CONGRESS/DEMS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said Thursday [1-31-19] that ‘unity’ will be the theme of his first State of the Union address under divided government and that he respects Stacey Abrams, who will give the Democratic response. ‘I hope she does a good job. I respect her,’ Trump said of Abrams, who will be the first black woman to deliver the rebuttal. Trump will give his speech Tuesday [2-5-19] before a joint session of Congress at a sensitive time in talks over keeping the government open and funding the border wall he is demanding as part of any deal. Members of Congress are inviting federal workers worried about another shutdown after Feb. 15. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election meddling also hovers. Trump will also be surrounded by living reminders of the changes wrought by the 2018 midterm elections that ushered Democrats into the House majority.”
–Associated Press, “Trump Says State of Union Address to Stress ‘Unity’,” The New York Times online, January 31, 2019