Was there, like, a speech, or something? I hate those things. Yes, I know it's my job, but there's this book, and I kind of like books. George Edwards, On Deaf Ears: The Limits of the Bully Pulpit. The title has a slightly different ring to it with Donny-boy as President, but basically, here's the gist. Presidents can speechify, and nobody has bigger microphones than presidents. And nobody has a bigger microphone than Donny Trump. We can't turn away from whatever comes out of his shithole. According to certain lines of thinking, the president's ability to control the "bully pulpit" means that the president can move public opinion, and thereby shape American politics.
So, um... Trump is a weird but perfect example of the breakdown of this model. Nobody draws more attention than Trump, but no president has ever been this unpopular at this stage of their presidency. Over at Gallup, he hasn't broken 40% in ages. Why not? He's the platonic ideal of "douchebag." When douchebags ask themselves, "douche-self, how could I be douchier?" They look at Donald Trump, and say, "I'll be him!" Yuuuuge microphone, lousy approval ratings. Bully pulpit, my ass.
And that's kind of Edwards's point. Moving public opinion is hard. Why? Short version: party ID. The answer to all questions about public opinion.
So, State of the Union addresses don't matter in terms of public opinion. Can they shift the legislative agenda? Well, Edwards argues that presidents can, in some of his work, but Congress has already pretty much shot its wad. They cut taxes, and beyond that, these idiots can't really get their acts together to do much of anything, so... anything else is to be ignored.
Beyond that, presidential addresses to Congress are noteworthy only if we get moments like Rep. Joe Wilson yelling "you lie!" to Obama. That kind of thing didn't happen, so I hope you just caught up on your reading.
Other stuff did matter yesterday. Trump's lawyers have finally basically admitted that he'll never consent to speak to Mueller directly under oath. Why not? He's a fuckin' liar. I... hate liars. I don't know if you've noticed this, but I... really hate liars. That's sort of where Trump loses me completely. He's the biggest liar in American history, and fact-checkers literally can't keep up, and I hate people who mis-use the word, "literally." There's a reason I'm a misanthrope. Anyway, even if he didn't participate in any of the collusion of which his kids, Flynn, and others are clearly guilty, put him under oath, and his inability to not lie means you've got perjury charges. So, this kind of thing matters. Then, you've got the GOP rallying around the release of the "Nunes memo." Remember that little shit, Devin Nunes, who was supposed to have been recused from all Russia-related matters? Yeah, you knew that was all a lie, right? Nunes, as I have written before, is basically Tom Cotton, but with traumatic brain injury. So, he is wholly devoted to the cause of defending Trump from all charges, truth be damned, but... he's... not smart. What, precisely, is in the Nunes memo?
Bullshit. The specific putrescence of bullshit? It doesn't matter. As I have been telling you all along, the GOP will defend Trump no matter what. The Nunes memo will be the GOP's official position that the FBI is a commie deep state conspiracy, instituted by that quasi-Stalinist, J. Edgar Hoover, for the sole purpose of destroying America just to get at Donald Trump, around whom the entire known and unknown universe revolves. Also, death panels, or some such shit.
None of the congressional Republican caucus will actually care about the contents of the Nunes memo. It will exist as a concept more than a set of words. The "Nunes memo" will be a phrase invoked to prove, with no need for additional discussion, that the FBI is a communist plot.
I have covered this before. The idea of the FBI as a left-wing organization is batshit fucking crazy beyond the telling of it.
So there will be no real telling of it. The phrase, "Nunes memo" will be more important than its contents. That's the point. Yup, it's comin'. And nobody in the House or Senate GOP will read it, or care about its contents. That's not the point. The point is the need to say "Nunes memo," as a way to pretend that its invocation dispels all claims of professionalism at the FBI.
That's what mattered yesterday, not Trump's speech. State of the Union speeches never really matter.
You didn't actually watch it, did you?