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Assured of Impeachment Acquittal, Trump Makes Case for Second Term in State of the Union https://nyti.ms/37ZlqFr

Speaker Pelosi: "The manifesto of mistruths presented in page after page of the address tonight should be a call to action for everyone who expects truth from the President and policies worthy of his office and the American people."

Hitler awarded Joseph Goebbels the Iron Cross, so it's fitting that Trump would hang a Medal of Freedom on Rush Limbaugh for comparable hateful screeds against minorities, women, LGBTQ, and the disabled

"Trump to award Rush Limbaugh with Medal of Freedom"

Trump paints strong economy as vindication as he tries to move past impeachment

By David Nakamura | Published Feb. 05 at 12:30 AM EST | Washington Post | Posted February 05, 2020 |

President Trump on Tuesday made a theatrical prime-time appeal for the success of his divisive and turbulent stewardship after three years, projecting confidence that a strong economy and a reset of U.S. standing in the world has put the nation on the right path despite the historic impeachment that has marred his term.

In his third State of the Union address — and final one before voters will cast their verdict on his presidency this fall — Trump made no mention of the impeachment battle that has consumed him for months, even as he faced down his Democratic adversaries in the House chamber where they had voted to charge him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress less than two months ago.

But Washington’s poisonous political atmosphere was palpable throughout the evening. Several prominent Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), chose to boycott the address, and a handful of others walked out as the president was speaking. As Trump basked in applause after concluding his 77-minute speech, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), standing behind him on the dais, tore up a printed copy of the remarks in four separate piles.

Though Trump avoided the kind of personal attacks and inflammatory rhetoric that have defined his fierce fight for political survival on impeachment, his speech was laced with inaccuracies and heightened partisanship as he offered an implicit argument that Americans have prospered and would be foolhardy to remove him from office.

“In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American decline, and we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny,” Trump said. “We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never going back.”

The extraordinary scene punctuated months of severe acrimony and accusations between Trump and Democratic lawmakers who made him just the third president to be impeached in U.S. history. Trump has burned with anger over the House investigation into his efforts to persuade Ukraine’s president to conduct an investigation into former vice president Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential contender.

Aides said the theme of the speech was “The Great American Comeback,” which could be read as an allusion to Trump’s own political fortunes.

Trump took the dais buoyed by a poll showing a 49 percent job approval rating, his strongest since taking office, and radiating a sense of vindication that the Republican-controlled Senate is expected to vote Wednesday to acquit him of the House articles that he abused his powers and sought to obstruct Congress.

Wearing his trademark solid-red tie and a dark-blue suit, the president entered the chamber just after 9 p.m. and took his place at the dais in front of Vice President Pence and Pelosi, who along with dozens of Democratic women was dressed in white, the color of the suffragist movement.

As Trump handed them printed copies of his remarks, Pelosi offered her hand to shake, but Trump did not reciprocate, and Pelosi awkwardly withdrew it. It was not clear whether the president had seen her gesture, but the lack of coordination seemed appropriate: The nation’s two most powerful political leaders reportedly have not spoken in four months, since Pelosi confronted Trump during a White House meeting on Syria and stormed out with other Democratic leaders.

The president, who had railed on Twitter earlier in the day against “phony Witch Hunts and Hoaxes,” sought to convince the public that he had made good on his promises to improve the economy, tighten border controls, toughen the nation’s image abroad and disrupt establishment Washington.

In doing so, Trump sought to portray his presidency as a success for more than his hardcore conservative base, on which he has focused extensively for three years. Though he has consistently sown and exploited divisions along lines of race, ethnicity and gender, the president peppered his remarks with nods to prosperity among minority groups and women. His guests seated in first lady Melania Trump’s viewing box featured broad diversity.

“The vision I will lay out this evening demonstrates how we are building the world’s most prosperous and inclusive society,” said Trump, who has attacked African American lawmakers and sports stars and demonized undocumented immigrants, “one where every citizen can join in America’s unparalleled success, and where every community can take part in America’s extraordinary rise.”

And the former reality television star produced moments of pronounced theatrics, including having the first lady drape the Presidential Medal of Freedom around the neck of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who announced this week that he is suffering from pronounced lung cancer, and staging the surprise reunion of a U.S. service member back from a tour in Afghanistan with his family, including two young children.

In a rare moment of bipartisanship on policy, Democrats and Republicans stood to applaud as Trump introduced Juan Guaidó, Venezuela’s opposition leader whom the United States has recognized as that nation’s rightful president over the authoritarian regime of Nicolás Maduro.

For Trump’s adversaries, the evening offered a reminder that he remains in a strong position for reelection with nine months to go. After months of testimony from former Trump administration officials who sketched a picture of a president working with a team of outside advisers, including his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, to pressure a foreign leader for his own political gain, Democrats had hoped to win the battle of public opinion even if the president’s GOP allies ultimately protect him in the Senate trial.

Trump did not mention the Democratic presidential contenders vying for the nomination to challenge him in November. But ahead of the speech, he sought to create a sense of momentum for his presidency and reelection campaign, offering it as a contrast to the Democrats, who were reeling in the wake of their botched Iowa presidential caucuses, the results of which were still not fully known nearly 24 hours after polls closed Monday evening.

The president and his surrogates touted his own easy victory in the GOP caucuses in Iowa, a result that is expected of an incumbent, promoting it as a sign of Republican Party unity. Trump gloated in a series of tweets, mockingly suggesting Democrats would blame “RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, instead of their own incompetence” — a reference to the 17-month special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian operatives.

“The Democrat Party in Iowa really messed up, but the Republican Party did not,” Trump declared.

Trump touted the low unemployment rate and spiking stock market, new trade deals with Mexico, Canada and China, progress on construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and the killing of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

The Gallup poll released Tuesday puts Trump’s approval at 94 percent among Republicans, where it has held steady, and 42 percent among independents, up five points since early January. The survey highlighted the stark partisan divide — just 7 percent of Democrats approve, making the 87-point gap between the parties the largest in Gallup’s history — but it also laid bare how low unemployment and strong economic growth have powered Trump’s standing recently: 63 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, up six points since November.

In his speech, Trump highlighted successful legislation to provide federal workers with paid family leave, his administration’s investment in a new Space Force branch of the military and efforts to slash “job-killing regulations.”

Twice he railed against the ills of socialism, possibly intended as a dig at Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a self-described “democratic socialist” who is a leading contender for the Democratic nomination.

In an apparent attempt to clean up a recent suggestion that he would consider cutting entitlement spending, Trump said: “I have also made an ironclad pledge to American families: We will always protect patients with preexisting conditions. And we will always protect your Medicare and your Social Security.” Trump and Republicans, however, are asking the courts to toss out the Affordable Care Act, which guarantees protections for preexisting conditions, and have not offered any replacement.

With the president commanding a national audience in the tens of millions, the Democrats faced an uphill task in countering his message. The party tapped a young female governor from a Midwestern swing state, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer (D), 48, to offer their rebuttal, in an address that traditionally reaches a far smaller television audience.

Like the president, she did not mention impeachment, focusing on health care and pocketbook issues, a message that helped Democrats take control of the House and win several key statewide elections in the 2018 midterms.

“It doesn’t matter what the president says about the stock market,” Whitmer said. “What matters is that millions of people struggle to get by or don’t have enough money at the end of the month after paying for transportation, student loans or prescription drugs.”

But the policy talk was promptly overshadowed after the formal remarks were over as the vicious political combat resumed. Asked by a reporter what she thought of Trump’s speech, Pelosi responded bluntly: “I tore it up.”

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Assured of Acquittal, Trump Makes Case for a Second Term

But his speech had the surreal quality of a president on trial for high crimes and misdemeanors addressing lawmakers in the chamber where he was impeached just seven weeks ago.

By Peter Baker | Published Feb. 5, 2020 Updated 2:27 AM ET | New York Times | Posted February 05, 2020 |

WASHINGTON — The defendant finally showed up to have his say. President Trump never uttered the word impeachment, but in a 78-minute speech to the nation that combined a celebration of the American economy, hard-edge policy pronouncements and reality show-style surprises for the audience, he made the case for his presidency as only he could.

It was not a case that persuaded Democrats, who remained seated stonily during the applause lines, shaking their heads and rolling their eyes, but it was not meant to. Assured of acquittal in the Senate trial on Wednesday, Mr. Trump moved past preserving his first term and focused on securing a second with an argument aimed at both his political base and dubious suburban voters.

It had a surreal quality, a president on trial for high crimes and misdemeanors addressing lawmakers in the same House chamber where he was impeached just seven weeks ago. While Mr. Trump resisted the impulse to show up at the Senate trial to reject the charges against him over the last couple of weeks, he used his State of the Union address to present a different sort of defense without the burden of cross-examination, in effect arguing that the “great American comeback” he claimed credit for outweighed the allegations against him.

If Democrats were unmoved, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi ostentatiously ripped up her copy of his speech once it was done, making sure the cameras would catch the moment, Republicans embraced the president many of them once scorned. They welcomed him with hearty applause and even chanted, “Four more years! Four more years!” as if it were a campaign rally rather than an affair of state.

On its surface, the speech presented an optimistic assessment of the country and its progress, perhaps reflecting his sense of his own. “America’s enemies are on the run, America’s fortunes are on the rise, and America’s future is blazing bright,” Mr. Trump said.

But he also laid out a darker view of an America still plagued by “criminal aliens,” terrorized by Islamic radicals and threatened by budding socialists eager to take over the health care system.

Throughout his time in the chamber, the president seemed sullen, even gloomy, barely cracking a smile and making no attempts at humor. He refused to shake Ms. Pelosi’s hand when he handed her his speech and she refused to say it was a “distinct honor” to present him when she announced him, both abandoning custom.

All around Mr. Trump were reminders of his ordeal over the last several months. One of the members of the escort committee that brought him in, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, is part of the team of House Democrats prosecuting him. The president encountered Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who is presiding over the Senate trial and seemed intent on maintaining a studious neutral expression during their brief exchange.

While he made no mention of impeachment, Mr. Trump did single out Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader who has single-handedly ensured he would survive the trial without witnesses testifying against him. “Thank you, Mitch,” Mr. Trump said at one point, referring to the senator’s help confirming judges, but it would not be surprising if he were grateful for other reasons.

The president’s grim mood belied what was otherwise a good day for him. Aside from his coming acquittal and the chance to address the largest television audience of the year uninterrupted, Mr. Trump earlier in the day reveled in the Democratic dysfunction in the Iowa caucus and avidly sought to exploit it to promote suspicion among his rivals.

He and his sons and allies pumped out Twitter messages suggesting the botched Iowa count was an effort to rig the election for former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and against Senator Bernie Sanders, the candidate the president would rather face in the fall.

“It’s a fiasco that just plays right into us,” the president told television network anchors during an off-the-record lunch earlier in the day, according to people in the room.

“What other people would look at as a moment of completely political meltdown for this president, it all appears to accrue to his benefit,” said Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union. “He actually looks like the adult in the room.”

Democrats acknowledged that the Iowa breakdown played to Mr. Trump’s advantage, at least in the short term.

“A fractious, divisive, and chaotic process inevitably takes focus away from Trump’s own failures, at least in the short term, and Trump obviously believes he has the opportunity to stir the pot against the Democrats in these circumstances,” said Geoff Garin, a prominent Democratic pollster. “All of this heightens the importance for Democrats to have a confident and united front as soon as possible.”

The Iowa debacle played out even as Gallup reported that Mr. Trump’s approval rating had climbed to 49 percent, its highest in that survey since his presidency began. While not a strong number historically, it is higher than either Barack Obama or Bill Clinton had going into their State of the Union speeches in the years they ultimately won re-election, though not as high as George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan had in theirs.

Not that he can necessarily count on any of this to last. The economy, while healthy, has slowed its growth and could take a hit from the China travel restrictions imposed to fight the coronavirus outbreak. At some point, the Democrats will anoint a nominee who could unify the party against Mr. Trump. And John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, plans to publish a book next month that is expected to offer revelations about the president’s use of his office to further his own political interests.

Mr. Trump has shown a remarkable capacity for crossing lines and creating political problems for himself just when things appear to be better for him. Indeed, he placed the phone call to Ukraine’s president that got him impeached the day after testimony by the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III made clear that he was out of political jeopardy as a result of the Russia investigation.

But for one night, at least, the president had the stage to himself and he made the most of it. With a mix of schmaltz and showmanship, he pulled one surprise after another on the audience.

At one point, he introduced Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host who just announced that he has advanced lung cancer, and seemed to stun the broadcaster by announcing that he would bestow on him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Rather than wait, the president then had Melania Trump pull the medal out and drape it around Mr. Limbaugh’s neck right there in the first lady’s box, surely the first time that has happened at a State of the Union address.

In another uplifting moment, he gave a scholarship to a fourth-grade girl also sitting in the box. At the same time, he introduced a variety of figures with tragic stories, the parents of a woman killed by the Islamic State, the widow and son of a soldier killed in Iraq, the brother of a man shot by an undocumented immigrant.

But he saved the most tear-jerking moment for the end, when he thanked the wife of an Army soldier deployed to Afghanistan — then announced that her husband in fact had returned to the country, as the soldier suddenly appeared in the box to her great surprise.

The president’s address took place just across the Capitol and hours after senators took to the floor to announce their vote in his trial — Republicans steadfastly pledging to acquit, Democrats resolutely vowing to convict, the two-thirds required by the Constitution for removal clearly nowhere in sight.

Chief Justice Roberts, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Jeffries and the rest will return to the Senate chamber at 4 p.m. on Wednesday to tally those votes, inevitable as they now seem, and to wrap up the third presidential impeachment trial in American history.

Mr. Trump presumably will not show up in person. But he told the anchors in their lunch that he wanted to make a speech after the vote, another kind of speech, not so much a state of the union but a valedictory after months of battle — in his view, a comeback of a different sort.

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Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni contributed reporting from Washington, and Michael M. Grynbaum from New York.

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Trump and Pelosi Exchange Snubs at the State of the Union Address

He declined to shake her outstretched hand. She omitted his ceremonial introduction and ripped up her copy of his speech.

By Sheryl Gay Solberg | Published Feb. 4, 2020 Updated Feb. 5, 2020, 5:43 a.m. ET | New York Times | Posted February 05, 2020 |

WASHINGTON — For President Trump and Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday night, the State of the Union was hostile.

The mutual snubbing began the moment Mr. Trump walked into the House chamber and continued until he finished speaking, when Ms. Pelosi stood, an expression of vague disgust on her face, and tore up her printed copy of his speech — in full view of the television cameras, while Mr. Trump had his back turned.

The interaction between Mr. Trump and Ms. Pelosi, who had led the drive to impeach him, was one of the most anticipated moments of the president’s appearance at the Capitol the night before the Senate is expected to acquit him in his impeachment trial. The two had not seen each other since October, when Ms. Pelosi abruptly left a White House meeting after lecturing a scowling Mr. Trump.

On Tuesday night, the sour dynamic was on display from the start. When Mr. Trump stepped up to the rostrum in the House of Representatives and handed her his speech, Ms. Pelosi rose and extended her hand to shake his. Mr. Trump turned his back, and the speaker quickly withdrew her hand, appearing to shrug slightly and raise her eyebrows as if to say, “Well, I tried.”

Then Ms. Pelosi dealt Mr. Trump a slight of her own by omitting the customary laudatory words in her introduction of the president. Normally, she would have said, “I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the president of the United States.”

Instead, she said simply, “Members of Congress, the president of the United States.”

But it was the flourish at the end — when Ms. Pelosi made a point of picking up her copy of the speech, ripping it in half and throwing the pieces on the table in front of her — that grabbed the attention of the public and drew the ire of Republicans. The gesture was particularly out of character for the speaker, who prides herself on exhibiting proper decorum.

Republicans seized on the speech-ripping as beyond the pale.

“@SpeakerPelosi had a tantrum, disgraced herself and dishonored the House,” Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 House Republican, wrote on Twitter. “She is an embarrassment and unfit for office.”

Brad Parscale, Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, sounded almost gleeful. “Nancy & the Dems couldn’t stand what they were hearing because it was all good news for Americans!” he wrote on Twitter. “Rip up the speech, Nancy! You’ll want to rip up the election results in November too!”

Predictably, there were deep partisan divisions over who was behaving poorly to whom. Democrats were focused on Mr. Trump’s handshake snub, which Ms. Pelosi later spotlighted on Twitter, along with a photograph of the president turning his back.

“Democrats will never stop extending the hand of friendship to get the job done #ForThePeople,” she wrote, using the party’s campaign slogan. “We will work to find common ground where we can, but will stand our ground where we cannot. #SOTU”

During the address, as Mr. Trump read from the teleprompter, Ms. Pelosi, dressed in white — the color of the suffragists, worn by many of the Democratic women in the chamber — could be seen behind him, paging through his speech. Practiced at maintaining a stone face (she served as House speaker alongside another Republican president, George W. Bush), she kept her lips pursed and her eyes down, mostly remaining seated as Republicans rose to give Mr. Trump one standing ovation after another.

But when Mr. Trump made mention of the First Step Act, the bipartisan legislation that overhauled criminal justice reforms, Ms. Pelosi clapped and rose to her feet.

The relationship between Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Trump has long been one of the most closely watched in Washington — and it began going downhill even before Ms. Pelosi became House speaker. Mr. Trump tried to undercut her during an Oval Office meeting shortly after Democrats swept to the majority in 2018. Ms. Pelosi would have none of it.

“Mr. President,” she shot back, “please don’t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting as the leader of the House Democrats, who just won a big victory.” When the meeting was over, images of Ms. Pelosi leaving the White House in a swingy red coat quickly went viral.

From there, their interactions seemed defined by a series of memes and public spats. Ms. Pelosi called off last year’s State of the Union address because of the government shutdown, enraging Mr. Trump and prompting him to cancel a flight she had scheduled overseas. When his speech was rescheduled, Ms. Pelosi was captured smirking and clapping at the president. When they met in October, a White House photographer snapped an image of the speaker standing up and wagging her finger at the seated president while she lectured him.

But none of that came close to the spectacle in the House chamber Tuesday night, on the eve of the president��s expected acquittal in the Republican-led Senate on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in connection with his campaign to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.

Ms. Pelosi has said that regardless of the Senate outcome, Mr. Trump will be “impeached forever,” as she said in an interview on Monday. She also made a point of saying that she planned to treat the president at the State of the Union address “with the respect that he deserves,” though she added that she did not necessarily expect the same from him.

“We will treat him as a guest in our House — and we hope he will behave as a guest in our House,” she said. “But we never have that expectation.”

After her display of disdain on Tuesday, Ms. Pelosi told reporters that she had ripped up the speech “because it was a manifesto of mistruths.” Earlier, she had said that it was the “courteous thing to do, considering the alternatives.” She did not elaborate on what else she had considered.

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Emily Cochrane contributed reporting.

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Trump Claims End of ‘American Decline’ While Avoiding Mention of Impeachment

The interactions between President Trump and Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the State of the Union address underscored the bitterness the move to remove him from office has caused.

By Michael D. Shear | Published Feb. 5, 2020Updated 2:24 a.m. ET | New York Times |Posted February 05, 2020 |

WASHINGTON — President Trump claimed credit for a “great American comeback” in a speech to Congress on Tuesday night, boasting of a robust economy, contrasting his successes with the records of his predecessors and projecting optimism in the face of a monthslong Democratic effort to force him from office.

Mr. Trump, who lamented what he called “American carnage” when he was inaugurated in January 2017, described a different country today, declaring in his third State of the Union address that the nation’s future was once again “blazing bright.”

“In just three short years, we have shattered the mentality of American Decline and we have rejected the downsizing of America’s destiny,” Mr. Trump said in a speech that lasted 78 minutes. “We have totally rejected the downsizing. We are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago, and we are never, ever going back!”

“The state of our union,” Mr. Trump declared, “is stronger than ever before.”

Welcomed by enthusiastic applause from Republican lawmakers, the president marched confidently into the same historic chamber where he was impeached 49 days earlier. Mr. Trump described the nation as enjoying what he called a “blue-collar boom,” fueled by trade agreements and his success in “restoring our nation’s manufacturing might.”

On the eve of a Senate vote expected to acquit him, Mr. Trump never mentioned the impeachment inquiry that has threatened his presidency and consumed Washington. But his interactions on Tuesday night with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who started the investigation by Democrats that has forever stained his legacy, underscored the deep bitterness between them.

As he arrived at the rostrum, Mr. Trump turned to hand copies of his speech to Ms. Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence. But when Ms. Pelosi offered her hand to shake, the president pointedly turned away without taking it.

Seated just behind the president, Ms. Pelosi grimaced and shook her head several times during his address. Moments after Mr. Trump finished and was basking in applause from Republicans, the speaker ripped up the pages of his speech, holding them high for the cameras to catch her unmistakable statement of scorn.

With the theatrical touches of a showman-turned-president, Mr. Trump surprised the wife of an Army soldier with the soldier’s return home from battle, highlighted the story of a 100-year-old Tuskegee airman and his 13-year-old great-grandson, and — in a remarkable moment — awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh, the combative conservative talk radio host and for decades a villain to the left.

Standing next to Mr. Limbaugh, who recently learned he has advanced lung cancer, Melania Trump, the first lady, draped the medal around his neck as Mr. Trump thanked him for “decades of tireless devotion to our country.”

As the president fights for a second term in an election that will require him to broaden his appeal, he boasted of increasing funding for historically black colleges and singled out several African-Americans in the House chamber for praise, a striking departure for a president who derided African nations as “shithole countries” and repeatedly criticized the city of Baltimore, represented at the time by one of the nation’s leading black politicians, Representative Elijah E. Cummings, who died last year.

At the same time, Mr. Trump used the speech as a clarion call to his most conservative supporters, prompting some Republicans in the chamber to chant, “Four more years.” The president also boasted that he was building “a long, tall and very powerful wall” across the southwestern border and vowed to oppose what he called a “socialist takeover” of the health care system by Democrats in Washington and those running to replace him in the White House.

“To those watching at home tonight, I want you to know: We will never let socialism destroy American health care!” Mr. Trump declared.

Even as he delivered his remarks, it was Democrats who were in disarray, still unable to declare a final winner in the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses. State officials said they expected to release more results later Tuesday evening in a botched election process that Mr. Trump was quick to mock online.

“The Democrat Caucus is an unmitigated disaster,” the president crowed on Twitter earlier in the day. “Nothing works, just like they ran the Country. Remember the 5 Billion Dollar Obamacare website, that should have cost 2% of that. The only person that can claim a very big victory in Iowa last night is ‘Trump.’”

Mr. Trump was not the first president to face his accusers even as they try to remove him from office. In 1999, President Bill Clinton delivered his State of the Union address to Congress in the middle of his impeachment trial on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice stemming from a sexual harassment lawsuit. Mr. Clinton did not mention the Senate trial, then still underway.

Like Mr. Clinton, Mr. Trump did not use the nationally televised address to reprise his daily rants about impeachment, his made on Twitter. Instead, Mr. Trump — who is infamous for his rambling, invective-filled speeches at his rallies — largely stuck to an optimistic, if not always bipartisan, script.

The president did not unveil any major new initiatives, but called on Congress to pass bills to encourage school choice, lower prescription drug prices, provide a small amount of funding for neonatal research, ban late-term abortions and work toward improving the nation’s roads, bridges and tunnels.

As he has done each year, Mr. Trump focused a large part of the speech on immigration. He called on Congress to ban “free government health care for illegal aliens” and to pass legislation allowing the victims of crimes by undocumented immigrants to sue so-called sanctuary cities.

The president described a “gruesome spree of deadly violence” by an undocumented immigrant in California and introduced the brother of one of the victims, Rocky Jones, who was shot eight times.

“Our hearts weep for your loss,” Mr. Trump told the victim’s brother, Jody Jones, “and we will not rest until you have justice.”

The title of the president’s speech was “The Great American Comeback,” a more formal slogan that combines the sentiments of “Make America Great Again,” the president’s viral phrase from the 2016 campaign, and the more recent “Keep America Great” mantra that he has used to fire up crowds at rallies.

In his speech, he bragged about significant economic successes, even “though predictions were that this could never be done.” But his boast to have added 12,000 new factories overstated his claim to delivering an economic miracle to white working-class voters in the industrial Midwest.

Employment in construction, manufacturing and mining combined grew more slowly last year than at almost any other point in the current expansion. Manufacturing employment growth slowed to less than 50,000 jobs for the year in 2019, the worst rate of his presidency and the second-worst of the long recovery from recession.

Turning to trade, he said he had succeed in revising the North American Free Trade Agreement, something supported by many Democrats as well as Republicans.

“Many politicians came and went, pledging to change or replace NAFTA, only to do absolutely nothing,” Mr. Trump said, asserting the successes without acknowledging the more nuanced reality. “But unlike so many who came before me, I keep my promises.”

In the official Democratic response to Mr. Trump’s speech, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan challenged the president’s boasts about the economy.

“It doesn’t matter what the president says about the stock market,” Ms. Whitmer said. “What matters is that millions of people struggle to get by or don’t have enough money at the end of the month after paying for transportation, student loans or prescription drugs.”

Many of the female Democratic lawmakers attending the speech were dressed in white, symbolizing the suffragist movement and women’s rights. Several Democratic lawmakers, including Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts, were not in attendance after announcing they were boycotting it.

“I will not use my presence at a state ceremony to normalize Trump’s lawless conduct & subversion of the Constitution,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

While discussing national security, Mr. Trump celebrated in macabre terms two targeted killings he had ordered in recent months.

He hailed the October raid leading to the death of the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, whom Mr. Trump called “a bloodthirsty killer” and whose demise he cast as justice for the murder of Kayla Mueller, a young American humanitarian worker kidnapped in Syria in 2013. Mr. Trump said that Ms. Mueller, whose parents he introduced, was “tortured and enslaved by ISIS” after “more than 500 horrifying days of captivity.”

The president also recalled with relish the Jan. 3 missile strike that killed the Iranian commander Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, a “ruthless butcher” who Mr. Trump said had “orchestrated the deaths of countless men, women and children.”

He cast Mr. Suleimani’s death as another act of patriotic vengeance, recalling the Iranian’s role in supplying bombs believed to have killed hundreds of American soldiers during the Iraq war, and telling the story of an American soldier, Christopher Hake, “who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country” when his Bradley vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.

And in a brief passage noting his desire to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, Mr. Trump assured that he was “not looking to kill hundreds of thousands of people” in the country, “many of them innocent.”

The president introduced a parade of guests during his speech, including a 13-year-old boy with aspirations to join the Space Force and Charles McGee, his 100-year-old great-grandfather, one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen. Mr. Trump said he promoted Mr. McGee to brigadier general in a ceremony at the White House before the speech.

In addition to Mr. McGee, the president highlighted the story of Tony Rankins, an Army veteran who fought back from drug addiction, and Stephanie Davis, to whom he granted an Opportunity Scholarship for her fourth-grade daughter, Janiyah, to go to the school of her choice. All were African-American.

Mr. Trump also introduced the wife and son of an Army staff sergeant who died in Iraq by a roadside bomb supplied by General Suleimani.

At another point, the president singled out Juan Guaidó, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition movement, who received his most visible show of support yet from Mr. Trump: a seat in the president’s guest box for the State of the Union.

Many White House aides had hoped to have the impeachment trial behind them before Mr. Trump’s speech. But as it turned out, his third State of the Union address was part of a remarkable political collision on the calendar: He delivered the speech a day before the final impeachment vote and a day after Iowans participated in the first voting of the 2020 campaign season.

There is no question that the president will be acquitted on Wednesday by the Republican-controlled Senate, giving him the chance to claim vindication in what he views as an attempted political assassination by his enemies. But he will forever be the third impeached president in American history and only the first to ask voters for re-election after being charged with committing high crimes and misdemeanors.

Set in motion last year by Ms. Pelosi after Democrats took control of the House in 2018, the move to impeachment was directed by House managers during a two-week Senate trial. It was built on damning evidence that the president withheld security aid for Ukraine and a coveted Oval Office meeting as leverage for investigations that could damage the political fortunes of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son, Hunter Biden.

Tuesday was the second day that senators announced their judgments on the president’s behavior, delivering speeches on the Senate floor. Notable among them were the condemnations of Republicans who accepted the truth of the accusations against Mr. Trump even as they said they planned to vote to acquit him.

“The president’s behavior was shameful and wrong,” Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said Monday night on the Senate floor even as she denounced an unfair, fiercely partisan process and announced, “I cannot vote to convict.”

______

Reporting was contributed by Peter Baker, Jim Tankersley, Lara Jakes, Michael Crowley and Maggie Haberman.

*********

#u.s. news #trump administration #politics #president donald trump #politics and government #trumpism #trump scandals #republican politics #donald trump #us politics #SOTU2020 #trump impeachment trial #trump impeachment #democratic party #democracy #democrats #worldpolitics #world news

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love-johnabraham-blog · 5 years

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Never Underestimate The Influence Of Noni Juice.

Noni juice is gotten from the product of the tropical evergreen plant noni, noni juice can be a marvel sustenance for your well being. Noni organic product, prevalent known as Indian Mulberry, the bush of which is local to South-East and Southern Asia and Pacific Islands. The noni organic product has been utilized since old occasions for its restorative properties which lift the invulnerable framework and aides in Detoxification, Noni natural product is wealthy in cell reinforcements, Vitamin C, Vitamin B3, Vitamin An and Iron. Noni juice is said as an enchanted beverage as it influences such a significant number of substantial frameworks emphatically. Noni has generally been utilized for colds, influenza, diabetes, nervousness, and hypertension, just as for misery and uneasiness. All plant parts are utilized for an assortment of diseases in Samoan culture, and noni is a standout amongst the most as often as possible utilized Hawaiian plant prescriptions. Cases that have not been demonstrated in clinical preliminaries include: the utilization of bark for the treatment of bacterial diseases, hack, looseness of the bowels in newborn children, and stomach afflictions; the blooms for sore or disturbed eyes, eye blisters, conjunctivitis, visual aggravation, and hacks; the organic product for asthma, wounds, broken bones, mouth and throat contaminations, tuberculosis, worms, the runs, fever, retching, eye sicknesses, joint pain, melancholy, seizures, bacterial and parasitic contaminations, infections, and as a tonic; the new natural product juice for malignant growth; the dried leaves utilized remotely for diseases, consumes, kids' chest colds, and irritation, and inside for bubbles, pleurisy, kindled gums, and ligament torment; the new leaves utilized remotely for consumes and inside for fevers, discharge, bacterial diseases, and irritation; and the roots for oral ulcerations, fevers, and dangerous swellings.

The poultry business is a standout amongst the most driving agribusiness exchange the world. Feed supplements in poultry creation have noteworthy job to improve the efficiency of poultry. Presently a day the sanitation and security is more genuinely considered than previously. Since, the boycott of antimicrobial as development advertisers by the European Union in 2006, a few different choices for antimicrobial, for example, probiotics, probiotics and supplementation of restorative plant concentrates have been accounted for in the poultry diet. In the course of the last 5-10 years, probiotics have frequently been proposed as an option in contrast to anti-toxins. The Morinda citrifolia aged natural products were gathered, washed with clean water, dried and gathered in polythene sacks for readiness of the new squeeze. The concentrated juice was removed from the noni products of the soil at room temperature for further use. Lactobacillus Acidophil NCDC-11 was utilized for the present examination. The Lactobacillus was developed in the MRS agar plate and biochemical test and sugar maturation test was completed to check the immaculateness of the way of life. The way of life was kept up in MRS stock and utilized for further examination.

Noni juice is gotten from the products of an evergreen plant called noni, otherwise called Indian mulberry. This plant is typically discovered developing in worldwide tropics and subtropics. Logically called Morinda citrifolia, the noni plant has a place with the Rubiaceae family, and is nicknamed the 'ruler' of the Morinda sort inferable from its prominent characteristics, flexible nature and unmistakable capacity of spreading itself typically on the seashores without requiring much human intercession. Noni juice is a dietary enhancement removed from the noni organic product, and is well-known as a wellbeing tonic everywhere throughout the world. Noni juice is wealthy in a lot of minerals, nutrients and phytonutrients. Noni juice contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B-12, Vitamin C and Vitamin E. Noni squeeze additionally contains minerals, for example, calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, and phosphorus. Alongside this, the bounty of characteristic concoction constituents and a motivating scope of cancer prevention agents, for example, Quercetin, Vanillin, pinoresinol, proxeronine, Kaempferol, isoscopoletin, bisdemethylpinoresinol and Scopoletin complement the whole healthy benefit of the noni juice.

TREATS CANCER :

Noni juice has critical enemy of malignant growth characteristics which have been utilized since early mankind's history. Research has demonstrated that the chemo-preventive properties of noni juice go far in the counteractive action of different diseases, for example, lung malignant growth, liver malignancy and renal malignant growth because of the wealth of recuperating cell reinforcements present in it. Noni's squeeze additionally can lessen tumor development in mammary organs by fundamentally diminishing the weight and volume of the tumors.

IMMUNE SYSTEM :

Noni juice has been utilized more than a huge number of years to help reinforce the safe framework. Noni juice contains significant Polysaccharide which are of gigantic assistance in fending off afflictions and contaminations. These mixes invigorate the action of white platelets, which assume a significant job in applying defensive consequences for the body. Moreover, Scopoletin present in noni juice have against bacterial, antimutagenic, mitigating, antifungal and hostile to histamine properties which altogether contribute in continuing the insusceptible safeguard component of the body. Noni juice is successful in rapidly recuperating up wounds. Research has demonstrated that noni juice has compelling injury recuperating properties, which have very beneficial outcomes regarding the expansion in the heaviness of the granulation tissues, working of collagen and hydroxyproline and protein content. Besides, noni juice can likewise help to lessen glucose levels in the body which can likewise be associated to the quickened wound recuperating process.

HELPS TREAT GASTRIC PROBLEMS :

Noni juice is helpful in treating a wide assortment of gastric issues. Phytonutrients present in noni juice help postpone gastric discharging, which hence hinders the assimilation procedure. These outcomes in moderate release of sugars in the circulatory system, just as the arrival of cholecystokinin and other stomach related chemicals, without adjusting the volume of pee, excrement and intestinal travel. Utilized IN Skincare Noni juice is regularly viewed as a characteristic guide in magnificence and healthy skin. Noni juice is wealthy in defensive substance constituents, anthraquinones which apply collagen invigorating impacts and counteracts the arrangement of wrinkles on the skin surface. The counter bacterial and calming properties of noni juice work at the cell levels to help fix different skin issue, for example, skin inflammation, consumes, unfavorably susceptible skin responses and hives. Besides, The nearness of fundamental unsaturated fats and high centralization of the biochemical part proxeronine in noni juice bolsters effective working of cell layers, will in general standardize anomalous cells, and furthermore aides reestablishes youthful and sound skin.

Helps to control DIABETES :

Noni juice has for quite some time been utilized as a medicinal herb in decreasing the danger of Type two diabetes. Research has appeared normal utilization of noni juice help in decreasing the dimension of glycosylated hemoglobin, serum triglycerides and low-thickness lipoprotein cholesterol in the body. Furthermore, noni squeeze additionally progresses in the direction of improving insulin affectability and animates the take up of glucose.

TREATS ARTHRITIC PAIN :

Noni juice carries alleviation to patients experiencing incendiary conditions, for example, joint inflammation. Noni juice has pain relieving mixes in it which aides in mitigating torment and affect ability, along these lines decreasing the excruciating impacts of joint inflammation.

HELPS CURE MEMORY PROBLEMS :

Noni juice has been found to have incredible impacts in restoring memory hindrance issues. Research studies led on subjects with debilitated memory capacities have recommended that normal utilization of noni juice empowers cerebral blood stream and improves memory capacities. Secures THE LIVER Noni juice has been utilized more than a huge number of years in giving powerful security against liver and liver-related illnesses. Research has demonstrated that noni juice practices hepato-defensive impacts on the liver which helps with shielding the organ from exposures to perpetual exogenous synthetic substances and safeguards against real ailments like liver harm.

HAS ANTI-PSYCHOTIC QUALITIES :

Noni juice has been truly used for treating a scope of afflictions including the clutters identified with focal sensory system. Studies exploring the counter maniacal impacts of this juice have indicated huge improvement in the subjects particularly as for their conduct issues and have shown its immense potential to be utilized in restoring mental issue. Moreover, it has additionally been recommended to have restorative impact on the cerebrum harm crediting to the relieving intensity of normal synthetic parts. It might help with avoiding cerebral ischemic worry without influencing the viability of good proteins and cancer prevention agents working in the body.

IMPROVES CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH :

Noni juice is handy in the keeping up great cardiovascular well being. It applies enlarging consequences for the veins by encouraging the smooth muscles cells inside the cells dividers bringing about a superior progression of blood in the supply routes. This vasodilating impact of noni juice controls the circulatory strain and helps with keeping up a solid heart.

HAS ANTISPASMODIC EFFECTS :

Noni juice has a loosening up impact on muscles. It has antispasmodic properties which help in the blockage of voltage-subordinate calcium channels and emission of Intracellular calcium content in the body, accordingly smothering muscles fits and relieving the related agony and uneasiness. Development of Noni Juice The notable start and geographic scattering of noni squeeze in the pacific islands follows back to many years. Until the later piece of twentieth century, noni plant was simply utilized for coloring garments before It's captivating helpful worth took its situation at the bleeding edge of elective medicine. From that point forward it has been appreciated as a focal point of the Polynesian traditional medication and is thought as a hallowed healer among the Hawaiians for each conceivable awkwardness. In the ongoing years, juice of noni has been a piece of talks and hypotheses comprehensively crediting to it's one of a kind mending attributes.

FOR MORE DETAILS CLICK BELOW LINK :

NONI JUICE

#health #nonijuice #noni

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junker-town · 7 years

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Donald Trump casts a huge shadow over U.S. Women’s Open

Blame Trump and the USGA for making the women competing in this week’s U.S. Women’s Open answer for the terrible decision to stage the major at one of POTUS’ golf tracks.

As much as the players and most observers would prefer to spotlight Michelle Wie, Lydia Ko, Cristie Kerr, and the rest of the talented field gathered in New Jersey for the U.S. Women’s Open rather than the ongoing political nightmare that engulfs the country, the shameful misogynist whose track is hosting this week’s major tilt has kicked such narratives to the curb.

For sure, the plethora of storylines about the women vying for the Women’s Open title — Wie’s shot at a second Open win, Ko’s chance to put an off-year behind her with her third major victory, among others — should be front and center. But the sexist in the Oval Office, who owns the Bedminster track on which this week’s drama will unfold, whom many of the LPGA contestants consider their pal and a friend to women’s golf, and who has bragged about sexually assaulting women — with help from the organization that refused to stand up to bullying from the owner of Trump National in Bedminster — ensure that politics will engulf the women’s third of five majors.

It already has, as Wie can attest. Her pre-tourney press conference was hijacked by an image of Trump accompanied by a story about him threatening to sue the USGA festooned on a TV screen next to the podium from which she tried to deflect queries about POTUS.

Michelle Wie: I take female role model role 'very seriously.' Then totally ducks Q about Trump Access Hollywood tape. http://pic.twitter.com/OywWjpzRae

— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) July 11, 2017

"I will not comment on any political part this week," Wie announced on Tuesday after stating that she took “very seriously” her status as a role model for young women. "This week is about the golf for me. I'm excited to compete in this championship and it's really purely about the golf.”

To recap, the USGA, with little fanfare, secured the Trump track in 2012 for its most prestigious women’s tourney, well before the bombastic real estate mogul became a candidate in the 2016 presidential election.

Those in the golf world and beyond began to take notice of that decision in 2015, when Trump threw his “Make America Great Again” cap in the ring.

In the wake of the then-candidate’s offensive comments about Mexican immigrants, the USGA, PGA and LPGA Tours, and PGA of America began to receive entreaties to move all their events from Trump-owned properties. The PGA of America canceled its Grand Slam of Golf rather than stage it at Trump National in Los Angeles though the 2017 Senior PGA Championship at Trump National in Virginia went ahead as planned a couple months ago.

The PGA Tour declined to move the 2016 WGC-Cadillac Championship from Doral though this year’s event, ironically, took place in Mexico. The USGA, in the face of growing opposition, stood by its decision to have the women play the ’17 U.S. Open at Trumpminster.

After the contemptible Access Hollywood video tape surfaced, the one on which Trump is heard boasting about how his position as a celebrity enabled him to grab women’s private parts, resistance to the USGA’s arrangement for this week’s contest ramped up. Through it all — including planes sporting anti-Trump messages flying over last year’s Women’s Open — golfers have tried to steer clear of the swelling political firestorm.

"There’s not a whole lot I can do about it," Stacy Lewis told Randall Mell at the time from CordeValle Golf Club, site of the 2016 Open. "As players, what are we going to do, just not show up and not play the U.S. Women’s Open? I don’t think people are going to do that. You just have to rely on the governing bodies. I’m sure they will be prepared for everything that week. We have to rely on them.”

Fast forward a year and Wie was hardly alone in her unwillingness to veer from the party line that several LPGA Tour players are carefully toeing this week — the one that has one and all chanting the “we’re just here to play golf, not opine about politics” mantra.

As Kerr noted, there’s not much for any of the competitors to gain by speaking ill of the tourney host, or to chat about him at all.

“There's no benefit to us [to discuss Trump’s past comments],” Kerr said on Wednesday. “Whatever we can say can be taken out of context and we are here to just play golf, we are here to talk about a fabulous golf course … We are here to talk about golf.”

The defending champ concurred.

“I really don't want to answer any questions about politics,” Brittany Lang said on Wednesday. “I'd love to answer stuff about golf.”

Brittany Lincicome broke ranks briefly when she told the Chicago Tribute two weeks ago at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship that she wished POTUS would not distract from the play on the field.

"Hopefully he doesn't show up and it won't be a big debacle and it will be about us and not him,” said Lincicome, who, after taking heat for her reasonable request, quit Twitter for the week.

Not surprisingly, it appears that Trump will not turn down the chance to preen at one of the crown jewels of his golf enterprise, as he will reportedly make an appearance sometime during the championship.

Unfortunately for the competitors as well as fans of women’s golf — at least some of whom will boycott and/or protest the festivities because of its location — golf will play second fiddle to the course owner whose ego is as enormous as his hands are tiny. And you can thank Trump for reportedly threatening to sue the USGA if the organization attempted to switch venues from the private club that serves as his summer White House, and the lily-livered governing body for not moving the event or standing up to Trump’s bullying.

Indeed, while the players have had to respond to queries about Trump, Mike Davis, the USGA’s chief executive has been conspicuously absent from the proceedings. It certainly would have been illuminating to know if the USGA had any recourse had the notoriously litigious Trump gone ahead and sued the governing body.

Meanwhile, perhaps the drama coming down the stretch of this event — like that of last year when “Bethany” Lang (as USGA president Diana Murphy incorrectly called her four times) defeated Anna Nordqvist in overtime after rules officials docked the runner-up two strokes for grounding her club in a bunker — will be sufficient to refocus the attention on the athletes competing in the third of five majors on the women’s calendar.

The USGA president just called the Open champ Brittany Lang BETHANY. Twice. This summer has turned into one big SNL skit for the USGA.

— Roberto Castro (@cicioCASTRO) July 11, 2016

Even an extra-inning game pitting Wie vs. Ko, however, is likely to be overshadowed by the appearance of the chauvinist-in-chief, who may actually be on hand to present the trophy to the winner.

Such a display will either cause golf fans to lunge for the remote to change channels or boost ratings into the stratosphere with those TV viewers who support POTUS tuning in to catch a glimpse of their hero and those who oppose him unable to turn away from the three-ring circus Trump seems determined to make the event.

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