For more than a month, Mr. Trump has threatened to invoke a state of emergency along the southern border with Mexico, in an attempt to circumvent Congress, which has refused to give him $5.7 billion for a border wall.
But it was not until this week that Senate Republicans — many of whom vehemently oppose the idea on the grounds that it tramples legislative prerogative — made it clear that diverting funding from other projects for a wall, in the name of a national emergency, was a nonstarter.
For the moment, Mr. Trump heeded their wishes. The emergency declaration was not among hisdemands for increased border security.
It was, to a significant degree, an act of political self-protection
On unity:
The agenda I will lay out this evening is not a Republican agenda or a Democrat agenda,” Mr. Trump said, opening his speech on a conventionally presidential note on Tuesday. “It is the agenda of the American people.”
A couple of hours earlier, during a private lunch with network anchors that did not stay private long, Mr. Trump called Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, “nasty,” described former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. as “dumb,” ripped into Senator John McCain, and derided Senator Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas.”
On the Mueller Investigation
Mr. Trump suggested that investigations into his conduct posed a threat to national security.:
Then, about 15 minutes into the address, Mr. Trump hit on an issue foremost in his consciousness — the looming threat of congressional investigations into his conduct.
First, he offered what amounted to a plea for the new Democratic majority in the House to avoid “ridiculous partisan investigations” and cautioned his enemies not to seek “revenge” against him.
Then came the bluntest of threats to the woman sitting behind him, Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn’t work that way!” he said.
“We must be united at home to defeat our adversaries abroad,” he said.
Then to unite his party,
He attempted to unite divided Republicans.
Already facing a divided Congress, Mr. Trump has been rebuked by members of his own party in recent days over his decision to pull troops from Syria and his demands for a border wall.
In response, he invoked two issues that have been used to rally divided conservatives for decades — the fights against abortion and socialism.
Other issues:
There could be no greater contrast to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our nation saw in recent days,” he said, referring to efforts by Democrats in New York and Virginia to loosen restrictions on abortion rights.
In recent days, Republicans on Capitol Hill have been circulating talking points urging them to highlight plans by Democrats, including the freshman Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, to increase taxes on the wealthy.
“Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country,” Mr. Trump said. “America was founded on liberty and independence — and not government coercion, domination and control.”
Women’s issues:
He defended his record on women’s issues.
Mr. Trump dedicated several minutes to listing his economic accomplishments on behalf of women as he faced row upon row of seats occupied by Democratic women wearing white, in a visual demonstration of their unprecedented power in a House run by one of their own.
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“No one has benefited more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58 percent of the newly created jobs last year,” said Mr. Trump, who seemed genuinely surprised by the thunderous applause it evoked from women on both sides of the aisle.
“You weren’t supposed to do that,” said the president, who went on to praise the record-breaking election of 117 women to Congress in 2018.
That, too, garnered a hearty ovation. He has a long way to go, however.
Recent polls show that large majorities of women disapprove of his performance.
On the wall
As President Trump veered into immigration, partisan tension soared.
With 10 days left for Congress to pass a border security package and avert another government shutdown, Mr. Trump devoted a significant portion of his speech to making the case for his signature campaign proposal: a wall at the southern border.
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“This is a smart, strategic, see-through steel barrier — not just a simple concrete wall,” he said, adding, “Simply put, WALLS WORK and WALLS SAVE LIVES.
But as Mr. Trump raised the time frame to keep the government fully funded, the Democrats tensed and Republicans continued to applaud.
Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, buried her head in her hands. As he detailed a litany of familiar talking points about caravans marching toward the United States, there was a disgruntled round of groans, punctuated by a couple boos as they looked around at each other, shaking their heads.
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[Trump wants a border wall. Here’s what’s in place already.]
Representative Veronica Escobar, Democrat of Texas, whose district includes most of El Paso, was visibly angry after Mr. Trump referenced her district and the decrease in crime. She appeared to mouth that it was safe before the wall and after the wall.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” she mouthed to her colleagues, her arms crossed as other representatives looked over in her direction.
There were also some unhappy murmurs when he described the increase in troops at the southern border and scoffs at his description of the “savage MS-13 gang.”
The women in white took their bows.
The audience for Mr. Trump’s State of the Union address looked like a striking sea of white, with Democratic women — many dressed in white in a nod to the women’s suffragist movement — sitting together. Midway through the president’s speech, they did something completely unexpected: They stood up and cheered.
“No one has benefited more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58 percent of the newly created jobs last year,” Mr. Trump said, prompting the women to roar their approval. After all, many of them had new jobs, in the House, which they took from men.
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“You weren’t supposed to do that,” the president said, smiling.
When President Trump mentioned the record number of women in Congress during his State of the Union address, many Democratic women who had not previously applauded stood and cheered.
IMAGE BY ERIN SCHAFF FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
“All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the work force than ever before,” Mr. Trump went on, adding, “Don’t sit yet you’re going to like this.”
And then he delivered his biggest applause line: “Exactly one century after Congress passed the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote, we also have more women serving in Congress than at any time before.”
It was a striking moment for a president who has been routinely accused of misogyny, who paid hush money to a pornographic film actress and a Playboy model and who spoke in vulgar terms as he admitted on videotape that he had sexually assaulted women.
The Democratic response: Race and voting rights.
Stacey Abrams, the former minority leader of the Georgia legislature, narrowly lost her bid to be the first African-American woman governor in the South, but it was the way she lost — amid charges of voter suppression and vote rigging — that really rankled.
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In choosing Ms. Abrams to give the Democratic response, her party’s kleaders were tapping a crusader for voting rights, and that is what she delivered.
“While I acknowledged the results of the 2018 election here in Georgia, I did not and we cannot accept efforts to undermine our right to vote,” Ms. Abrams said. “This is the next battle for our democracy, one where all eligible citizens can have their say about the vision we want for our country. We must reject the cynicism that says allowing every eligible vote to be cast and counted is a ‘power grab.’ Americans understand that these are the values our brave men and women in uniform and our veterans risk their lives to defend.”
She also tackled race, even as a Democratic governor, Ralph Northam of Virginia, fights for his political survival after photos of a man in black face and another in a Ku Klux Klan robe emerged in his medical school yearbook.
“We fought Jim Crow with the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, yet we continue to confront racism from our past and in our present,” she said, “which is why we must hold everyone from the very highest offices to our own families accountable for racist words and deeds — and call racism what it is: Wrong.”
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President Trump announces next meeting with Kim Jong-un
Mr. Trump plans to sit down with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, this month in Vietnam, a country chosen as a neutral location for their second nuclear summit meeting, but one that also has plenty of symbolic significance.
Mr. Trump hopes the meeting will jump-start a diplomatic effort that has stalled since their first encounter, last June in Singapore. While North Korea since then has refrained from overtly provocative actions like testing nuclear warheads or ballistic missiles, it has yet to agree to actually give up any piece of its atomic arsenal.
“Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong-un is a good one,” Mr. Trump said. “Chairman Kim and I will meet again on February 27th and 28th in Vietnam.”
Trump to Meet With Kim Jong-un in VietnamFeb. 5, 2019
Trump warns House Democrats: Don’t investigate me or my administration.
After spending the first portion of his speech patting himself on the back for what he views as his administration’s accomplishments, including low unemployment, Mr. Trump issued a stern warning to the Democrats now in charge of the House.
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“An economic miracle is taking place in the United States — and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations,” he said. “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn’t work that way!”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi smirked behind him.
Representative Adam Schiff of California, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, smiled. He has already begin examining whether money laundering could have motivated Mr. Trump’s coziness with Russian oligarchs.
The speech was longer than last year’s, but short of the record.
This year’s State of the Union address was the second longest in recorded history, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The project’s data dates back to 1964. Tonight’s address surpassed Mr. Trump’s first State of the Union by about two minutes, but falls short of former President Bill Clinton’s 2000 address by about six minutes.
Who Are the Trumps’ State of the Union Guests?Feb. 4, 2019
Striking a theme of unity with some notes off key.
President Trump delivered a message of bipartisan unity on Tuesday 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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
Image
President Trump shook hands with Speaker Nancy Pelosi before giving the State of the Union.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times
“Together, we can break decades of political stalemate,” Mr. Trump told lawmakers from the rostrum of the House of Representatives. “We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future. The decision is ours to make.”
Mr. Trump signaled that he will not back off his hard-line immigration policies that have polarized the country. “No issue better illustrates the divide between America’s working class and America’s political class than illegal immigration,” he was to add, according to excerpts released by the White House. “Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards.”
Read more from Peter Baker.
Jumping the gun.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi was spared any discomfort that might have come with the ritual introduction of the president of the United States. The president jumped the gun.
ADVERTISEMENT
Before she could utter the traditional, “Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you the president of the United States,” Mr. Trump had already started speaking.
Image
President Trump delivering the State of the Union address on Tuesday at the Capitol.CreditErin Schaff for The New York Times
While Mr. Trump forgot to have Ms. Pelosi introduce him, another Republican president — George W. Bush — made a big deal of Ms. Pelosi’s introduction of him in 2007, the year she first became speaker.
“Tonight, I have a high privilege and distinct honor of my own — as the first President to begin the State of the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker,” Mr. Bush said then.
Here’s what Mr. Trump has said so far and how it stacks up against the facts.
President Trump said that more people are working in the United States than at any time in history.
This is misleading.
While the total number of people working in the United States is higher than ever, it is not because of the president’s policies. It is because more people than ever live in the United States. The more relevant way to look at this is the labor force participation rate, which measures the percentage of people working as a portion of the population. That is nowhere near a record.
President Trump said the American economy is considered “far and away the hottest economy anywhere in the world.”
This is false.
The American economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018, the most recent available data. Growth in Latvia and Poland was almost twice as fast. Same for China and India. Even the troubled Greek economy posted stronger growth. And a wide range of economic analysts estimate that the growth of the American economy slowed in the fourth quarter, and slowed even further in the first month of 2019.
In excerpts released before his speech, President Trump took credit for America’s superstar status in the world, saying other countries are envious of the economy and that its military is the most powerful.
This is misleading.
America has long been considered the world’s superstar, a status that predates Mr. Trump’s time in office, going back to the end of World War II. And while the American economy has been growing during Mr. Trump’s presidency, it is a continuation of the trend since June 2009.
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[You can find more fact checks here.]
“Could you believe it? He choked like a dog.”
At a private lunch for television anchors on Tuesday, Mr. Trump put the lie to what his counselor, Kellyanne Conway, called a coming pitch for “c-o-m-i-t-y.”
Some bon mots offered up:
On the prospects of facing former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the 2020 campaign: “Biden was never very smart. He was a terrible student. His gaffes are unbelievable. When I say something that you might think is a gaffe, it’s on purpose; it’s not a gaffe. When Biden says something dumb, it’s because he’s dumb.”
On Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts: “I hope I haven’t wounded Pocahontas too badly,” he said. “I’d like to run against her.”
On Senator Schumer: “Schumer,” he added, “can be a nasty son of a bitch.”
And on the embattled Virginia governor, Ralph Northam: “Did you see that news conference?” Mr. Trump asked. “Could you believe it? He choked like a dog.”
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For good measure, the president took another shot at the late Senator John McCain: “By the way,” Mr. Trump said, “he wrote a book and the book bombed.”
Rick Perry, your designated survivor, finds his bunker.
Every year, one member of the president’s cabinet is held in a secure location, in case catastrophe strikes. Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate, hasn’t been much in evidence since he joined the Trump administration as the energy secretary.
He won’t be in evidence at the State of the Union address either. He is the designated survivor, spirited, well, somewhere.
Trump Asks for Unity, but Presses Hard Line on Immigration
On race issues:
The Democratic response: Race and voting rights.
Stacey Abrams, the former minority leader of the Georgia legislature, narrowly lost her bid to be the first African-American woman governor in the South, but it was the way she lost — amid charges of voter suppression and vote rigging — that really rankled.
ADVERTISEMENT
In choosing Ms. Abrams to give the Democratic response, her party’s leaders were tapping a crusader for voting rights, and that is what she delivered.
“While I acknowledged the results of the 2018 election here in Georgia, I did not and we cannot accept efforts to undermine our right to vote,” Ms. Abrams said. “This is the next battle for our democracy, one where all eligible citizens can have their say about the vision we want for our country. We must reject the cynicism that says allowing every eligible vote to be cast and counted is a ‘power grab.’ Americans understand that these are the values our brave men and women in uniform and our veterans risk their lives to defend.”
She also tackled race, even as a Democratic governor, Ralph Northam of Virginia, fights for his political survival after photos of a man in black face and another in a Ku Klux Klan robe emerged in his medical school yearbook.
“We fought Jim Crow with the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, yet we continue to confront racism from our past and in our present,” she said, “which is why we must hold everyone from the very highest offices to our own families accountable for racist words and deeds — and call racism what it is: Wrong.”
ADVERTISEMENT
President Trump announces next meeting with Kim Jong-un
Mr. Trump plans to sit down with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, this month in Vietnam, a country chosen as a neutral location for their second nuclear summit meeting, but one that also has plenty of symbolic significance.
Mr. Trump hopes the meeting will jump-start a diplomatic effort that has stalled since their first encounter, last June in Singapore. While North Korea since then has refrained from overtly provocative actions like testing nuclear warheads or ballistic missiles, it has yet to agree to actually give up any piece of its atomic arsenal.
“Much work remains to be done, but my relationship with Kim Jong-un is a good one,” Mr. Trump said. “Chairman Kim and I will meet again on February 27th and 28th in Vietnam.”
Trump to Meet With Kim Jong-un in VietnamFeb. 5, 2019
Trump warns House Democrats: Don’t investigate me or my administration.
After spending the first portion of his speech patting himself on the back for what he views as his administration’s accomplishments, including low unemployment, Mr. Trump issued a stern warning to the Democrats now in charge of the House.
ADVERTISEMENT
“An economic miracle is taking place in the United States — and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations,” he said. “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn’t work that way!”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi smirked behind him.
Representative Adam Schiff of California, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, smiled. He has already begin examining whether money laundering could have motivated Mr. Trump’s coziness with Russian oligarchs.
The speech was longer than last year’s, but short of the record.
This year’s State of the Union address was the second longest in recorded history, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The project’s data dates back to 1964. Tonight’s address surpassed Mr. Trump’s first State of the Union by about two minutes, but falls short of former President Bill Clinton’s 2000 address by about six minutes.
Who Are the Trumps’ State of the Union Guests?Feb. 4, 2019
Striking a theme of unity with some notes off key.
President Trump delivered a message of bipartisan unity on Tuesday 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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
Image
President Trump shook hands with Speaker Nancy Pelosi before giving the State of the Union.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times
“Together, we can break decades of political stalemate,” Mr. Trump told lawmakers from the rostrum of the House of Representatives. “We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future. The decision is ours to make.”
Mr. Trump signaled that he will not back off his hard-line immigration policies that have polarized the country. “No issue better illustrates the divide between America’s working class and America’s political class than illegal immigration,” he was to add, according to excerpts released by the White House. “Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards.”
Read more from Peter Baker.
Jumping the gun.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi was spared any discomfort that might have come with the ritual introduction of the president of the United States. The president jumped the gun.
ADVERTISEMENT
Before she could utter the traditional, “Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you the president of the United States,” Mr. Trump had already started speaking.
Image
President Trump delivering the State of the Union address on Tuesday at the Capitol.CreditErin Schaff for The New York Times
While Mr. Trump forgot to have Ms. Pelosi introduce him, another Republican president — George W. Bush — made a big deal of Ms. Pelosi’s introduction of him in 2007, the year she first became speaker.
“Tonight, I have a high privilege and distinct honor of my own — as the first President to begin the State of the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker,” Mr. Bush said then.
Here’s what Mr. Trump has said so far and how it stacks up against the facts.
President Trump said that more people are working in the United States than at any time in history.
This is misleading.
While the total number of people working in the United States is higher than ever, it is not because of the president’s policies. It is because more people than ever live in the United States. The more relevant way to look at this is the labor force participation rate, which measures the percentage of people working as a portion of the population. That is nowhere near a record.
President Trump said the American economy is considered “far and away the hottest economy anywhere in the world.”
This is false.
The American economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018, the most recent available data. Growth in Latvia and Poland was almost twice as fast. Same for China and India. Even the troubled Greek economy posted stronger growth. And a wide range of economic analysts estimate that the growth of the American economy slowed in the fourth quarter, and slowed even further in the first month of 2019.
In excerpts released before his speech, President Trump took credit for America’s superstar status in the world, saying other countries are envious of the economy and that its military is the most powerful.
This is misleading.
America has long been considered the world’s superstar, a status that predates Mr. Trump’s time in office, going back to the end of World War II. And while the American economy has been growing during Mr. Trump’s presidency, it is a continuation of the trend since June 2009.
ADVERTISEMENT
[You can find more fact checks here.]
“Could you believe it? He choked like a dog.”
At a private lunch for television anchors on Tuesday, Mr. Trump put the lie to what his counselor, Kellyanne Conway, called a coming pitch for “c-o-m-i-t-y.”
Some bon mots offered up:
On the prospects of facing former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the 2020 campaign: “Biden was never very smart. He was a terrible student. His gaffes are unbelievable. When I say something that you might think is a gaffe, it’s on purpose; it’s not a gaffe. When Biden says something dumb, it’s because he’s dumb.”
On Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts: “I hope I haven’t wounded Pocahontas too badly,” he said. “I’d like to run against her.”
On Senator Schumer: “Schumer,” he added, “can be a nasty son of a bitch.”
And on the embattled Virginia governor, Ralph Northam: “Did you see that news conference?” Mr. Trump asked. “Could you believe it? He choked like a dog.”
For good measure, the president took another shot at the late Senator John McCain: “By the way,” Mr. Trump said, “he wrote a book and the book bombed.”
Rick Perry, your designated survivor, finds his bunker.
Every year, one member of the president’s cabinet is held in a secure location, in case catastrophe strikes. Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate, hasn’t been much in evidence since he joined the Trump administration as the energy secretary.
He won’t be in evidence at the State of the Union address either. He is the designated survivor, spirited, well, somewhere.
And finally, including an announcement on a new visit with North Korean Leader Kim in Vietnam,
this:
An economic miracle is taking place in the United States — and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations,” he said. “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn’t work that way!”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi smirked behind him.
Representative Adam Schiff of California, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, smiled. He has already begin examining whether money laundering could have motivated Mr. Trump’s coziness with Russian oligarchs.
The speech was longer than last year’s, but short of the record.
This year’s State of the Union address was the second longest in recorded history, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The project’s data dates back to 1964. Tonight’s address surpassed Mr. Trump’s first State of the Union by about two minutes, but falls short of former President Bill Clinton’s 2000 address by about six minutes.
Who Are the Trumps’ State of the Union Guests?Feb. 4, 2019
Striking a theme of unity with some notes off key.
President Trump delivered a message of bipartisan unity on Tuesday 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.
President Trump shook hands with Speaker Nancy Pelosi before giving the State of the Union.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times
“Together, we can break decades of political stalemate,” Mr. Trump told lawmakers from the rostrum of the House of Representatives. “We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future. The decision is ours to make.”
Mr. Trump signaled that he will not back off his hard-line immigration policies that have polarized the country. “No issue better illustrates the divide between America’s working class and America’s political class than illegal immigration,” he was to add, according to excerpts released by the White House. “Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards.”
Jumping the gun.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi was spared any discomfort that might have come with the ritual introduction of the president of the United States. The president jumped the gun.
Before she could utter the traditional, “Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you the president of the United States,” Mr. Trump had already started speaking.
President Trump delivering the State of the Union address on Tuesday at the Capitol.CreditErin Schaff for The New York Times
While Mr. Trump forgot to have Ms. Pelosi introduce him, another Republican president — George W. Bush — made a big deal of Ms. Pelosi’s introduction of him in 2007, the year she first became speaker.
“Tonight, I have a high privilege and distinct honor of my own — as the first President to begin the State of the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker,” Mr. Bush said then.
Here’s what Mr. Trump has said so far and how it stacks up against the facts.
President Trump said that more people are working in the United States than at any time in history.
This is misleading.
While the total number of people working in the United States is higher than ever, it is not because of the president’s policies. It is because more people than ever live in the United States. The more relevant way to look at this is the labor force participation rate, which measures the percentage of people working as a portion of the population. That is nowhere near a record.
President Trump said the American economy is considered “far and away the hottest economy anywhere in the world.”
This is false.
The American economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018, the most recent available data. Growth in Latvia and Poland was almost twice as fast. Same for China and India. Even the troubled Greek economy posted stronger growth. And a wide range of economic analysts estimate that the growth of the American economy slowed in the fourth quarter, and slowed even further in the first month of 2019.
In excerpts released before his speech, President Trump took credit for America’s superstar status in the world, saying other countries are envious of the economy and that its military is the most powerful.
This is misleading.
America has long been considered the world’s superstar, a status that predates Mr. Trump’s time in office, going back to the end of World War II. And while the American economy has been growing during Mr. Trump’s presidency, it is a continuation of the trend since June 2009.
[You can find more fact checks here.]
“Could you believe it? He choked like a dog.”
At a private lunch for television anchors on Tuesday, Mr. Trump put the lie to what his counselor, Kellyanne Conway, called a coming pitch for “c-o-m-i-t-y.”
Some bon mots offered up:
On the prospects of facing former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the 2020 campaign: “Biden was never very smart. He was a terrible student. His gaffes are unbelievable. When I say something that you might think is a gaffe, it’s on purpose; it’s not a gaffe. When Biden says something dumb, it’s because he’s dumb.”
On Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts: “I hope I haven’t wounded Pocahontas too badly,” he said. “I’d like to run against her.”
On Senator Schumer: “Schumer,” he added, “can be a nasty son of a bitch.”
And on the embattled Virginia governor, Ralph Northam: “Did you see that news conference?” Mr. Trump asked. “Could you believe it? He choked like a dog.”
For good measure, the president took another shot at the late Senator John McCain: “By the way,” Mr. Trump said, “he wrote a book and the book bombed.”
Rick Perry, your designated survivor, finds his bunker.
Every year, one member of the president’s cabinet is held in a secure location, in case catastrophe strikes. Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate, hasn’t been much in evidence since he joined the Trump administration as the energy secretary.
He won’t be in evidence at the State of the Union address either. He is the designated survivor, spirited, well, somewhere.
The speech was predictable, and Trump looked and acted presidential, especially pleased when the women Democrats all dressed in white cheered Trump and clapped at his remarks toward women, as the represented suggested of the past.
The black women did not please him as much as they implied civil rights violations with documented voter suppression efforts.
The feeling one gets is, that Trump is getting stronger and bolder, with half of his first term under his belt, and the only problem he has is the ongoing investigation, that he is trying real hard to put behind. No surprises, but the sustaining boldness and continuing bad taste which he has pretty much normalized idionsynchratically as a stylalystic matter, pretty much balanced by some of his alleged successes, which the Democrats countered with the fact that the economic upturn started under Obama’s administration, after all he salvaged the effects o of the Great Recession.The outstanding question remains over the legal difficulties he is in, and whether legal and political policy can sustain the investigation not only until the end of his first term, but enable a second run, in spite of an uphill battle?
Tax return controversy:
BI INTELLIGENCE
EDITION
- Copyright © 2019 Insider Inc. All rights reserved.
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Republicans are begging a top Democrat to drop the quest for Trump’s tax returns
Joe Perticone 51m
President Donald Trump speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump. AP Photo/ Evan Vucci
Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee requested that the Democrat in charge change course on obtaining President Trump’s tax returns.
The top Republican on the committee, as well as the ranking members on its oversight subcommittee, characterized it as an abuse of authority.
The House Ways and Means Committee is holding its first hearing on presidential tax returns on Thursday.
WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee asked the new Democratic chairman to drop the quest to obtain President Donald Trump’s tax returns from the Treasury Department.
In a letter to Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, who is the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, on Thursday, Republican Reps. Kevin Brady and Mike Kelly pleaded with the chairman to not pursue Trump’s tax returns, citing privacy concerns and what they characterized as an abuse of authority.
Read more: Democrats will be able to make Trump’s tax returns public if they take back Congress. Here’s how.
“Some of the proposals our Committee is considering this week leave us deeply concerned. We believe all Americans have a fundamental right to the privacy of the personal information found in their tax returns,” the letter read. “This isn’t about the tax returns of the presidents and vice-presidents but about making sure Congress does not abuse its authority. This is about protecting the private tax returns of every American.”
Brady, the House Ways and Means Committee’s ranking Republican, and Kelly, the top Republican on the subcommittee on oversight, added that Democrats “appear willing to sacrifice this critical protection for political gain” and that revealing the president’s tax returns would set a “dangerous precedent.”
“When we start making exceptions for one taxpayer, it begins the process of eroding and threatening the privacy rights of all taxpayers,” they wrote. “This is a risk we cannot and should not take.”
The letter goes on to characterize the quest for Trump’s tax returns, which is entirely legal, as “weaponizing our nation’s tax code by targeting political foes.”
The Republicans concluded by suggesting the committee “veer away from this dangerous path and work together to develop common sense improvement to our ethics laws.”
The letter comes as the committee is set to hold its first hearing on obtaining tax returns from presidents and vice presidents since the Democrats took back majority control of the House in January.