Verbal Fireworks Likely at Trump’s State of the Union Speech
U.S. President Donald Trump is putting the final touches on an election-year State of the Union speech that figures to be high on drama, putting him face-to-face with Democratic adversaries who impeached him but have…
U.S. President Donald Trump is putting the final touches on an election-year State of the Union speech that figures to be high on drama, putting him face-to-face with Democratic adversaries who impeached him but have failed to drive him from office.
He will speak on Tuesday night in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives where in December Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic majority in the House approved two articles of impeachment against Trump for pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden.
The big speech takes place one day after Democrats in Iowa choose who they want to face Trump as the Democratic presidential nominee in the Nov. 3 election, and one day before the Republican-led Senate is expected to acquit him of impeachment charges.
Sandwiched between these two events, Trump’s speech is expected to make some reference to the effort to toss him from office, advisers said.
At the same time he will offer to work with his political opponents on issues like reducing healthcare and drug prices and rebuilding infrastructure, they said.
“We’re really looking to giving a very, very positive message,” Trump told reporters during a Super Bowl party at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
But the president held out little hope for bipartisan cooperation this year in the wake of the bitterly divided impeachment fight, saying he doubted Democrats would want to work with him.
“I’m not sure that they can do it, to be honest. I think they just want to win and it doesn’t matter how they win,” Trump told the Fox network in a Super Bowl Sunday interview.