The Trumpiest Trump We’ve Ever Beheld

By Frank Bruni and Bret Stephens

Mr. Bruni is a contributing Opinion writer. Mr. Stephens is an Opinion columnist.

Bret Stephens: Frank, your thoughts about President Trump’s interminable speech?

Frank Bruni: It was the Trumpiest Trump I’d ever beheld — preposterously self-satisfied, preternaturally nasty and profoundly delusional. Most of what he boasted about was hallucinatory. I haven’t been that fully immersed in fantasy since the first “Avatar” movie. I kept thinking I should have worn 3-D glasses.

Bret: Just for the sake of being argumentative, let me lay out what I think many Americans might have liked about the speech — at least those who made it through the whole hour and 47 minutes. They would have liked Trump calling out Democrats for refusing to stand in agreement when he said, “The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”

They would also have liked the celebration of American heroism: the Coast Guard swimmer Scott Ruskan, who saved 165 people during the Texas flood; the Army helicopter pilot Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover, who took four bullets in the leg during the operation to capture Nicolás Maduro; and of course, the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team.

And they will have liked his Reaganesque attacks on federal regulations and his suggestion that income taxes will be replaced by tariffs.

Frank: I don’t believe for a second that more than a small fraction of the small fraction of Americans who actually heard (or will hear) the bulk of Trump’s remarks believe that his big, beautiful tariffs will replace income taxes. Over the past year, Americans have correctly experienced his capriciously administered and whimsically amended levies as some self-infatuated power trip. Claiming they’ll replace income taxes is, like almost everything else about Tuesday night, an example of Trump taking things much, much too far.

Bret: OK, so … you’re right. The basic problem with the speech is that in many respects, it felt out of touch with reality. Trump trumpeted a supposedly booming economy, yet the job market looks particularly brutal for young college graduates. He talked up lower gas and food prices, but gas prices are, on average, only a few cents lower than they were a year ago, and food prices in urban areas have kept rising. Yes, the homicide rate is at a record low, but crime was already coming down in the last year or two of the Biden administration. And by the way, there’s no such thing as a “Congressional Medal of Honor,” as Trump kept calling it. It’s just the Medal of Honor. The fact that the commander in chief doesn’t know this was embarrassing. And telling.

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Frank Bruni is a professor of journalism and public policy at Duke University, the author of the book “The Age of Grievance” and a contributing Opinion writer. He writes a weekly email newsletter.  Instagram  Threads  @FrankBruni • Facebook

Bret Stephens is an Opinion columnist for The Times, writing about foreign policy, domestic politics and cultural issues. Facebook

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