Didn’t make it clear. If he is to show up and address the Congress he must be invited by the Speaker. He hasn’t been invited this year, and to be even more clear he isn’t even required to show up to deliver it. On the need to show up Pelosi reminded him
The Constitution calls for the President to “from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union.” During the 19th Century and up until the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, these annual State of the Union messages were delivered to Congress in writing. And since the start of modern budgeting in Fiscal Year 1977, a State of the Union address has never been delivered during a government shutdown.
Why bother with two speeches? Just stage the rally and send the text of the rally speech to Congress as the SOTU. The pomp and circumstance tradition of the speech to Congress, along with the all too predictable responses from the opposing parties is a tradition I’d like to see given a merciful death.
I hope the Sgt at Arms locks him out on Speaker Pelosi’s orders. He and his acolytes can either cram themselves into the Senate chamber or he can give an address from the oval that the press may or may not cover.
Regardless of what he actually does on January 29, he will make this year’s SOTU disinvite a campaign issue, hence the “rally.”
Me? I blame everything from here out on Mitch and a bunch of hellbillies in Kentucky.
Yes. He fights like hell against a co-equal Branch of our own government, but bends over backwards to give money away to our enemies (Russia sanctions), all the while falsely accusing Obama of having given money to Iran in the nuclear deal.
And there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, proof that he’s going to keep the government shut down at least through the 29th so he can have one more speech to rant about how the browns are invading the country and he needs his wall. If he can’t do it in the House with R’s applauding, he’ll do it in a rally.
This is going to be a long and even more painful ride for Federal workers and everyone else affected downstream. At this point, I think it’s going to be either the Coast Guard or the ATC/TSA that eventually forces an outcome of some kind. The WH is running out of ways to paper over the real effects of this thing.
He’s emotionally incapable of grasping the concept of checks and balances as a desired thing the founders were brilliant to devise. It’s like Nancy is Gandalf and Trump is Sauron—they were equally matched in power, but Gandalf was far wiser, far more emotionally sophisticated and insightful. So he was able to play Sauron by picking an option Sauron would find literally inconceivable.
Maybe he really is a Clinton Foundation mole put in place to destroy the GOP from the inside. At this point it is the only explanation that makes sense…
Of course he’s a coward, no question you’re right there, but he also believes in tv above everything else and I’d say he just might think a stunt like this will get ratings for him. That’s the level on which he reasons things out.
He knows he’s circling the drain and he’s desperate. Not to mention he cannot stand getting bested by Pelosi. Put that up there right at the top.
I am still waiting when the unpaid are going to protest in masse. Do they realize that taking it in the chin quietly , they are not only supporting Trump, but ensuring that GOP presidents and congress leaders do it again in the future?
That’s at least 2/3ds of what Nancy has been up to -demonstrating to him what checks and balances are. Showing him that she has power that is co-equal with his. In many respects her power is greater - she controls the purse and she has the ability to start the process of firing him.
for all I care.