Trump hails economy in State of the Union
President speaks on eve of expected acquittal
WASHINGTON – Addressing the nation in extraordinary times, President Donald Trump declared America “stronger than ever before” Tuesday night as he delivered his State of the Union address on the eve of his likely impeachment acquittal and in the aftermath of the chaotic first votes of the race to replace him.
The first president to run for reelection after being impeached, Trump received a sharply partisan welcome to the House of Representatives, with some Republicans 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 he’d surpassed it, Trump has gone from an inaugural address that decried “American carnage” to extolling the “Great American Comeback,” claiming credit for the nation’s economic success as a chief rationale for a second term.
Republican members of Congress applauded nearly every sentence of Trump’s speech, often leaping to their feet to cheer him.
The only suspense concerned whether he would address the impeachment charges against him.
Trump spoke from the House of Representatives, on the opposite side of the Capitol from where the Senate is expected to acquit him Wednesday, largely along party lines.
Trump spent the first part of his speech highlighting the economy’s strength, including low unemployment, stressing how it has helped blue-collar workers and the middle class, though the period of growth began under his predecessor, Barack Obama. And what Trump calls an unprecedented boom is, by many
measures, not all that different from the solid economy he inherited from Obama. Economic growth was 2.3% in 2019, matching the average pace since the Great Recession ended a decade ago in the first year of Obama’s eightyear presidency. Trump had promised much higher.
Even for a Trump-era news cycle that seems permanently set to hyperspeed, the breakneck pace of events dominating the first week of February offered a singular backdrop for the president’s address. Yet Trump told TV anchors at a midday meal that his address would be “extraordinarily low key.”
U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who has presided in the Senate over only the third impeachment trial in the nation’s history, was on hand Tuesday night – this time in his more customary seat in the audience. 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.
And over his shoulder, visible in nearly every camera shot, was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a frequent thorn in Trump’s side who authorized the impeachment proceedings that charged the president with abusing the power of his office to push Ukraine to investigate a political foe. Pelosi created a viral image with her seemingly sarcastic applause of the president a year ago. When Trump entered the chamber this time, he did not take her outstretched hand, but it was not clear he had seen her gesture. Later, as Republicans cheered, she remained in her seat.
Trump spent the hours before his speech tucked away at the White House, hosting network anchors for lunch while working on final drafts of the address. He entered the moment on a roll, with impeachment acquittal imminent, his job approval numbers ticking upward and Wall Street looking strong. Aides played down the possibility that he would use the address to seek vengeance over impeachment.
“I think that this has gone on for too long and I think that, if you look at the ratings, the American people are frankly bored of it,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told Fox News early Tuesday.
Trump stressed the new trade agreements he has negotiated, including his phase-one deal with China and the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement he signed last month.
Among the invited guests was Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who drew a standing ovation from Republicans and Democrats in a rare moment of political unity.
Trump called Guaidó the “true and legitimate” leader of Venezuela and said President Nicolas Maduro is a “tyrant” as lawmakers applauded.
Another guest was broadcaster Rush Limbaugh, who sat next to Melania Trump. Limbaugh was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the speech.
“We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never going back!” President Donald Trump
The Democrats were supplying plenty of counter-programming, focusing on health care – the issue key to their takeover of the House last year. Many female Democrats wore white as tribute to the suffragettes, while a number in the party wore lapel pins to highlight climate change, saying Trump has rolled back environmental safeguards and given free rein to polluters.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used the Democratic response to Trump’s address to appeal to workingclass voters, saying her party is focusing on easing health care costs and addressing other pocket-book issues.
“It’s pretty simple. Democrats are trying to make your health care better. Republicans in Washington are trying to take it away,” said Whitmer. Trump captured Michigan in 2016 by fewer than 11,000 votes by appealing to lower-earning workers, winning a state that hadn’t voted for the GOP presidential candidate since 1988.
“It doesn’t matter what the president says about the stock market,” said Whitmer, whose name has surfaced as a potential vice presidential nominee. “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.”