Trump's Congressional Address: The Biglythread

[CountDeMoney]

Trump's congressional address: What you need to know
By Erin Dooley
Jordyn Phelps
Feb 27, 2017, 10:51 AM ET

President Trump will give his first major congressional address at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, laying out his agenda for the nation. In addition to lawmakers, the audience is expected to include most of his cabinet, the Supreme Court justice and top military brass.

His appearance follows an invitation last month from House Speaker Paul Ryan, who called the address "an opportunity for the people and their representatives to hear directly from our new president about his vision and our shared agenda."

The Talking Points

The commander-in-chief's address comes on the heels of a rocky first 39 days: from the troubled roll-out of the travel ban to the ousting of national security adviser Michael Flynn following reports that he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his contact with Russians officials.

On Tuesday, Trump is expected to recast his fledgling presidency as a victory for the American people, outlining ways he and lawmakers can work together.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer says the address will be "the renewal of the American spirit." Possible topics that will be discussed: Trump's proposed wall along the southern U.S. border; repealing and replacing Obamacare; tax and regulatory reform; and job creation.

The Democratic Response

Trump won't get the last word Tuesday night.

Former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear will give the Democratic response to Trump's address, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced last Friday.

The Democratic governor of a largely conservative state, Beshear, was a strong supporter of Obamacare and an expansion of Medicaid in 2014. Within two years, his state's uninsured rate fell nearly 13 percentage points, according to Gallup.

"Under Governor Beshear's leadership, Kentucky became one of the great success stories of the Affordable Care Act," Pelosi said in a statement. "Governor Beshear is an experienced job-creator and a uniquely credible voice on the devastating consequences of Republicans' plans to Make America Sick Again."

The Democrats also announced that immigration activist Astrid Silva, a DREAMer who came to the United States at age 4, will deliver the Spanish-language response.

She'll be the first non-lawmaker to deliver the official Spanish response for either party.

"While President Trump unleashes a cruel deportation dragnet on hard-working immigrant families, Astrid Silva personifies the values that have always made America strong," Pelosi said.

[Valmy]

A Blue Dog giving the response? I like it.

[CountDeMoney]

First time in forever a draft of the speech was not provided to the media.  Shocking.


And MSNBC just got great footage of the Donald practicing his speech in the back of the limo with the interior lights on before pulling off from the White House.  It was incredibly disconcerting to watch.

[CountDeMoney]

Any takers on whether he gets interrupted like Obama was? 

Will he start riffing a campaign speech? 

What overwrought and hyperbolic doomsday vocabulary will he use tonight? 

Will he do that pinky-out finger thingy he does when he talks?

Who gets the worst of it: The media? Obama-supported protesters? Fake antisemites?  The blacks?

[CountDeMoney]

Chris Matthews is the greatest angry Irish potato that ever lived.

[mongers]

Any takers on whether he gets interrupted like Obama was? 

Will he start riffing a campaign speech? 

What overwrought and hyperbolic doomsday vocabulary will he use tonight? 

Will he do that pinky-out finger thingy he does when he talks?

Who gets the worst of it: The media? Obama-supported protesters? Fake antisemites?  The blacks?

I hope for FS they're not as trigger happy as the French were this afternoon.

[HisMajestyBOB]

A Blue Dog giving the response? I like it.

A former governor, because it's getting harder and harder to find office-holding Democrats. 

[CountDeMoney]

I hope for FS they're not as trigger happy as the French were this afternoon.

I bet he just sneezed.

[Grinning_Colossus]

Predictions:

• He will express serious concern about the fact that we don't have as many planes as China.
  
• He will insult the foreign service--and I don't mean indirectly.
  
• He will boast about either his business acumen or his electoral margin.
  

[CountDeMoney]

Predictions:

• He will express serious concern about the fact that we don't have as many planes as China.
  
• He will insult the foreign service--and I don't mean indirectly.
  
• He will boast about either his business acumen or his electoral margin.
  

Excellent choices.  The election victory is kind of a given, though.  It's the anecdote to warm the crowd up.

[mongers]

I hope for FS they're not as trigger happy as the French were this afternoon.

I bet he just sneezed.

I've not seen the footage yet, but the Fr president handled it OK and had the manners to visit the injured afterwards.


Can you imagine the conspiracy shitstorm/civil war if one of Trumps Secret Service bodyguards accidentally injured the president that way.

[CountDeMoney]

Can you imagine the conspiracy shitstorm/civil war if one of Trumps Secret Service bodyguards accidentally injured the president that way.

If you seem to recall, we had a difficult enough time with the Secret Service not protecting the President enough.  But he was a negro, so it was no big deal.

[CountDeMoney]

"A message deeply delivered from my heart"

[Ed Anger]

He should have dissolved the senate.

[jimmy olsen]

He sounds strangely subdued for him.