Through a coincidence of history, President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress Tuesday took place on the 92nd anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inauguration.
But if Trump’s presidency succeeds, future historians may see the linkage as more than coincidental. That’s because he is seeking to do what several Republican predecessors failed to do: reverse the promise and the premises of Roosevelt’s New Deal.
Unsurprisingly, Trump said little about possible cuts in health, farmer and veterans’ benefits or about the fiscal and political challenges he faces, including recent drops in consumer confidence and the stock market — and a looming federal government shutdown.
The closest he came was when, in touting the alleged benefits of his tariff hikes, he acknowledged, “There will be a little disturbance, but we are OK with that. It won’t be much.“
Mostly, the president seemed focused on replaying and embellishing his victory in last November’s election, proclaiming “America is back” while blaming everything from the crimes by a “savage illegal alien gang member” to the high price of eggs on his predecessor, Joe Biden. He devoted more of the record-long, 100-minute speech to hot-button political issues and patriotic jingoism than to his legislative agenda, other than a plea for more tax cuts.
In a singular note that was both discordant but invoked reality, Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green stood and interrupted Trump, shouting, “You don’t have a mandate to cut Medicaid.” When he persisted, he was escorted from the chamber.
Meanwhile, flummoxed fellow Democrats sat in mostly stony silence, occasionally holding up small signs reading “False,” “Save Medicaid” and “Musk Steals.” By contrast, Trump’s fellow Republicans repeatedly cheered his attacks on “unelected bureaucrats” and “wokeness” as the president cited how many executive actions he has taken — and detailed some questionable foreign aid programs he stopped — without discussing the potentially broader impact of pending cuts on the millions listening and watching.
Roosevelt’s safety net
In an exaggeration that was stunning even by Trump standards, he declared “it has been stated by many” that his start has been “the most successful in the history of our nation.” He said only George Washington’s was comparable, ignoring the period most historians regard as the most dynamic presidential beginning, the 100 days in which Roosevelt issued 99 executive orders and, with Congress, enacted 77 frequently far-reaching laws to tackle the economic depression he inherited.
Besides its immediate impact, Roosevelt’s New Deal set the example for future presidents to expand the federal government’s role in stimulating the economy, regulating business, providing services and aiding the jobless.
His underlying theory was that the Great Depression showed individual Americans need help from the federal government, and the country’s well-being requires greater regulation of private enterprise.
By 1939, his administration’s enactment of Social Security, including unemployment insurance, and a law setting a minimum wage and maximum hours created the safety net that has protected individual Americans ever since.
During Roosevelt’s presidency, a Republican minority unsuccessfully resisted his proposals as beyond the federal government’s constitutional role. Ever since, GOP presidents – notably Ronald Reagan — sought in varied ways to cut back the expansive federal role.
Most were minimally successful, at best slowing government’s growth. The president who caused the biggest recent cutback in the bureaucracy – and the last to balance the budget — was a Democrat, Bill Clinton. His administration implemented a gradual reduction through attrition and buyouts that cut 377,000 federal jobs in seven years.
Trump’s slashing
By contrast, Trump is using a campaign ostensibly against “unelected bureaucrats” to slash programs that help veterans, farmers, poor people and the elderly. Abroad, he is backing away from the country’s historic commitment to free trade and the Western alliance, which also dates back to Roosevelt’s presidency.
Through billionaire supporter Elon Musk’s extra-governmental “Department of Government Efficiency,” Trump has cut or suspended agriculture climate control projects, education programs, medical research, disaster relief, public health guidance, veterans’ health benefits, and programs regulating the environment and business, enforcing equal opportunity and other civil rights, and helping individual veterans and taxpayers.
He is counting on the pervasive belief that the government is too big and the public’s stated desire for change to maintain support from his fervent base. But it could ultimately prove a dangerous course politically, depending on how they react to their impending loss of government services.
Already, Republican lawmakers have encountered so much grass roots criticism that their leaders advised them to cancel town meetings
And they have not yet confronted the specific legislation needed to codify Musk’s reductions, make permanent Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, and add his new 2024 campaign proposals to end taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits. These will almost certainly require sharp cuts in Medicaid, which provides health care coverage for millions of Americans, cuts that Trump says he opposes but did not mention.
First, however, Congress needs to extend government funding by March 14 — or face the first shutdown since Trump was last in office.
A major complication is that the Democrats want language to ensure he will spend the funds being appropriated — rather than continue to unilaterally withhold them. Republicans oppose that but will likely need Democratic votes to keep the government open, given their narrow majorities.
Though Trump has so far governed mainly by presidential fiat, Congress can ratify, revise or prevent what he is doing. The outcome will not only determine the GOP’s short-term fate — but also Trump’s long-term impact.
Carl P. Leubsdorf is the former Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News. ©2025 The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.