President Trump’s State of the Union address was inspirational and unifying, or disjointed and untruthful, depending on the party affiliation of the lawmaker you’re talking to.
Trump made an effort to find common ground with Democrats, but Democrats weren’t feeling it.
“It was long, it was disjointed and quite frankly, I didn’t think it was a call to unity,” House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told the Washington Examiner. “Maybe it played better on TV than in the room.”
Republicans uniformly praised Trump’s speech and in particular the lines calling for partisan unity and working to pass measures to improve infrastructure and eradicate AIDS.
“The president did a great job laying out a vision for American greatness,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., told the Washington Examiner after he left the chamber Tuesday night. “I thought it was very upbeat.”
Scalise said Trump’s call for the Democrats to end their attacks and investigations was aimed at forcing them to make a choice.
“The Democrats are going to have to choose who they are going to be fighting for,” Scalise said. “The people in the resist movement or the people and families who are counting on us to make this a better country.”
Meanwhile, Democrats were counting up the mistruths they believe were uttered by the president, and some of them were keeping track on notepaper. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., pulled out his list of complaints about the speech, and said the president’s comments about millions of people no longer needing food stamps was disingenuous.
“It’s difficult to believe that there is a desire for us to sit down and work together when the president begins to say some things that are not true during the speech,” Cleaver said. “When you start talking about how many people have been removed from food stamps, he put them out, he kicked them off food stamps. It’s just not accurate.”
Republicans and Democrats praised Trump’s guest list, which included astronaut Buzz Aldrin and three World War II veterans.
“It was an amazing collection of Americana represented in the gallery tonight,” Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., told the Washington Examiner.
Republicans steered clear of questioning Trump’s decision to criticize the investigations he faces, not only from special counsel Robert Mueller but also House Democrats who are now in the majority and are gearing up to probe his administration.
“I’m sure there are things you can pick out that people were not wild about in the speech,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, a frequent Trump critic, said as he walked from the House back to the Senate. “But overall, you have to say it was a very strong and solid delivery and a strong message about the president’s agenda.”
Democrats mostly frowned and stayed seated during Trump’s remarks, but he got them to stand and clap when he talked about the historic number of women serving in Congress this year.
“That was probably the highlight, to be able to be acknowledged,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.
Lawmakers were not particularly moved by Trump’s much-anticipated remarks on border security and his desire for a wall along the southern border. He did not announce plans to circumvent Congress and unilaterally allocate federal funding for a wall, as some had predicted, nor did he say anything new about compromising with the Democrats on border security.
Negotiators working on a border security deal ahead of a critical Feb. 15 deadline said his speech would not impact their efforts because he really said nothing new.
“He talked about the State of the Union from his perspective, but we’ve got our own work to do,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
