This right here. Enough.
No one can appear as more petty than Trump at this point, except to people who are already going to love Trump no matter what.
Worrying about that crap when you’re dealing with Trump is a mistake, I think.
I think there’s an upper limit to tit-for-tat responses to Trump. If you think he’s childish, petty, and dumb, I don’t think you can continue to fire back in kind without people shifting to thinking you too are being petty and dumb.
His base, the BLANK TO OWN THE LIBS folks love that shit. Not so much the general populace.
And this.End of story.
I think it’s about how it’s messaged. If Pelosi responds that she’d be delighted to have Trump deliver the SOTU as soon as the government is funded – which, she adds, will hopefully be before the scheduled time for the SOTU address – but will not convene for the address until then. She should be clear that if the government shutdown continues until the previously scheduled SOTU date, then they won’t cancel, but postpone the address until such time as the government shutdown is ended.
If (she should add) there are pressing issues to bring before the American People in a State Of The Union before the shutdown is over, the President may make his state of the union address in the location of his own choosing, but not in the Capitol building.
Trig is right. Speaker Pelosi is in the power position here. Let him rant and rave and get blood orange in the face, if the joint resolution isn’t passed, he can yell from the oval.
I mean, I get the whole pettiness issue here. But if you’re Pelosi, there seems to be a way to be gracious and pleasant but firmly “Not until…”
Yeah, that’s how to do it and it doesn’t sound petty.
Agreed, the smart move is for Pelosi to make it clear to everyone, loudly and publically, that there will be no joint resolution motion, and thus no SOTU, until the government is back open. If Dems keep the narrative about the shut down, it just makes Trump and McConnell look that much worse every day it continues.
What if Trump (with cabinet and Republican senators and Reps in tow) shows up uninvited?
Presumably there will be no television cameras there and no broadcast time allotted, so I guess he could try.
It wouldn’t be the State of the Union. It would be Trump visiting a building.
The reason it is a smart move by Pelosi to not vote on a resolution to hold a joint session is the same still as the reason it was a smart move to send the original letter to Trump - do not just hand Trump a primetime opportunity to bash Democrats. Even more so - now that the whole thing has been hyped, it would attract even more attention than usual.
As for looking petty - until it is proven that Trump can out-maneuver Pelosi I will continue to expect her to have the better plan.
I doubt he cares about that distinction. However, it would piss him off that all of congress isn’t there to kiss his ring.
If he announced he was going to do it, I can guarantee that there would be cameras there and broadcast time allotted.
This seems rather naive. The networks would absolutely drop everything and broadcast it live. Given their temperament, how could they not, just for the controversy?
Whatever he does in that event, wherever he delivers acting President Miller’s speech, he’s done that twice in the last month or so, and both times it went over like a wet fart. So whatever.
Eh. There’s a good argument that he could - mind you, could - turn a televised non-SOTU event into an effective PR win by using it to paint the Dems as “locking out” negotiations. But it’s Trump, so I have little doubt he’d squander that opportunity and use it to rant to his base.