Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump’s annual State of the Union address is poised to deliver the kind of irresistible prime-time drama that its sporting equivalent, a snoozer Super Bowl, lacked.
The theater that unfolds in the House chamber on Tuesday will encapsulate a turbulent moment in America’s story, resonate with clashing political egos and paint a picture of stark national divides and accelerating demographic change.
Dominating the spotlight, where he loves to be, will be a President who believes he’s unfairly treated but whose grasps for personal glory often alienate all but his most loyal followers and make the recognition he craves ever more elusive.
Looking over Trump’s shoulder, literally and metaphorically, will be new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is using her Democratic majority’s investigative muscle to complicate the President’s political life and peg back his power.
That hostile Democratic caucus will be staring right back at Trump as he gives his speech, depriving him of the adoration he gets from restorative crowds of Make America Great Again fans at campaign rallies.
The transformative power of the midterm elections will be written on the faces of the most diverse House majority in history in terms of race and gender, while the Republican half of the chamber will look mostly white, male and middle aged.
Democrats will stress the comparison by enlisting Georgia’s rising star Stacey Abrams, who narrowly failed to be elected as the first black woman governor of any state, to deliver their State of the Union response.
And watching Trump from the House will be 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including Sens. Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand, no doubt dreaming of soon taking his spot on the podium.
Aides say Trump will, unusually, respect tradition in his speech and call for unity as predecessors have done in the century since the custom of in-person State of the Union addresses was revived by President Woodrow Wilson.
He will call for “an end to the politics of resistance and retribution,” his counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters on Monday. She said people should “should listen to the message, not always just look at the messenger.”
Therein lies Trump’s constant battle. He more than anyone is the master of the politics of retribution and his attempts to shoulder the burden of national leadership have often been undermined by his explosive character and rhetoric.
Trump’s evocation of a common American mission could be easily forgotten if he slips into his scorching rhetoric on immigration.
However sincere he is on working with Democrats to cut the cost of prescription drugs or to repair infrastructure, a few searing lines on the border wall may be all that most people remember.
“Sometimes he is his own worst enemy, ” said Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan, who edited the book “The State of the Union Is …. “
“We saw it with the inaugural address, the line ‘American carnage’ — after (that), it was known as the American carnage speech and was all the focus on how dark and somber the tone was,” Kall said.
Still, Trump’s appearance is a golden opportunity to spend an unfiltered hour with the American people at a…
