Strong support for Nato. Tax cuts for middle-earners. More spending on infrastructure. The destruction of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. An end to “trivial fights” and an appeal for politicians to “unite for the good of the country.”

Had another president, say Barack Obama, delivered such a speech to the US Congress this week, it would have been rapturously received. Yet this was the speech of another president, Donald Trump, so it has had a rather different response.

His unthinking critics, predictably, dismissed Mr Trump’s comments on unity as mere rhetoric, empty words that will be followed by no action; Congressional Democrats theatrically (and rudely) laughed at him in response.