March 01, 2017
10 Things to Watch for in Trump’s Address to Congress
Donald Trump’s speech tonight will be, like everything he does, a spectacle. The last time Trump had such a stage was his inaugural, where all of official Washington stood behind him as he looked out over what (in his mind) were trillions of people. But tonight, he will be looking right into the eyes of Congress, his Cabinet, the Joint Chiefs, the Supreme Court, and diplomatic corps. He can’t resist working the room — name-checking, fawning, heckling — so expect this to be the wackiest joint session address you’ve ever seen.
But we’ll be listening for what Trump says about substance (that is, if he can refrain from attacking the press and refuting the numbers at his inauguration). So in that spirit, here are the top 10 things we hope to hear about in Trump’s speech tonight. These can be used as checklist to grade the president — and we’ll offer our take on how we think he did later in the week.
The first three are questions that President Barack Obama posed in his final State of the Union address over a year ago, but are even more relevant today.
Read the full article at Foreign Policy.
More from CNAS
-
Transatlantic Tensions in the New National Security Strategy
On December 4th, the Trump administration released its long-awaited national security strategy, sending another round of shock waves through the transatlantic community. The n...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
-
Transatlantic Security / Middle East Security
The Russia-Iran Partnership: A Geopolitical Balancing ActIt has been almost a year since Russia and Iran signed their comprehensive strategic partnership. That deal established a 20-year partnership between the two countries coverin...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend
-
Transatlantic Security / Technology & National Security
Look Before We Leap on Artificial IntelligenceThis article was originally published on The Dispatch. A debate about the role that artificial intelligence should and will play in society, and how it will affect humanity fo...
By Jon B. Wolfsthal
-
NATO Foreign Ministers to Meet in Brussels Without the U.S. In Attendance
NATO foreign ministers will meet in Brussels Wednesday, and the ongoing negotiations to end the war in Ukraine will be top of mind. But there will be a notable absence: The U....
By Jim Townsend