White House advisers reluctantly acknowledge they could use a reset — “I guess we could use that word,” one White House official said — and see President Donald Trump’s televised address next week before a joint session of Congress as a prime opportunity to start again.

Like Trump’s inaugural address, Tuesday’s speech will be written by aide Stephen Miller. But rather than echo the broad strokes of the Jan. 20 “American carnage” address, White House aides involved in planning say the president will be more detailed as he seeks to recast his tumultuous first month as a success, ticking through the promises he’s already kept and outlining the next ones on his agenda.


“One can expect the president to put forth a detailed and deliberative recitation of the many things he’s accomplished in the first 40 days,” Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, said in an interview. “He’s his own best spokesperson and messenger in terms of [outlining] completely the list of achievements that are either largely ignored or unknown.”

White House officials said that after a first month driven almost entirely by policies they could enact unilaterally, the joint congressional address will focus on work the White House wants done on Capitol Hill during the rest of 2017.

The prime-time speech comes after a high-velocity month of legal fights, internal staff drama, revelations related to Russia, a shake-up of Trump’s national security team and the signings of numerous executive actions that have dramatically redirected the federal government.

“I think it's important for the American people to know that he was an agent of change. He came here to get things done,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday. “And he didn't waste any time.”

Trump still has Cabinet members awaiting confirmation, and key positions throughout the government remain vacant as Trump and his advisers insist they are doing the best they can in the face of united Democratic opposition, particularly in the Senate.

Officials familiar with the speech planning said Trump is expected to tout companies such as Intel and Carrier that have announced since his election plans to either expand operations or keep more jobs domestically. It’s part of Trump’s recent message that “I inherited a mess” and an attempt to frame any jobs or stock market growth as his doing, after he described in his inaugural a deeply struggling nation even amid more positive broader economic indicators.

Spicer said on Monday of the speech: “The president is going to lay out I think two main things—where we’ve come and where we’re going.”

And after the speech, plans are in the works to put both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence back on the road, after staff saw how visibly invigorated Trump was by his weekend campaign rally in Florida.

Trump will be speaking to a television audience expected to number in the tens of millions, but he’ll also be standing before Congress — including hostile Democratic lawmakers — asking for their help passing legislation to do what he can’t through executive orders.

Like President Donald Trump’s inaugural address, Tuesday’s speech will be written by aide Stephen Miller. | Getty

Two administration officials said Trump plans to highlight four policy areas, with one summarizing Trump’s expected message to Congress as: “I want us to get tax reform; I want us to get the border secured; I want us to get health care; I want us to get infrastructure.”

Trump’s inaugural address struck a populist and nationalist tone but glossed over many conservative priorities, not mentioning at all, for instance, repealing President Obama’s signature health care law. While next Tuesday’s speech will be more detailed, aides don’t expect Trump to suddenly roll up his policy sleeves for an in-depth discussion of, say, the border adjustment tax or health insurance exchanges.

“That’s just not the president,” said one of the White House officials. “He’s not a details guy.”

Rick Santorum, a former senator and presidential candidate, said the speech represents “a chance for him to really create an inflection point” as “the first time that he really engages the Congress because he certainly hasn’t done so far.”

“This is an address to Congress. This is not an inaugural. You have to go out there and lay out your plans. I’d be very disappointed if this wasn’t more of a laundry list speech, really putting some meat on the bones as for what he’s going to do,” Santorum said, who suggested Trump should “start out with something everybody likes” — such as infrastructure —“then you can go off into things that are obviously a little more controversial,” including repealing the health care law or the travel ban.

Michael Steel, who served as press secretary for former Speaker John Boehner, said presidential addresses to Congress are a tough balancing act.

“You have to walk kind of a fine line because members of Congress, the Republican ones anyway, are thirsting for presidential leadership. At the same time, they detest being micromanaged,” Steel said. “So you have to offer a roadmap to accomplishing the goal of repealing and replacing Obamacare, tax reform, everything necessary to making America great again while at the same time not being overly prescriptive.”

The administration is aware of the challenge threading that needle.

“What Congress wants is they don’t want the president to tell them what to do,” said one of the administration officials, “and when it gets tough they say, ‘We need the president to push this through.’”

Trump could also be tested by appearing before a crowd that will include more than 200 Democratic lawmakers, many of whom likely won’t clap for most of his policies and applause lines.

In the past, Trump has proved to be easily baited into diversions and Democrats are carefully planning who to bring as guests, with preliminary talk of filling the galleries with those impacted by Trump’s early actions, such as Muslim refugees and immigrants who came here illegally and later contributed to American society, Democratic congressional aides said.

Amid talk of White House stumbles, chaos and resets, Conway pitched the speech as a chance to take a breath for those judging Trump’s presidency after a fraction of a first term.

“The last three consecutive presidents were elected to two terms,” she said. “Most Americans have decided that four years is not enough for a president to deliver on his promises and policies so four weeks is certainly not enough time by which to judge the success of one’s presidency.”

