Trump's 'golden age' still to be determined

In his joint address to Congress Tuesday, President Donald Trump spoke more than 9,800 words over nearly 100 minutes, proclaiming once again the dawn of a "golden age" in America and using as evidence his initial blizzard of executive orders, proclamations and unorthodox cuts to spending.

That’s an impressive performance for someone who turns 79 in June. Trump’s diplomatic course changes, on-and-off tariffs, culture-war moves, challenges to American institutions, and broad-based "efficiency" reductions have all displayed his determination to upend the established order.

But how all this flash-and-bang will ultimately affect the people is only expected to unfold as days and months pass. Some of his economic moves, especially on tariffs, and the pushback Republicans are getting from their constituents, may derail his agenda. And the federal courts have been blocking, at least temporarily, some of his major initiatives.

In his address, Trump played up to his fellow Republicans who now control both houses of Congress and threw shade at the Democrats who served as his foils. "I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud — nothing I can do," he lamented to his fans. Live cameras showed some of the dissenting Democrats glumly holding up signs such as "Musk steals" and "false," and blasting possible cuts to Medicaid and veterans’ services.

Most such speeches bend to the partisan. This one, for all its self-promotion, was strategically divisive.

Outside the Capitol, at recent town halls and protests around the nation, GOP members of Congress are under pressure to defend their party leader’s programs, including mass layoffs of federal employees who are their constituents, and they’re expected to echo his talking points in their defense. Long Island Rep. Nick LaLota, for one, was holding a telephone forum on Wednesday.

In the tradition of honoring guests invited to these speeches, Trump justly introduced Stephanie Diller, the widow of slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller of Massapequa, to underscore his support for a federal death penalty statute for cop killers.

Superrich Elon Musk, who has been carrying out a slapdash set of budget cuts, glowed in GOP applause and heard Democrats heckle when introduced by Trump as "head" of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency. The administration's legal argument in defending lawsuits challenging Musk's actions is that the world's richest man is not the head of DOGE.

The best news Trump delivered was that border crossings are down. He omitted several timely stories: markets crashing and shuddering over his tariff plans which he changed hours later, measles spreading in Texas, his request to keep billions in congressionally approved foreign aid frozen, and the U.S. suspending intelligence-sharing with Ukraine.

But that — and filtering his claims for accuracy — might have dampened the rally-like atmosphere inside the Capitol. The true state of the union and its changes are hazier than anything any president would say in a speech.