh, calling it “a network of lawless savages that have slaughtered Muslims and Christians, and men, women and children of all faiths and all beliefs.” He made a point to utter the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism,” which Republicans cheered heartily.

The president forcefully defended his travel ban of refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries — an executive order that was halted in federal court — as necessary to prevent the entry of foreigners who do not share America’s values.

“We cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside America,” Trump said. “We cannot allow our nation to become a sanctuary for extremists.”

On foreign affairs, Trump said he would honour historic alliances — and explicitly stated his support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, on which he had wavered during his campaign — but said he would seek new ones as well, even with former adversaries. The latter seemed an indirect reference to potentially working to combat terrorism with Russia, which US intelligence agencies have concluded meddled in the November election in hopes of helping Trump.

Trump declared that the time had come to rewrite trade deals and alliances in terms that benefit the United States, irrespective of global pressures.

“My job is not to represent the world,” Trump said. “My job is to represent the United States of America.”

Trump was adamant that the United States cannot continue to abide by what Republicans and Democrats see as free trade. “It also has to be fair trade,” Trump said. He cited Abraham Lincoln, who, he said, “warned that the ‘abandonment of the protective policy by the American government [will] produce want and ruin among our people.’ “ He said he would not let workers “be taken advantage of anymore.”

As is tradition when the president addresses a joint session of Congress — typically known as a “State of the Union,” although the speech is not called that during a president’s first year — Trump invited guests to sit with first lady Melania Trump in the balcony.

The night’s emotional high point came when Trump singled out one of the night’s guests, Carryn Owens, the widow of Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, who died during a January 29 raid in Yemen.

Although Ryan Owens’s father has spoken out against the raid that killed his son, Trump said Tuesday night that Ryan Owens died “a warrior and a hero,” with Carryn Owens looking on with tears in her eyes. The audience stood with sustained applause. Trump peered up at Carryn Owens and said: “Ryan is looking down right now. You know that. And he’s very happy.

source : gulfnews