‘I ask you to choose greatness’
President Trump calls for end to ‘political stalemates,’ delivers jabs in State of the Union
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called on the nation to “break decades of political stalemate” in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, one delayed by the 35-day partial government shutdown he’d provoked, which exacerbated partisan divisions and put Washington’s dysfunction on vivid display.
“There is a new opportunity in American politics if only we have the courage together to seize it,” Trump said. “Victory is not winning for our party. Victory is winning for our country.”
“Together, we can break decades of political stalemate. We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future. The decision is ours to make.”
“Tonight,” he said, “I ask you to choose greatness.”
His calls to compromise, however, were interspersed with partisan jabs. The traditional nationally televised speech came at a perilous juncture for the president: For the first time he shares power with congressional Democrats after last fall’s big House election losses, even as he faces judgment in a range of investigations into his administration, family business, campaign and even his 2016 inaugural committee.
Trump defiantly alluded to the investigations at one point, saying, “An economic miracle is taking place in the United States, and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations.”
Sitting just behind him, the president’s newly empowered Democratic opponent, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, rolled her eyes.
The speech was one of the longest on record, at more than 80 minutes. Trump hit on a variety of topics, including criminal justice, drug prices, trade, infrastructure, health care, national security, curing childhood cancer and ending AIDS in America.
He spoke longest about illegal immigration and his proposed southern border wall — his signature campaign promise, and the issue at the center of his recent standoff with Congress.
His record over his first two years as president has left Democrats as well as some Republicans skeptical of his willingness to follow through on his initiatives or to accept compromise.
Even in the days before his speech, the president repeatedly bad-mouthed the efforts of a bipartisan group of lawmakers trying to negotiate compromise border-security measures to avert another impasse with Trump over his demand for $5.7 billion to start building a border wall.
Trump tried to make the case that overhauling immigration was “a moral duty,” while arguing that “no issue better illustrates the divide between America’s working class and America’s political class.”
“Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards,” he said.
Departing from his prepared remarks on a teleprompter, the president said he would like to admit legal immigrants in “the largest numbers ever” — an aspiration at odds with his proposals to dramatically curb legal immigration.
Trump has suggested that the State of the Union address was an opportunity for a reset, though few expected him to change his style.
Once again he proposed a national program to rebuild roads, bridges and other infrastructure, yet he did so briefly and to little response from lawmakers. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., conspicuously did not applaud; many Republicans oppose the sort of big spending program that would be popular with Democrats.
The House will begin hearings on infrastructure legislation on Thursday.
Trump noted efforts to lower prescription drug prices as another area of potential bipartisanship, but details remain divisive. He also promoted the revised North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which requires Congress’ approval but faces some opposition in both parties.
The president also noted his administration’s efforts toward a trade accord with China, even as both countries’ negotiators have struggled to reach a deal against the backdrop of a trade war of tit-for-tat tariffs that he initiated.
Trump’s top priority — building the wall and curbing legal and illegal immigration — will perhaps be the hardest to achieve, given the gulf with Democrats and even some Republicans. Though Democrats have agreed in the past to support border fences as part of broad immigration deals, Pelosi now calls a wall “immoral.” Further hindering the president, many of his hard-line immigration allies do not see a wall as a priority.
Addressing international affairs, Trump confirmed that he would hold a second summit meeting with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, in Vietnam on Feb. 27 and 28, despite that country’s failure to begin the promised process of denuclearization.
Trump asserted that his decision to engage the onceisolated Kim has averted a nuclear catastrophe. “If I had not been elected president of the United States, we would right now, in my opinion, be in a major war with North Korea with potentially millions of people killed,” he said — prompting another eye-roll from Pelosi.
He hailed two of his recent decisions: to abandon the Reagan-era IntermediateRange Nuclear Forces Treaty, known as the INF treaty, because of Russia’s violations, and to officially recognize Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Guaido as head of that country’s government instead of socialist President Nicolas Maduro.