Photo courtesy of Steve Rhodes

Tonight President Trump will address Congress, and who knows what he’ll say. But it’s easy to get too swept up in what he says. Instead, watch what he does.  

So far, the president’s actions and those of his administration speak volumes: 

1. He put an unelected billionaire Pentagon contractor in charge of federal government firings (after promising to “clean up the military-industrial complex”).
2. Elon Musk’s firing brigade has so far left the Pentagon and its contractors in peace, even though Pentagon contracts cost more than all federal employees combined (after reports that the Pentagon would cut spending, which turned out to be just moving money around).
3. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is said to be protecting updated nuclear weapons programs from the reallocation of funds (after the president said he’s interested in “denuclearization”). 
4. A recent administration memo laid out plans to expedite deportations for 1 million immigrants, some of whom entered the country legally (after leading many to believe that deportations would target “millions and millions of criminal aliens” who, in fact, do not exist).
5. The president endorsed the House budget framework that would cut Medicaid while putting billions more into the Pentagon (despite promises not to touch Medicaid, and a vague statement about cutting the Pentagon budget in half). 

Some of these promises would be devastating if fulfilled - deporting millions can only happen if the administration targets millions of ordinary people who are cherished parts of their families and communities.

But others would actually be worthwhile - taking on the military-industrial complex and denuclearization are ideas we’ve championed for years.

Those are still good ideas. Unfortunately, this administration so far places its fealty to the billionaire class and the president’s penchant for imperialism-redux world takeover plans above any of the ideas that would actually make the world safer.

So whatever he says tonight, keep watching what he does.