President Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday was a long, defiant tour de force of an address from a man who believes he has an unprecedented mandate to govern. President John F. Kennedy’s “the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans” remark in his 1961 inaugural address comes to mind as a similar and memorable moment in American political oratory history. Trump electrified the Republicans in attendance by proclaiming, “America’s momentum is back, our pride is back, our confidence is back, and the American dream is surging bigger and better than ever before.”

Will this momentum last? Will the strongman style the president employs in his public appearances continue? And, most importantly, will the things Trump mentioned (seizing the Panama Canal as well as Greenland among them) actually come to fruition or is this simply the usual repertoire that we’ve seen in countless Trump speeches of the past?

The president enumerated a cavalcade of the achievements he’s accomplished since taking the oath of office in January — including many executive orders targeted at social issues like gender and English as a national language as well as national security issues including cracking down on illegal immigration.

Illegal immigration at the southern border is very low, continuing a trend that started during the waning days of President Joe Biden’s administration. Though Biden may take some credit, Border Patrol apprehensions hit a nadir in February — Trump’s first full month back in office. Biden can’t take full credit for that.

Though highly controversial and sometimes misguided, a new light of government efficiency has been shone on the federal bureaucracy. Despite the massive confusion and instability, much of it facing Marylanders who depend on the bureaucracy for their livelihoods, superfluous jobs have been eliminated and, in many cases, unnecessary spending reduced. Ending industrial scale fraud, waste and abuse is a lofty goal and we should strive toward it in the most responsible way possible.

Have there been stumbles? Plenty. They are sorting themselves out through the judicial process, and we hope that the country’s robust judiciary makes the judgments most in line with the values we hold dear in our Constitution. But trial and error, which are the alpha and omega of scientific progress, are equally necessary in reforming government. Let’s just hope these trials end in success — instead of error — for the American people.

Standpattism is easy. Incumbents naturally fight like crazy to defend the status quo because they enjoy its immediate benefits. The beneficiaries of change, on the other hand, are typically faceless and have less at stake individually than current jobholders. Despite what one may think of him, the leadership Trump’s displaying is inarguable. He has a knack for knowing what people want to hear — and his speeches are always going to make for good television.

But it’s more than simple rhetoric. The president is intent on delivering his agenda with the help of the Republican-controlled Congress. This address was not a bunch of hot air. It had actionable goals — and we need to take them seriously.

The president’s political opponents are loud. Texas Rep. Al Green, a Democrat, was removed from the chamber by House Speaker Mike Johnson after Green protested Trump saying he had a clear and direct mandate to deliver his agenda. While there may be better ways to go about it, minority opposition is essential in government at every level. No president is a king and no president has a blank check, despite election vote totals.

Trump is commonly criticized for a suboptimal grasp of the facts, as he well should be. But we should apply the same standard to his critics and, as journalists, we do. Where is the evidence that putting the federal government on a long-overdue crash diet is inflicting injury on the American people? It could prove very beneficial if done correctly, though Elon Musk has given us some pause. Is education plunging? Is the economy stalling? Is crime climbing? Is our national security weakening? No — at least not yet. And let’s hope it stays that way.

Democrats have done little to assemble a united front in opposition to the president. Is this because they have weak leadership? Weak messaging? Or is it because so many people actually support the president’s agenda that it’s difficult for Democrats to get people to oppose it?

Regardless, the best we can expect from Trump’s opposition party, so far, are ineffectual statements that are not on the same fiery and passionate level of speaking Trump is. The Democratic response to Trump’s impassioned one-hour-and-forty-minute speech? Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s 11-minute response.

President Trump is off to a strong start like a Kentucky Derby winner out of the starting gates. But those right out of the gate don’t always finish in first place. Trump is fine to keep this momentum going, so long as the American people continue to support his agenda and, so far, many of his supporters are still liking what they’re seeing.