Republicans Think Trump Gave Them What They Wanted. They Should Think Again.

GOP lawmakers might soon realize that the president has boxed them in with impossible promises.

 President Donald Trump didn’t insult any war heroes. He didn’t pitch conspiracy theories about millions of illegal votes. He didn’t call the news media the “enemies of the American people.”

For Republicans nervously watching the new president for signs of calm leadership, that was the good news, as Trump stuck to his teleprompter for nearly all of his 5,000-word, hourlong address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, the first of his term.

“I am asking all citizens to embrace this renewal of the American spirit,” Trump read, using language almost any president of either party might have used. “I am asking all members of Congress to join me in dreaming big, and bold and daring things for our country.”

Now for the bad news: Trump provided no details on how a promised replacement of the Affordable Care Act would work; how, precisely, tax reform would be structured or paid for; or even the functioning of his “trillion-dollar” infrastructure plan.

Trump probably should not be surprised if the reality of making that happen is a good deal harder than reading words off of his teleprompter.

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