Trump's State of the

Union didn't unify Capitol

Hill

By Lauren Fox and Ted Barrett, CNN

Updated 7:06 AM ET, Wed January 31, 2018
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(CNN)As he delivered his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump attempted to
suspend the polarizing realities of his presidency and stick to a script -- at least for one
night.

But as the Russia investigation grips Washington and contentious impasses over spending
and immigration threaten to undercut Trump's legislative agenda and his party's electoral
future in 2018, any unity Trump hoped to inject with his speech was quickly shattered.
Trump's bipartisan overtures on infrastructure and foreign policy were met rapidly with
reality: Republicans and Democrats are bitterly divided in Washington over everything from
immigration to health care to budget negotiations. And there's little that Trump can say to
undo the partisan rancor.
"It was long on platitudes and short on particulars," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat
from New Hampshire who said she was particularly disappointed with the President's
comments on opioids, which she said didn't even address the financial cost of solving the
problem.
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Trump's address -- which ran well over an hour -- was well received by his side of the aisle.
"I thought he was outstanding," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters after
the speech concluded.

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"He nailed it," Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota said. "He stayed on
target. He stayed on message.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn quipped that he thought it was "a great speech" even if
"it was a little long for me."
And, Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, told reporters Trump was "very
presidential."
Trump's address, Republicans concluded, was tamer than the early morning Twitter
president they've reckoned with, more subdued than the Trump they sometimes find or read
about in closed-door meetings. Instead, Republicans -- fighting to preserve their majorities
in both the House and Senate this year -- viewed the State of the Union as at the very least
constructing a positive vision of what a Republican majority could accomplish in the months
ahead.
"I think this was one of the best speeches I've seen him give," Deputy House Whip Patrick
McHenry told CNN. "He hit at the heart of a great legislative agenda for the year around
infrastructure, fixing the broken immigration system and helping communities who've been
left behind."
On no issue were Trump's comments more controversial than on immigration, the topic that
befalls Congress and is dividing not only Republicans and Democrats but factions within
each party.
Trump tried to walk a line between delivering for his base as he addressed gang violence of
MS-13 and delivering for some Republican immigration negotiators on Capitol Hill.
But Democrats rebuffed some Trump's comments, which they viewed as divisive. As Trump
discussed so-called "chain migration," or changes to the family-based immigration rules,
Democrats could be heard groaning. And after the speech, the Democrats' Whip Sen. Dick
Durbin called Trump's references to MS-13 "inflammatory."

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"No one in the world defends them," Durbin said. "We are talking about DACA and the
dreamers for goodness sake's. It's two different worlds and he just seems to conflate both."
Trump also reiterated his immigration framework the White House unveiled last week, which
included a path to citizenship for 1.8 million people. But, Trump didn't signal openness to
narrowing a plan to protect recipients of DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
program. Instead, Trump doubled down on his insistence that any DACA deal also include
changes to the legal immigration system, something Democrats have warned could be a
nonstarter.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he observed "tepid" response from some of his Republican
colleagues when Trump began to talk about his framework and he described Trump's
proposals as a "totally untenable approach."
"I mean, basically, it's our way or the highway. You know, here's the compromise, do it our
way," Blumenthal said.
Cornyn defended Trump's talk on immigration "it's a compromise. I don't think he should
back off on it."
Not everyone on the Democratic side of the aisle, however, was disappointed with Trump's
address.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia who is running in a ruby red state this
fall, said he wished his Democratic colleagues would have shown a bit more deference to
the President during the State of the Union.
"It's not the way I was raised," he told CNN when asked if Democrats showed respect by
not applauding during much of Trump's speech. "I show civility and respect."
Michigan GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga described the mood in the chamber during the speech as
partisan.
He said on the Democratic side there was "lots of hissing, frankly immature at times." He
said that he thought the President did try to include a lot of "olive branches extended" in the
speech.
And, independent Maine Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with the Democrats, said he
believed Trump invoked a "presidential" tone.
"He was very measured ... I was pleased that it was relatively non-partisan," King said. "I
wouldn't call it exactly non-partisan, but I thought it was less partisan then it might help
otherwise been."
King added he was also pleased with discussion on trade and on infrastructure even as he
added "the details were not really there" on the latter.
But overall, Democrats weren't willing to give Trump the tile of unifier-in-chief Tuesday night
despite Trump's attempts.
"It was another example of why the American public frankly has so much distrust and
cynicism about government and its leaders because the American public deserves to hear
truth, and that was not reflected in the speech tonight," said Sen. Kamala Harris, a
Democrat from California.
CNN's Deirdre Walsh, Manu Raju and Katherine Sullivan contributed to this report.