In a divided time in the United States, and a time where American spirit is lacking, the leader of the free world President Donald J. Trump decided it was time to make the first steps toward a more unified country with revamped spirit. President Trump gave his first speech to a joint session of congress on Tuesday, February 28. After one month in office (hopefully enough time to become situated within the White House), he was ready to address both congress and the nation.

He entered into the room receiving what seemed like hours of applause. The crowd was ready to hear President Trump address the nation.

Eventually, he was able to quiet the crowd and begin his speech. USA Today reported that this one hour speech competed with President Bill Clinton’s for being one of the longest speeches ever given by a president in their first address to Congress.

Trump, who has seen much criticism on his level of tolerance (or intolerance, depending on who you ask), decided to start off the speech by declaring it was time to move past hateful acts since we are a country that “stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms.”

People thought Trump’s speech showed some empathy towards those who are affected by hate crimes, medical issues and the military. Trump opened up his speech with a specific reference to Black History Month celebrations and .

“Tonight, as we mark the conclusion of our celebration of Black History Month, we are reminded of our Nation’s path toward civil rights and the work that still remains,” Trump began. “Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week’s shooting in Kansas City, 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.”

After spending a noticeable amount of time on hate issues, he then went on to speak about other things that were important to him.

White House officials said that the speech’s overall theme would be “the renewal of the american spirit,” which can definitely play into his campaign theme of “making America great again.”

He stuck to his theme as he painted a picture of what he thought the United States could look like years from now if the public stood with him in his efforts. He is making an effort to look the part as president, likely so that he can get the public on his side for his term.

“I think it was a surprisingly well done speech,” said Solon High School junior Jonah Mitchell. “It gave off a very presidential impression. I was very surprised as to how well he spoke due to his poor word choice in speeches in the past. He seemed to be a lot more careful in what he was saying.”

Trump impressed some people with his newfound presidential approach, and many others, while still feeling uneasy about a Trump administration, found some comfort in a better explanation of his goals supported by facts.

“Although still not specific enough for my taste, he seemed to have some sort of logic as to what he might want to change,” junior Adesh Labhasetwar said. “He had statistics and some reasonable facts to back up some aspect of American government that he wanted to change, whether that be free versus fair trade or tax cuts for businesses, but I’m still not convinced that the major changes he wants to impose will have their intended goals.”

Trump continued his calmer aproach to the speech, which made much of it uneventful until the end. Trump made a special mention to William “Ryan” Owens, a member of the Navy who died during a military attack ordered by President Trump in Yemen. For many people this was a highlight worth staying until the end for.

“The most memorable moment of the speech was when everybody stood up to applaud the widow of fallen Navy Seal, William Owens,” Mitchell said.

But just because of some optimism coming from some places, not everyone is completely on board with the fairly new commander in chief.

“For me, I have a wait and see mentality with Trump,” said Solon social studies teacher Robin Joseph. “I think he needs to stop tweeting un-presidential like comments, absolute statements (never, always etc.) and I’d like to see some positive effects from his policies first.”

Many people take what Trump has to say with a grain of salt, simply because he is not a well established member of this government yet. Coming into the White House as an outsider, he needs to prove to the U.S. people that he has the ability to run a country, and fix more problems than he creates. Therefore, the overall divide in Congress is still alive.

Congress has always been very divided along partisan lines, everyone knows that. Nothing changed during this speech that featured House and Senate Republicans standing up and cheering after most of his statements; while Democrats typically sat with grim looks of disappointment whenever Trump suggested a new policy.

“I thought it was disrespectful that many of them didn’t clap at all,” Joseph said.  “I think Washington needs more bipartisanship; however, I do understand that many of Trump’s policies are in direct opposition to the beliefs of most Democrats.  I think there is room for bipartisanship on some economic issues.”

Not everyone felt that way about the speech however.

“If I was a member of the audience, I would not have applauded for Trump because I don’t necessarily agree with everything he believes in nor his policies,” Labhasetwar said.
Overall, the main takeaway is that Trump is growing into his role in the Oval Office. He is learning how to sound like a president when he delivers his agenda; this fine tuned approach makes people take him more seriously now. Nothing has changed about Trump, he has very minimally changed any views since being inaugurated. He is still the same businessman with the same moderately republican, populist views that got him elected in the first place, so nothing has changed. But if his goal was solely to demonstrate that he can discuss policy in a more presidential way, it seems he has accomplished that.