Larry Kudlow: Trump's speech was full of optimism, centered on a 'national greatness' agenda

So, Donald Trump gave a superb speech last night as he announced his 2024 candidacy for president. It was an issues speech, it was a high-content speech, it was a visionary speech.  It was actually a circa-2016 speech, when he ran for president on key issues then such as the economy, tax cuts, deregulation, blowing the whistle on China. It was a speech aimed at the blue-collar working folks and the minority groups that Trump has brought into the Republican Party.  

He talked about "national greatness." "Making the nation great and glorious again." Promoting daring dreams, big ideas, bold ambitions. It was a speech about freedom, values, individual responsibility and common sense. It was an America First speech supporting the American worker.  

He pledged to go back to low taxes, low regulation and fair trade. He singled out what he called the "socialist disaster" known as the Green New Deal and he raised a very interesting point about the dismal Green New Deal.  The Bidens' radical climate change central planning policies that they want to wipe out oil and gas and somehow substitute with windmills and solar would never have the power to fire up our great factories and plants.  

Here's a quote. They say, "the ocean will rise one eighth of an inch over the next 200-300 years, but don't ever worry about nuclear weapons that could take out entire countries with one shot!" Something is wrong with that thinking.

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He talked about unleashing oil and gas to recreate energy independence and dominance and how that would bring down inflation back to the 1% level where he left it.  In fact, he spent a good deal of time on his economic success. Not once, but twice, did the economy roar. Before the pandemic and then the V-shaped recovery as the pandemic gradually wore down.  

He ended the ISIS Caliphate. He nailed al-Baghdadi. He negotiated the historic Abraham Accords. He also negotiated tough reciprocal trade deals with Japan, South Korea, USMCA and the Phase One deal with China. Of course, he blasted Biden at every turn, promised to end Biden's American decline and to get us out of the ditch. "Biden is the face of left-wing failure and corruption," Mr. Trump said.  

Beside restoring economic incentives, he intends to close the border again, reinstitute "Remain in Mexico," stop the "catch and release," program, stop the fentanyl drug invasion, restore parental rights in the schools, rebuild the missile defense system, tout the principles of hard work and merit. No more critical race theory, he said.   

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Here's what wasn't in the speech: no trash talk, no grievances, no 2020 election denial.  It was a temperate speech. It was a well-considered speech and in that sense, we saw a new Donald Trump, hopefully discarding some baggage and returning back to the successful campaign of 2016, which laid out a clear America First agenda that he implemented in his four-year term.  Perhaps most of all, the speech was chock-full of optimism and you know I love optimism. He talked about a "national greatness" agenda.  

Let me quote this: 'And together we will make America powerful again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. We will make America glorious again. And we will make America strong, again."  Anyway, I would just say, good stuff, Mr. President. Please keep it up.  

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow's opening commentary on the November 16, 2022, edition of "Kudlow."