4 takeaways from Donald Trump’s address to Congress

He’s promising that he will provide more details on his rebuilding of the military in his Tuesday night address to Congress.

Trump said very little about how he plans to enact numerous things he has promised, from his pledge to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure to his vow to repeal and replace Obamacare. The so called Trump rally that has followed the election has been largely about the expectation that corporate and personal tax reform would be a priority, but so far, as the White House has focused on attacking the press and defending itself from the stories that prompted those attacks, we have heard little on the subject.

He described his address as a “message of unity and strength”.

The President has also picked fights with the media and the intelligence community.

He said the World Trade Organization has turned down past US requests to allow American companies to deduct income taxes paid on exports. Considering the criticism he previously directed at Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush for their efforts to accomplish immigration reform, Trump appears now to recognize the folly of his promises to solve the immigration problem by deporting the estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally.

But past similar addresses to Congress have been long on presidential visions and short on policy specifics.

Tom Price, Trump’s secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said after the speech, “Tonight, President Trump reassured the American people that help is on the way for those who are suffering as a result of the Affordable Care Act”.

However, in the same breath he said, “America must put its citizens first, because only then can we truly make America great again”.

He said such actions “remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms”.

GOP members of Congress, during visits to their home districts, have been confronted by constituents at town halls expressing anger and fear about losing their health coverage. “A new national pride is sweeping across our Nation”, he said.

He said, “All those with true need can rest assured that the social safety net of programs they depend on are exempt from any cuts”.

In a recorded interview published today with “Fox and Friends”, a show that Trump has called “the most honest morning show”, the president said he would give his administration a grade A so far – but admitted that he could have done better at communicating his plans.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi plans to invite a young immigrant who could be hurt by Trump’s plans to take on illegal immigration. Markets ended the day down slightly Tuesday ahead of Trump’s address, and futures markets remained relatively ambivalent throughout his address, up slightly.