After ending the government shutdown with a temporary funding measure, Trump had one remaining chance to show up Speaker Nancy Pelosi: He could have thrown a State of the Union address of his own making, outside of Congress.
Let’s not pretend that the State of the Union spat had anything to do with the government shutdown. The only person trying to make that connection was Pelosi. She made a formal invitation to Trump and then revoked it 13 days later, claiming the government shutdown created a security risk for the event.
Pelosi’s claim about event security crumbled under the most mild scrutiny: The shutdown had already been underway for 13 days when she issued the invitation. Homelad Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen promptly refuted Pelosi’s statement about security concerns:
The Department of Homeland Security and the US Secret Service are fully prepared to support and secure the State of the Union. We thank the Service for their mission focus and dedication and for all they do each day to secure our homeland.
— Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen (@SecNielsen) January 16, 2019
Pelosi then re-extended the invitation on Monday, making good on her promise to allow a State of the Union when the shutdown ended. But it was never really up to Pelosi to decide when, or where, the State of the Union would take place.
Trump does not need Pelosi’s invitation to deliver the State of the Union address. All he needs to do is make sure Congress receives a copy of it. That is how every president from George Washington to Woodrow Wilson handled the State of the Union. William Howard Taft was the first president to read the address as a speech, and his successors have followed suit.
The pomp and circumstance (and handshakes, so many handshakes) we associate with the State of the Union have never been required by law. The Constitution requires the president to “from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” It does not require him to be invited.
When Pelosi closed the doors of the House to him, Trump had the freedom to design his own State of the Union event with the venue and audience of his own choosing. He could have found a stadium and packed it full of his supporters: angel parents, Border Patrol officers, military veterans, beneficiaries of the First Step Act, and others. Democrats would be cut out of the picture. There would be no Pelosi sitting over his shoulder on the dais, nor would there be cameras on congressional Democrats pulling whatever stunt they have planned for this year.
An unconventional State of the Union address would be perfectly in line with Trump’s style. He excels at creating spectacle, loves high television ratings, and has confounded the media by going over their heads and speaking directly to the people. He could have turned a stuffy tradition into must-see TV.
Democrats would have seen this move as disrespectful to Pelosi, but let’s look at how Trump and Pelosi treat one another. Pelosi lied about security in an attempt to cancel Trump’s speech, and then Trump denied Pelosi the use of military aircraft for a planned overseas tour. There is no amount of polite hand-shaking that will convince America that these two are chummy. Pelosi wants to play gracious hostess now, and Trump could have denied her that chance.
By revoking the invitation, Pelosi gave Trump a permission slip to deliver the State of the Union address on his own terms, instead of hers. When she extended the invitation again, Trump should have politely declined. He still has time to type this out on presidential letterhead: “I’m sorry, Nancy, I can’t make it. I’ve already made other plans.”
Angela Morabito (@AngelaLMorabito) writes about politics, media, ethics, and culture. She holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Georgetown University.
