The NPR Politics Podcast - "Stronger Than Ever Before": Trump Delivers Made-For-TV State of The Union Address

Episode Date: February 5, 2020

It was a highly partisan event. Trump touted his own accomplishments on issues like the economy and paid family leave, lowering the cost of health care, immigration and national security.It was punctuated by made-for-TV moments, including a surprise appearance by a soldier as his family was recognized for their sacrifice.Republicans present gave Trump repeated, resounding applause. After the conclusion of the remarks, Nancy Pelosi ripped up a copy of Trump's speech.This episode, White House correspondent Tamara Keith, congressional correspondent Susan Davis, and senior political editor and correspondent Ron Elving.Connect:Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Find and support your local public radio station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. I'm Susan Davis. I cover Congress. And I'm Ron Elving, Editor-Correspondent. It is 11.17 p.m. on Tuesday, February 4th. This is our second podcast of the night. Tonight, President Trump delivered his State of the Union address. I say to the people of our great country and to the members of Congress, the State of our Union is stronger than ever before. Okay, that sounds totally normal, totally predictable,

pretty much a normal State of the Union. This was not a normal State of the Union. This was not a normal State of the Union address from almost the very beginning, from the moment that President Trump came up to the rostrum. Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, put out her hand to shake, and he did not grab her outstretched hand. No, and when she introduced him, she did not say it is my high honor and distinct privilege to present the president of the United States. I am very accustomed to having heard that over more than 30 years of watching these things in Washington. And she did not say it. Members of Congress, the president of the United States.

And then, Sue, and you were up on the Hill. Republicans stood. They cheered. They hooted. Democrats sat. And it was very visibly obvious because Democrats, there are a lot of women and they were all wearing white. And then after a very raucous speech that we'll get into, Nancy Pelosi, in front of the television cameras, tore up the president's State of the Union address. And if there was any question about whether she was just, you know, preparing it for a recycle bin or something, she was asked by a reporter out in the hallway in the Capitol. Madam Speaker, what did you think of Trump's speech tonight? I tore it up.

This was an incredibly partisan room tonight. I mean, from the cold receptions between the speaker and the president. But just how this speech was received in the room was such a stark contrast. room tonight. I mean, from the cold receptions between the speaker and the president, but just how this speech was received in the room was such a stark contrast. You had Democrats barely get out of their seats at times murmuring in protest at the president. Some Democrats like Tim Ryan of Ohio walked out in protest. There was at least one guest in the speaker's box who was removed for protesting and shouting out at the president. And yet on the other side of the aisle, you had absolutely raucous reception from Republicans,

multiple standing ovations, chants of USA, USA. I mean, it really just was a display of how divided we are as a country right now. Yeah. I mean, I think that to call this night partisan might be to understate what was happening there. And President Trump, in his speech, he made no apologies. Let's remember that tomorrow, the Senate is going to vote on two articles of impeachment against the president. The House members who were sitting in that room, the House managers who presented the case were all sitting together. Nancy Pelosi is sitting behind him. And President Trump delivered a confident, defiant, yes, bold speech. We have shattered the mentality of American decline and we have rejected the downsizing of Americans' destiny. We have totally rejected the downsizing. It's also a reminder that the president has a story to tell. You know, there's been so much

focus in Washington on impeachment and opposition to the president. But this was his opportunity to come out and sort of in your face, in your face, in your face a little bit. And he has a lot of things he can point to. He made a point to note USMCA, the rewrite of the 1994 NAFTA trade law. He talked about bringing China to the table. He gave a lengthy intro in the beginning about how strong the economy is. And even on national security, using things like his decision to order the killing of Iranian General Soleimani, which got big applause in that room, too. I mean, Trump clearly is trying to redirect the narrative away from impeachment and the negative sides of his presidency. And I think it was a very successful speech to that end. And as he was talking about the accomplishments, even the bipartisan ones, he didn't really mention the bipartisan aspects of it. When talking about the

economy, Democrats were not applauding his statistics about the economy, which are very good statistics. And then there was this section where he talked about health care. And this was a section where the president was really trying to draw contrasts with the Democrats, whoever it ends up being, who will be his opponent come November. 132 lawmakers in this room have endorsed legislation to impose a socialist takeover of our health care system, wiping out the private health insurance plans of 180 million very happy Americans. To those watching at home tonight, I want you to know we will never let socialism destroy American health care. We could quibble with how

happy everyone is with their health plans. Yeah, not everybody is, but most people who have it would like to keep it. And so he's hitting a real strong point here. It's the thing that's a goad is saying people out here in this room, you people there voted to take people's health insurance away. And that's an in-your-face kind of finger-pointing moment that's untypical in these State of the Union addresses. The irony is, is that socialism is where more Americans actually do like it is in their health care. And later in the speech, he promised, I will not touch your Social Security and Medicare. We'll keep that safe forever. All right, we're going to take a quick break. And when we get back, President Trump, he had some special announcements in his State of the Union.

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And we're back. And there were a number of moments in watching this speech where I think that we were legitimately surprised. You would almost think that the president was somebody who at one time had been a reality TV star and producer, and that he understood how to really hold an audience with an event that's unfolding in real time in reality right in front of their eyes. First of all, we saw the appearance of a competing leader of Venezuela who was there present in the gallery, a hero of freedom to many. Juan Guaido was right there, a very attractive young man standing there as a symbol of freedom. We saw a child from Philadelphia there with her single mom who has been going to a, as we call it, I suppose now, a government school as opposed to a public school. And it's apparently officially a failing school, and she wants to go to a better school.

And lo and behold, a scholarship has come through for her this afternoon, and her face lights up, and her mom looks so grateful. And then, as the night went on, President Trump had another very special announcement. There is one more thing. Tonight, we have a very special surprise. I am thrilled to inform you that your husband is back from deployment. He is here with us tonight and we couldn't keep him waiting any longer. This is like a staple of local news that

every time one of these things comes through on my Facebook feed, I cry. Like it is, it's a moment. And then with all of these other things, there was also an unusual, if not unprecedented moment where the president announced that there in the gallery with the first lady was Rush Limbaugh, the radio star who has just announced that he has stage four cancer, lung cancer. This is not good news, but what is good news is that he is the greatest fighter and winner that you will ever meet. Rush Limbaugh, thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country. And the president announced that he was giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Melania produced it and hung the ribbon around his neck there in the gallery before the cheering Republicans.

It was, I mean, Rush Limbaugh is a hugely divisive figure in American media and American culture. And I think that it was just sort of the chef's kiss to the evening where we talk about how partisan the room was to have the president use an award that is generally given to Americans of universally high held esteem. And I think it's fair to say Rush Limbaugh is not that. He's a very, very divisive figure. He's over the years said any number of controversial, sexist, racist statements. But he's also hugely popular

on the right. He's a base figure. And using this moment to award that was sort of a shock in the room. I mean, Republicans love him. This was one of those moments where people were cheering for him and looking up in the first lady's box and Democrats were just sort of sitting in their chairs gobsmacked at this reality TV moment. The historical question I have for you is this felt out of the ordinary, but it also felt like maybe it's a path that the country has been on for a long time, that maybe this state of the union was the state of the union where everyone just pulled back the mask and said, like, yeah, all those motions we've been going through all these years. It's over. I don't know. I mean, this is just a president who so clearly understands television unlike any other and knows how to create these moments and is really interested in what his ratings are. You know, you feel almost feel like a lot of this was driven by Trump wanting to be able to say that this was the best State of the Union speech that there ever was. And it certainly sort of knocked the dust off the State of the Union speech.

Generally, you know, the best things about State of the Unions is that they're ultimately kind of forgettable. And I don't think that this is one that we're going to forget. I think this was historic in the way that it was just another norm busting, institution busting, the way that Washington used to work. And it doesn't work like that anymore. And let me just add that I think this was by all means a campaign speech. This is a reelection year and President Trump delivered a campaign speech to at least half of the room. Yes, but always in an election year, in a re-election year, presidents always use the State of the Union as a kind of introduction of their campaign. Not that they haven't already been running, not that they haven't already introduced it in other ways,

but they want to get the attention of the nation on this unique occasion when they know they have everyone's eyeballs and they want to use that to be, above all, presidential, leader of the whole land, the person who is the symbol of us all, the emblem of America. And Donald Trump did a lot of that on the last page of the speech. That last page of his speech could literally have been given by any president in my lifetime. But the rest of the speech, especially the few pages right before that, was all about the base, all about sticking it to the libs and making the contrast between the parties as clear as it has ever been in our history since the Civil War. Politically, I would say that, you know, Trump's got a really good economy. That is a great thing for a president going into reelection.

And it's also coming right after the Democratic Party right now looks like it's in a mess with the way that the Iowa caucuses fiasco went down. And tomorrow he's going to be acquitted on both articles of impeachment. So in this snapshot in time and Tam, as you've noted, too, his approval rating right now is one of the highest it's been since he took office. It's his personal record. Forty nine percent, according to Gallup. Right. Like right now, in this moment, Donald Trump's having a good moment. Which leads to the Democratic response, which is always difficult to do a State of the Union response. And we are just going to take a few seconds with it. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.

She is the Democratic governor of a very important swing state. Sue, what did she try to do with this? Look, first, I want to say that I always tend to not be very critical of whoever gives the response to the president because it is legitimately the most thankless job in politics. And it's almost impossible to rise to the moment because it always contrasts from the president in the House chamber, raucous applause to a standalone person speaking into the camera. And the tone is always hard to get right. And this time I think it was particularly tough because that was such a partisan, fiery reality TV speech. And the governor delivered, I would say, a perfectly fine speech. It was very standard Democratic talking points about pushing back on the president's economic arguments, saying, yeah, it's a good economy, but for who? That the working class in this country is still suffering, talking about reaching across the aisles and bipartisanship and she can work with Republicans and a lot of this sort of unifying American rhetoric that I think Democrats, especially Democrats like Joe Biden, think that the country wants to hear. It was just a great example of that stark contrast that Ron was talking about of what sort of the parties are offering and what their messages are. And I'd argue the real Democratic response was Nancy Pelosi tearing up that speech.

Amen. Amen. Well, we we're in for an interesting nine months. Whew. Buckle up. All right. We're going to leave it there. We will be back tomorrow after the impeachment vote. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House. I'm Susan Davis. I cover Congress. And I'm Ron Elving, editor-correspondent. And thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.