Thanks for following along with us tonight, everyone. Nate will have some closing takeaways in a moment, but here are a few final thoughts from the team:
Julia: My final thought is that Democrats and Republicans disagree on a lot of issues and that makes it harder for either side to make an overarching principled argument. We saw that in both speeches tonight — what’s the big theme? I’m not sure I know.
Micah: This seems like a good summary, from Democrats’ point of view:
Perry: Nothing really changed tonight. Trump isn’t pivoting to the center, he isn’t really outlining a compromise on immigration, and he doesn’t really have much of an agenda outside of that issue. And Stacey Abrams is still a Democratic star. I know Trump is the president, but it really seems like the deciders in Washington right now, particularly on immigration, are McConnell and Pelosi.
Geoffrey: I tend to look at this speech in the context of the shutdown and the ongoing fight over funding for the border wall. Trump spent most of the time talking about immigration but didn’t really say anything new. The wall and the president are unpopular, and the Democratic base is opposed to the wall, so there’s little reason for Pelosi to make an agreement with Trump without getting something major in return.
Seth: Despite the White House teasing that there’d be some big pivot or new policy initiative in this address, this was a pretty standard Trump stump speech, dressed up a bit for the venue. He still seems convinced that he can get his way on a wall, but there’s no evidence that the math has changed for him. His insistence that he not be investigated was the real takeaway for the evening.
Meredith: Even though the speech was advertised as building bipartisanship and unity, Trump’s rhetoric on immigration and abortion was arguably pitched to the people who already support him the most.
Dhrumil: Nate said at the start of all this that the reason this State of the Union would be more interesting than usual is because it could clue us in to what Trump’s next step might be in the ongoing struggle for the border wall. Trump called the situation at the border a “crisis” multiple times, discussed sending troops there to prepare for a “tremendous onslaught” and said the state of the Southern border was “lawless.” But Trump doesn’t seem to have entirely ruled out the possibility of declaring a national emergency at the border.
Nathaniel: The speech won’t change Trump’s approval rating, it’s unlikely that many of his proposals will become law, and we didn’t really see a sign that he’s ready to compromise with Democrats on the wall. So I know this is pretty #onbrand, but I really think the special election flip in Minnesota was more important than anything we watched tonight.