The scars of the recent impeachment battle were on display in a divided Congress, even as President Trump avoided the subject and stuck to an upbeat State of the Union script.
It began with the president appearing to avoid the outstretched hand of Nancy Pelosi and ended with the House leader apparently ripping up a copy of the text. In between, Republicans stood for multiple ovations, while Democrats, with the women in suffragette white, stayed silent.
Through it all, Trump delivered a rosy assessment of his wins so far and laid out the aspirations that he hopes will land him a second term in office.
“America’s enemies are on the run, America’s fortunes are on the rise, and America’s future is blazing bright,” he said, swapping his freewheeling campaign persona out for the more conventional role of a president addressing a joint session of Congress. “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!”
Even by the unique yardstick of this presidency, the first days of February offered an extraordinary news cycle and backdrop for Trump to set out the themes he hopes will propel him to a second term.
A new Gallup poll found that 49% of respondents approved of the job Trump is doing in office, beating his previous high by 3 points. In the meantime, the Democrats’ nomination race descended into a farce in Iowa, and, within 24 hours, Trump is all but certain to be acquitted in a Senate impeachment trial.
It made for striking optics as Trump delivered an upbeat message of progress while the speaker of the House looked over his shoulder.
The tension was evident from the start, when Pelosi changed the traditional wording, avoiding describing the “high honor and distinct pleasure” of introducing the 45th president.
But the president resisted the temptation to take the fight to his accusers in Congress. Instead, he followed President Bill Clinton’s example from 1999, when Clinton made no mention of impeachment.
Supporters applauded the discipline on display. Sam Nunberg, who worked on the 2016 Trump campaign, said: “This was a smart move not to complicate the inevitable and perhaps bipartisan acquittal tomorrow.”
But that did not mean there were not partisan attacks. As Trump talked up his work to reduce medical costs, he attacked what he described as plans for the “socialist takeover of our healthcare system” on the Left.
And there was a more coded message directed at supporters of Bernie Sanders, a socialist who is one of the Democratic presidential primary front-runners, as Trump welcomed Juan Guaido, recognized by the U.S. as the president of Venezuela. It afforded an opportunity for Trump to rail against the damage done by the regime of Nicolas Maduro.
“Socialism destroys nations,” he said. “But always remember, freedom unifies the soul.”
As ever, the presidential guests were carefully selected to accent his message. The guests included immigration officers, victims of violent crime, and military families. There was also one moment when Trump displayed his knack for reality TV-style moments, surprising a mother and two children by flying in Sgt. 1st Class Townsend Williams from Afghanistan for an emotional reunion.
But the night will be remembered for the friction on display between the president and Pelosi.
She recently told the New York Times she had not spoken to Trump since October, and, for his part, the president told Fox News on Super Bowl Sunday that he was not optimistic that Democrats would want to work with him.
“I’m not sure that they can do it, to be honest,” he said.
As he left the podium, Pelosi could be seen tearing up her advance copy of the speech. The president might not have mentioned impeachment, but its ripples extended all the way through the House chamber.
