Although I disagreed with almost everything he said, for Trump, the speech was clear and well-delivered," Gutierrez said in a statement. "Whoever translated it for him from Russian did a good job." Gutierrez is one of the most outspoken members of Congress when it comes to helping young, undocumented people brought to the United States as children, and he said that while he remains hopeful, after hearing Trump's immigration proposal, he can't see Congress and the president coming to an agreement that protects DREAMers.

"The White House agenda is to gut legal immigration in exchange for allowing some of the DREAMers to live here," he said, and Democrats and Republicans who both support legal immigration won't go for this. "The DREAMers themselves have said they do not want legal status if it comes at the expense of others who will suffer more as part of the bargain," he added. "The speech did nothing to bring the pro- and anti-immigrant sides closer together."

More to the point, he offered little reason to hope that his second-year policies would be more constructive than those of his first. The president spent the past year attacking America’s democratic institutions and splitting the “American family.” His concern for building “one team” has not stopped him from ramping up deportations of harmless people or imperiling the future of the “dreamers,” all of whom have played their part on the American team. His desire for bipartisanship has not led him to negotiate with Democrats in good-faith on health care, taxes or immigration. His search for unity did not stop him Tuesday from taking a gratuitous dig at football players who kneel during the national anthem. As he took a victory lap on the economy, Mr. Trump displayed his typical indifference to the truth, claiming he “enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history.” They are not. (snip)

Mr. Trump did not mention many of the nation’s biggest, longer-term threats. The fiscal crisis, worsened by his tax bill, threatens future generations. Economic inequality is high. The world continues to warm. Russia’s meddling poses a threat to U.S. elections. Sadly, the morning after a very long speech, none of that is going to look any different.