President Trump's Hubris

Ryan Heshmati

March 07, 2025

In his joint address to Congress on Tuesday night, President Trump made clear the degree of confidence and resolve he feels as his second term sets off to an aggressive start. A sea of gameshow-like giveaway spectacles filled the night, like his announcement that a West Point applicant was admitted to the school or his bestowing of an honorary secret service agent title to a young cancer survivor. Beyond those moments, however, were lines that shed light on the President’s lack of hesitation in making strong moves, to the dismay of roughly half of the nation.

In one moment, Trump criticized what he described as a “weaponized government” under the Biden administration. Speaking of the numerous legal cases that had been launched against the then-former president, Trump remarked, “How did that work out? Not too good, not too good,” to a chamber half filled with cheers and applause from Republicans with simultaneous silence from the Democratic half of the chamber. Without a doubt, the president is signaling a defiance, which in light of one of the most significant comebacks in political history is unsurprising from him.

After Democratic Congressman Al Green was removed for interrupting President Trump’s speech, he complained about Democrats and put his willingness to compromise, or lack thereof, on display by saying, “I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy… I could find a cure to the most devastating disease… and these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer…” With a no-concessions attitude, pressure on Republicans to deliver on promises to voters before midterms threaten their House majority in two years will be powerful. Trump indicates little concern for that risk, however. 

NPR’s Elena Moore reports his speech was the longest to a joint session of Congress in at least 60 years. Based on Trump’s personality that the nation has come to know in the last 8 years, perhaps his inclination to bask in the spotlight is not surprising, but it nevertheless opens him up to scrutiny. While President Trump touts a “golden age” for the United States, his tariff threats and flip-flopping have rattled markets and create the potential for serious harm the American economy, according to many experts.

After surviving multiple impeachments, assassination attempts, and criminal cases, only to still end up back in the White House serving a second term (with both the House of Representatives and the Senate in his party’s hands), the president does have some cause to feel proud, but Trump’s excessive hubris might blind him to very real issues his administration and the nation faces, both in terms of political division and fallout from his economic policies. Ultimately, historians will be the judge of how the administration and the nation fare.