WASHINGTON – Twenty-one years ago, President Bill Clinton delivered his 1999 State of the Union address while his impeachment trial was underway in the Senate. The speech, one Republican critic said, was “a home run.”
Clinton, who knew he would soon be acquitted, didn’t mention his impeachment. Instead, he focused on the future. He took credit for the strong economy, proposed bipartisan legislation to rescue Social Security and appealed to his opponents to rise above their differences.
The situation facing President Donald Trump as he approaches his third State of the Union speech is uncannily similar. When he speaks on Tuesday evening, his impeachment trial won’t be over; the Senate is expected to vote to acquit him on Wednesday.
Trump faces a test of self-control. Can he resist the temptation to gloat over his coming victory and deride the Democrats whose impeachment effort fell short? Or can he rise above the moment to revive attempts at bipartisan cooperation?
His State of the Union speech may include a ritual appeal to national unity, just as it did last year and the year before. But his everyday actions and rhetoric undercut whatever gauzy sentiments he will read from his text. And the rest of his speech, if it holds to his previous pattern, will be a self-congratulatory description of the world according to Trump.
He’ll declare that the U.S. economy is enjoying “a boom the likes of which the world has never seen,” a claim that is partly true and partly not. The current expansion, which began under President Obama, is the longest on record, but growth is running at only about 2% a year, far short of an all-time high.
He’ll claim major victories in signing a trade pact with Canada and Mexico and a partial agreement with China, although trade experts say both deals are more modest than he claims.
He’ll extol his foreign policy exploits as he’d like them to be seen: his defeat of Islamic State (which hasn’t stopped fighting), his actions to deter Iran (which doesn’t seem deterred), his diplomacy with North Korea (which has gone nowhere), and his new Israeli-Palestinian peace plan (which won’t produce peace anytime soon).
In short, it will mostly be a Trump campaign speech dressed up with more dignified language than his rally stem winders.
To be fair, other presidents have used their annual addresses to Congress to help them run for re-election.
But none of them were running after being impeached. Tuesday’s speech gives Trump a prime opportunity to show what, if anything, he has learned from his impeachment.
He’s unlikely to declare himself chastened. But will he take a public victory lap? Will he declare himself emboldened and newly empowered to stretch his presidential powers? Will he rebuke the Republican senators who dared to call his actions on Ukraine inappropriate even though they voted not to call for more witnesses?
A conventional president might say: “I thought my impeachment was unwarranted and I’m pleased that the Senate appears to agree. Now we can get back to the job the American people sent us here to do.”
A graceful president might even acknowledge that some of his actions were wrong and use his acquittal as an opportunity for a fresh start.
But Trump is neither conventional nor graceful. Magnanimity is not among his attributes, in victory or otherwise. The lessons he draws and the tone he strikes will make this year’s State of the Union speech well worth watching.
The Los Angeles Times