When 72-year-old President Donald Trump delivers his second State-of-the-Union Speech to a joint session of Congress tonight, it’s expected to fall on deaf ears. Democrats are already poised for battle, creating partisan responses to Trump’s claims of success on the economy and U.S. foreign policy. Whatever the metrics, Democrats insist that the country’s doing worse off under Trump than under Obama. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have refused to negotiate with Trump on his signature campaign promise of building out the U.S. border wall with Mexico. Pelosi and Schumer went to the mat against Trump, prompting the president to shut down the government Dec. 22, 2019. Thirty-five days later, Trump relented , reopening the government giving Pelosi and Schumer a big victory, beating Trump at his own game.
Trump agreed Jan. 25 to reopen the government, putting 800,000 federal employees back to work. When the dust settled, Pelosi and Schumer won the PR battle but remains to be seen whether they won the war to reelect a Democrat in 2020. While Trump wants compromise on the border wall, the Democrats want only to score political points while hordes of Democrats announce for president. Trump promises to deliver a conciliatory speech tonight, asking Democrats to bury the hatchet and work with the administration to promote Trump’s America First agenda. Neither Pelosi nor Schumer are in any conciliatory mood, since the government shutdown won them political points heading into 2020. Trump plans to push for his border wall funding tonight but few Democrats are in any mood to compromise, especially because the polls look to favor Democrats.
Trump plans to highlight his White House accomplishments, including creating the lowest unemployment in over 50 years. ‘You’re going to continue to see the president push for policies that help continue the economic boom,” said White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Focusing on the economy or advances in U.S. foreign policy against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] takes wind out of Democrats’ sails. They’d like Trump to spend his time pushing for more border wall funding, something Democrats have used as a campaign rallying cry. With a Feb. 15 deadline looming to complete a new Continuing Budget Resolution [CBR], it doesn’t look like a House-Senate Conference Committee can agree on more border wall funding, something Trump insists upon. Trump faces a bleak reality of either shutting down the government again or declaring a national border emergency.
Trump agreed to reopen the government on the premise that Democrats would negotiate in good faith over his request for $5.7 billion in border wall funding. Unless there’s some reversal by Democrats, it doesn’t look like they’ll give Trump his border wall funding in the next CBR. At that point, Trump will decide whether to shut government down again or declare a national border emergency, getting the funds needed from the military to build out the wall. “Democrats can call it a fence, the president can call it a wall and then we can call it a day, which I think is one way of skinning the cat,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), hoping the House-Senate Conference Committee splits Trump’s request down the middle. Speaking tonight, Trump’s speech was delayed one week because Pelosi refused to schedule it until the government reopened, something that happened Jan. 25.
Tonight’s speech is Trump’s first under Democrat House rule, something that happened in the Nov. 8, 2018 Midterm elections. Elections have consequences, including losing the House from Republican rule to Democrats. Winning the House big Nov. 8, Pelosi and Schumer see less need to compromise on meeting Trump’s demands. Democrats hoped that Trump would face impeachment proceedings by now with Special Counsel Robert Mueller allegedly concluding his investigation.. “We will see hear a commitment from the President on issues that have bipartisan support in Congress and the Country, such as lower the price of prescription drugs and rebuilding America’s infrastructure,” said House Democrats. But House and Senate Democrats have shown only hostility toward Trump, as they posture toward the 2020 election. Giving Trump border funding would make Democrats look weak.
Tonight’s State-of-the-Union speech should be one of the most polarized speeches in U.S. history, as Democrats show no interest in working with Trump. They hoped by now Special Counsel Robert Mueller would have given them ample grounds for impeachment, something that hasn’t happened. While Trump wants Democrats to step up on border wall funding, he knows the reality. Trump looks to pivot to the economy and foreign policy, highlighting accomplishment in reducing unemployment and growing U.S. Gross Domestic Product [GDP]. Democrats rebuttal will be delivered by former Georgia Democrat governor’s candidate Stacy Abrams, giving a very different view of Trump’s economy on working class voters. Democrats won’t give Trump any credit for doing anything right on the economy or foreign policy. Painting a bleak picture could backfire on Democrats looking ahead to 2020.
