Trump talks big on eve of impeachment vote
Standing before a Congress and a nation sharply divided by impeachment, US President Donald Trump used his State of the Union address to extol a ‘‘Great American Comeback’’ on his watch, three years after he took office decrying a land of ‘‘American carnage’’ under his predecessor.
The first president to run for re-election after being impeached, Trump received a raucous but divided response from Congress yesterday, with Republicans in the House of Representatives chanting ‘‘Four more years’’ while Democrats stood silently.
‘‘America’s enemies are on the run, America’s fortunes are on the rise, and America’s future is blazing bright,’’ Trump declared.
‘‘In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American decline and we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny. We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never going back!’’
Setting a yardstick for success and then contending that he had surpassed it, Trump spent much of the speech highlighting the US economy’s strength, including low unemployment, though the period of growth began under his predecessor, Barack Obama.
The main question was whether he would address the impeachment charges against him.
Trump spoke in the House of Representatives, on the opposite side of the Capitol from where the Senate is today expected to acquit him largely along party lines.
The first half of his nationally televised speech was largely optimistic, not mentioning the impeachment trial that has consumed Washington in favour of a recitation of accomplishments and promises. Trump stood before the very lawmakers who have voted to remove him from office – and those who are expected to acquit him when the Senate trial comes to a close.
In advance of his address, Trump tweeted that the chaos in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses showed that Democrats were incompetent and should not be trusted to run the government.
While the White House said the president would have a message of unity, he also spent time on issues that have created great division and resonated with his political base.
He attacked Democrats’ health care proposals for being too intrusive, and again highlighted his signature issue – immigration – trumpeting the sections of wall on the border with Mexico that have been constructed.
He also dedicated a section to ‘‘American values’’, discussing efforts to protect ‘‘religious liberties’’ and limit access to abortion as he continues to court the evangelical and conservative Christian voters who form a crucial part of his support base.
A protester interrupted the speech by shouting at Trump to do something about gun violence, and was removed from the House visitors’ gallery.
He appeared to be Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jamie, was among 17 people killed in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in 2018. He was the guest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
After Trump’s address, Pelosi tore up her copy of Trump’s speech while standing behind the president.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivered the Democratic Party’s official response, drawing a contrast between actions taken by Democrats and Trump’s rhetoric.
‘‘It doesn’t matter what the president says about the stock market,’’ Whitmer said. ‘‘What matters is that millions of people struggle to get by or don’t have enough money at the end of the month after paying for transportation, student loans, or prescription drugs.’’