Despite bipartisan sheen, Trump’s speech spoke to his base

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - Even as he appealed for unity, President Donald Trump made it clear in his State of the Union address on Tuesday that his idea of common ground is having Democrats back his policy agenda and stop investigating his administration.

For all of Trump’s talk about bridging “old divisions” and pursuing bipartisan initiatives, Trump previewed the well-trod themes that will power his 2020 re-election campaign: a hard line on immigration and border security, a deep suspicion of trade deals, and an “America First” foreign policy.

This time, the dissonance between Trump’s words and the political reality was more jarring than ever. For the first time in his presidency, Trump had a Democrat seated behind him in the House chamber, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and spoke to a Congress where Democrats share power with Republicans.

Beyond Capitol Hill, the field of Democrats seeking to challenge Trump for the presidency is growing by the week.

The speech suggested that Trump, while talking up such lofty bipartisan goals such as combating HIV and childhood cancer, was signaling to his most passionate supporters that he was not about to compromise on the issues that matter most to them.

“While there were many unifying moments, the president took time to appeal to his base over issues that split the parties such as investigations, immigration and abortion,” said Ron Bonjean, a longtime Republican strategist in Washington.

“Nothing has changed after tonight’s delivery by Trump because both sides are simply too dug in to allow any sort of major compromise legislation to occur,” Bonjean said.

Fresh off a month-long partial government shutdown that damaged him politically, Trump showed no inclination he would back off his demand for more than $5 billion for a barrier along the U.S border with Mexico — and in fact used a large portion of the speech to make his case for the wall to the American people.

In doing so, Trump employed much of same rhetoric he used during last year’s congressional elections, warning of an “onslaught” of migrants from Central America, labeling the border “lawless” and declaring that “countless” Americans had been murdered by illegal immigrants.