President Trump's Weekly Radio Address of May 12, 2017

Like many of his recent predecessors, President Donald Trump gives a weekly radio address. On May 12, 2017, with the James Comey firing dominating the news, Trump gave a rambling address that ignored the firing to talk about jobs and the military academies.

Why do Presidents give radio addresses? Ratings suggest that Mr. Trump is getting about 1.7 million views, which is more than Obama's addresses, but not really a lot. General thoughts: Trump is said to enjoy the addresses. Traditionally, presidents can use the radio address to talk about important, but boring, issues that a president is expected to discuss, but which no one really wants to hear about. The president can then, if challenged, say that he is not distracted and that he has been discussing real issues. That few people listen to his radio speeches isn't the point. The Democrats dutifully issue a weekly response, to which hardly anyone tunes in.

Donald Trump's radio address, 5/12/17

Beginning his brief May 12 speech, Mr. Trump said, "Confidence in the American economy has reached levels not seen in many, many years." He cited 211,000 new jobs created last month. He quickly transitioned to the students graduating from school: "Our economic progress is especially good news for the millions of young Americans who, at this time of year, are putting on a cap and gown and receiving a diploma, certificate, or commission." He mentioned that he would be giving commencement addresses at the Coast Guard Academy and Liberty University. "To young Americans at both schools," he continued, "I will be bringing a message of hope and optimism about our nation's bright future."

He continued with standard conservative talking points about about reversing "years of stagnant growth, falling wages, and disappearing jobs." He promised that "We are rolling back the job-killing regulations that make it harder for companies to grow and hire in America." He then offered congratulations to the year's graduates, and promised that "The brightest days are ahead of you."

This address discussed nothing new, and Mr. Trump carefully avoided the week's controversies. On the one hand, what a speaker doesn't say can be as important as what the speaker does say. I make this point in Chapter 7 of my book, From the Front Porch to the Front Page: McKinley and Bryan in the 1896 Presidential Campaign. That Mr. Trump did not talk about Mr. Comey may have been the main point. On the other hand, Trump used this speech to set the agenda, to refocus public attention on economic issues. Mr. Trump was having a difficult week. The Comey controversy was not going to go away but, still, it was not a bad idea for Mr. Trump to bring up a positive vision.