Dan and Jim have complementary pieces discussing Trump’s State of the Union and how it failed to advance the ball when it comes to the economy. Certainly, polling suggests that the president has his work cut out for him on that score. However, I do wonder if our data-driven conservative disposition is blinding us to the successful pivot toward reemerging American dominance that last night exhibited.

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The first 15 minutes of the SOTU address (the portion for which most people tune in) culminated with the introduction of the U.S. Men’s hockey team that had just defeated Canada to win Olympic gold, and I cannot help but get the sense that things are warming up. The economy is in a state of flux, neither particularly good nor bad. Trump’s message — that the U.S. has been the underdog, fighting uphill against domestic and foreign forces that wish to keep us down — had an obvious and recent sports corollary.

Consider, sports are how Americans communicate with one another; our metaphor bank would be halved should football, baseball, and basketball analogies disappear overnight in some lexical heist. Punting, dunking, home runs, and hardball . . . this is how we share with our countrymen perceptions of our environment.

Trump’s typical hyperbole, so often devoid of a single concrete example, came to life in the form of victorious tough guys with gapped smiles. This is a messaging win that stats can’t capture. The morning shows will be full of that scene because suburban moms love hockey players (and current fiction trends certainly confirm this). Guys will imagine themselves in such a scene, the returning conquerors of the barbaric, plaid-clad Northmen. Further, it’s something that has revealed an ugly streak in the admin’s opposition. Combine this athletic suzerainty with a popular military action in South America, and the great American retreat from hegemony of the last 20 years doesn’t feel so sure. As Al Davis famously said, “Just win, baby!” Let the stats nerds critique on the day-after shows; it doesn’t alter the game’s outcome.

Last night may not immediately move the needle. But in that intangible battle for American self-conception, I can’t help but see the SOTU as a triumph.

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