2/5/2019

CONGRESS/DEMS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump delivered a message of bipartisan unity on Tuesday [2-5-19] night in his first address to Congress in the new era of divided government, but any hope of enduring harmony was dispelled long before he arrived at the Capitol. Mr. Trump, who has warred with Democrats for weeks over his plan to build a wall along the nation’s southwestern border, hoped to use the nationally televised speech to present himself as a leader who can work across party lines even as he continued to press lawmakers to give him money for the barrier…The speech came at a pivotal moment halfway through the president’s term as he seeks to regain momentum after the midterm election defeat that handed control of the House to Democrats and after his failed effort to use a partial government shutdown to extract money for the wall. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader who has blocked his efforts to build the border barrier, was sitting behind him for the first time on the House rostrum.”

Peter Baker, “Trump’s Address to Congress Unlikely to Bring Harmony,” The New York Times online, February 5, 2019