Well, That Was.... Schizophrenic

Trump’s belated State of the Union address was aptly described as schizophrenic by a CNN commentator. In addition to the usual appropriate honoring of war vets and other guests, it had long passages of banal nationalistic cheerleading and chest thumping, self-back patting and uncharacteristic but predictable calls for unity, harmony and compromise (now that he can no longer call the shots in the House!). Those were interspersed with typical Trumpian propaganda including about the border and illegal immigration “crisis” and a thinly veiled threat about House investigations of him and his administration. Conspicuously absent was any mention of the recent disastrous government shutdown, climate change or gun violence in general. And of course there was Mike Pence sitting above Trump with his shit-eating grin and nodding like a doting pet daddy. Watching Nancy Pelosi was much more interesting. But overall a pretty unmemorable affair!

Meanwhile, it appears that the administration is gearing up for battles against multiple congressional investigations, which Trump is railing against as partisan presidential harassment. That could really impede their progress, particularly if there are drawn out court battles over subpoenas and testimony. And there is bound to be a relentless PR campaign by Trump and his cronies to try to discredit all of the Democratic Congressional investigations as nothing but partisan political warfare, primarily in an effort to energize his base, as well as to influence public opinion in advance of any possible move toward impeachment. We can only hope that some juicy damaging results come out within the next few months, including related to Trump’s tax records, which will most likely be targeted. Unfortunately this will doubtless be a very long and drawn out process, going well into the 2020 campaign, and it remains to be seen how the results will mesh with or augment the Mueller report as well as the multiple SDNY investigations. Unfortunately Michael Cohen’s planned congressional testimony has been pushed back to the end of February, only a short time before he begins serving his jail sentence, and I think is still in doubt. There is also already so much Trump fatigue that it would take something pretty dramatic to significantly shift public opinion further against the asshole-in-chief!