Trump Reaches Out But Also Takes His Shots In Speech To Congress And Nation
As a rule, presidents want to have it both ways in their annual State of the Union addresses.
They want to "reach out to all Americans" with uplifting appeals to unity and bipartisanship. But they can't resist pumping up the pep rally for their party and most loyal supporters.
If that applies to all presidents in all seasons, it surely applied Tuesday night to President Trump, who has found the halfway point of his term to be fraught with political travail.
The president's address had been delayed a week because of a 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government, a shutdown for which polls showed he bore the burden of blame. His approval ratings in general had slumped in the new year, and a phalanx of investigations is moving inexorably forward in Congress as well as in the justice system.
While he
