Trump to tout 'New American Moment,' call for bipartisanship in State of the Union address
WASHINGTON — President Trump will extend "an open hand" to members of both parties during his State of the Union address, while declaring that his administration's policies on jobs, deregulation, and national security have spurred a "New American moment."
"There has never been a better time to start living the American dream," Trump will say, according to advance excerpts of the speech provided by the White House. The president will point to tax reform legislation passed at the close of last year, along with planned pushes for infrastructure and immigration reform and continued deregulation efforts by the Trump administration.
That's where the bipartisan note comes in: The president will ask members of both parties "to come together to give us the safe, fast, reliable, and modern infrastructure our economy needs," while coalescing around an immigration plan that protects Americans "of every background, color, and creed."
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Trump has repeatedly railed against so-called "chain migration" and the visa lottery system, calling instead for a "merit-based" program. During his campaign for office, Trump frequently frequently pointed to stories of families who lost loved ones to violence committed by undocumented immigrants as justification for his hardline position on immigration.
A proposal put out last week by the administration makes significant concessions, however, on citizenship for "Dreamers," people brought to the United States illegally a children, while seeking $25 billion for Trump's long-promised southern border wall.
The president will also report gains made against ISIS in his address Tuesday night, while conceding there remains "much more work to be done" to win that fight.
"We will continue our fight until ISIS is defeated," Trump will say. "Past experience has taught us that complacency and concessions only invite aggression and provocation. I will not repeat the mistakes of the past Administrations that got us into this dangerous position."
The president spent the hours before his address practicing his speech and talking about his desire for "unity" in the United States during a traditional off-the-record lunch with network correspondents at the White House.
"I would love to be able to bring back our country in a great form of unity, without a major event — very tough to do. I would like to do it without a major event, because that major event is usually a bad thing. Unity is really what I'm striving for, to bring the country together," he said.
Despite those optimistic utterances about "unity" and the prevailing theme of a "safe, strong, and proud America," the continued investigation into allegations of collusion with Russia by Trump's presidential campaign still cast a shadow over the administration and fracture the political landscape in Washington.
And Trump's own propensity to tweet in reaction to major, and oftentimes unfavorable, news stories about him and his White House's inner workings have consistently derailed even his most on-message moments.
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