ALSO SEE: Trump Uses Baseless Fear-Mongering in His State of the Union
Speech to Push for a Border Wall

State of the Union: Donald Trump Attacks Mueller and Democrats in Divisive Speech

By Lauren Gambino, Guardian UK

06 February 19

The president called for bipartisan unity but decried ‘ridiculous partisan investigations’ and took hard line on immigration

onald Trump issued sharp warnings to Democrats, including that “ridiculous partisan investigations” would harm economic progress, in comments that clashed with an appeal for unity during his first State of the Union address to a newly divided Congress.

“If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation,” Trump declared. The presence of Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi on the dais behind him was an acute reminder of the political challenges he faces in the next two years.

Trump’s remarks were an apparent reference to the investigation, led by special counsel Robert Mueller, into Russian meddling in the US election, plus Democrats’ promised oversight investigations into the president’s conduct and personal finances.

In wide-ranging remarks to a joint chamber of Congress on Tuesday night that lasted more than 80 minutes, Trump appealed to two areas of his base supporters by reasserting his vow to build a wall on the southern US border with Mexico, and urging lawmakers to ban late-term abortions.

He also announced that he would hold a second summit with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, in Vietnam on 27 and 28 February. The leaders first met last summer in Singapore.

Trump’s speech came at a critical moment. Halfway into his term, having just suffered serious losses in November’s congressional elections and after prompting the longest government shutdown in US history, Trump had hoped to strike a new tone with his calls on Congress to come together over infrastructure projects and his trade deal with Canada and Mexico.

“Together, we can break decades of political stalemate. We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future,” he said. “The decision is ours to make.”

However, although he avoided any reference to his much-threatened declaration of a national emergency over what he claims to be an immigration crisis on the southern border, Trump again outlined his case for a wall and accused lawmakers of hypocrisy on border security.

During the speech, Trump’s comments careened from dark proclamations about the “lawless state of our southern border” and the “bloodthirsty monsters” who fight for Isis, to sweeter moments, such as praising the optimism of a 10-year-old girl who fought brain cancer, and veterans who helped liberate Europe from Nazism during the second world war.

Trump commanded one of the biggest stages in American politics on Tuesday night but, unlike last year’s address, Capitol Hill was something of a hostile environment.

Pelosi – a formidable adversary who has thwarted his border wall at every turn – sat mostly stone-faced, occasionally scanning the text of his speech. She was joined on the dais by Vice-President Mike Pence, who dutifully applauded the president at each opportunity.

Seated in front of Trump was a record number of female House members, most Democrats and some dressed in white, in homage to the suffragist movement. In the gallery above were two former employees of Trump’s New Jersey golf club, both immigrant women who have gone public about its hiring practices, and the sexual assault survivor who confronted the Republican senator Jeff Flake in an elevator during the fraught confirmation of the conservative supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh.

In a moment of levity, Democratic congresswomen erupted in cheers and applause when Trump said the thriving economy had helped female employment.