The glorification of Trump — live!

The right embraces the president's power play

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Aerial3/iStock, Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

President Trump's speech was not the point of his State of the Union performance on Tuesday. This SOTU was about deeds more than words. It was, most basically, a display of power — and his supporters loved it.

By deeds, I don't mean his record in office, the "launch[ing of] the great American comeback" for which he claimed (often counterfactual) credit. Rather, I mean the deeds Trump did during the SOTU itself: his award of a scholarship to a Philadelphia girl, his conferral of the Medal of Freedom to radio host Rush Limbaugh, his recognition of the "true legitimate president of Venezuela," opposition leader Juan Guaidó, his surprise reunification of a military family separated by the war in Afghanistan.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.