A newly emboldened Trump gives Democrats a reason to fret
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[February 05, 2020]
By James Oliphant
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald
Trump took the stage for his State of the Union speech in an unfamiliar
position: With the wind at his back.
For most of his three years in office, Trump has been surrounded by
tumult, much of it of his own making, resulting ultimately in his
impeachment by the House of Representatives.
Now, for the first time in a long time, things are looking up.
He is on the verge of being acquitted by his fellow Republicans in the
U.S. Senate on Wednesday. Opinion polls show his approval ratings on an
upswing. And the Democratic presidential nomination race was consumed by
chaos as results from the Iowa caucuses this week were delayed by a full
day because the mobile app used to record the results had a coding
problem.
For Trump, the timing could not be better.
Despite being impeached, he is firmly entrenched in office, after
surviving the Mueller investigation into Russian electoral interference
and accusations that he abused his office by pressuring Ukraine to
investigate a political rival, former vice president Joe Biden.
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“He has had existential political threats facing him from the moment he
was elected until tomorrow,” said Texas-based Republican consultant Matt
Mackowiak, referring to the impending acquittal vote on impeachment
charges.
All of it brought out the showman in the former reality TV star during
his State of the Union speech on Tuesday night. At one point, he
choreographed a reunion between a U.S. servicemember returning from
Afghanistan and his family to cheers from lawmakers.
Along that line, for much of the speech, Trump appeared to be making an
overt appeal to suburban voters who could decide his fate.
He spoke of child-care initiatives, and efforts to combat AIDS and the
opioid crisis. He called for greater transparency for medical bills, and
he sought to take credit for protecting Americans with pre-existing
healthcare conditions, even though his administration supports a lawsuit
that would gut the Affordable Care Act.
Trump also touted bipartisan accomplishments such as the
U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal and vowed to protect entitlement programs
such as Medicare and Social Security. He pledged to protect the public
from the coronavirus that is spreading in China and beyond.
RIGHT TURN
But lest anyone think the combustible Trump had turned touchy-feely, he
also reassured his hardline supporters by previewing what promises to be
a recurrent campaign theme: accusing Democrats of supporting unlimited
free healthcare to undocumented immigrants.
As he did during his first presidential campaign, he warned of the
dangers of so-called “Sanctuary Cities” and detailed incidents of
violent crime committed by border-crossers.
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![](../images/020520pics/news_m23.jpg)
President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a
joint session of the U.S. Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S.
Capitol in Washington, U.S. February 4, 2020. REUTERS/Leah
Millis/POOL
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
Trump, too, seemed eager to exploit divisions among Democrats as
they struggle to settle on a candidate who could mount the biggest
threat to him.
The early favorite, Biden, appeared to have stumbled badly in Iowa,
while U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist, was much
more competitive.
At one point, Trump appeared to reference Sanders, who favors a
government-run healthcare system, by declaring “We will never let
socialism destroy American healthcare!"
At a campaign event in New Hampshire, Sanders drew a laugh from the
crowd on Tuesday when he questioned Trump’s pledge to improve
healthcare in America: “Really? How gullible do you think the
American people are?” he said.
In his speech to Congress, Trump did not address the most polarizing
topic in the room, the months-long attempt by Democrats to remove
him from office. He avoided any temptation to take a victory lap
ahead of Wednesday’s Senate vote.
“It was very smart to ignore the impeachment trial, stay above the
fray and instead provide a laundry list of accomplishments along
with proposals that will keep his base rock solid,” said Ron Bonjean,
a Republican strategist in Washington.
That did not stop partisan tensions from running high. At the close
of his remarks, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, who had orchestrated
Trump's impeachment in the House, tore up her copy of his speech.
Earlier, Trump had refused to shake her hand upon entering the
chamber.
While recent polls showed that more than 40 percent of Americans
favored Trump’s conviction and removal from office on charges that
he tried to persuade Ukraine to interfere in the coming election,
Trump received good news from another poll on Tuesday.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Feb/05/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_VALENTINES_2020.png)
The Gallup organization said he had reached his personal best in
their tracking poll, hitting 49% approval – the highest since he
took office.
That prompted nervous Democrats on social media all day to fret that
Trump, after three years of non-stop drama, might be peaking at just
the right time.
(Reporting by James Oliphant; Additional reporting by Simon Lewis in
Manchester, New Hampshire; Editing by Howard Goller)
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