President Donald Trump will deliver his fourth state of the union address later Tuesday, which will be themed “the Great American Comeback”, under the shadow of the ongoing impeachment trial in the Senate that is expected to end Wednesday with his acquittal.
The optics of the president returning to the House of Representatives for the speech just weeks after it impeached him will be watched closely, specially his interaction with Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He has called her “nasty, vindictive and horrible” and the speaker has called him a “coward”.
Trump will become only the second president to deliver the annual speech during a senate trial, after Bill Clinton in 1999. As then, Trump is expected to be acquitted, despite Democrats’ continued efforts to persuade Republicans to vote in favor of his conviction and removal from office.
Democratic House managers tried once again in their closing arguments in the trial Monday, urging Republican senators to stand for truth. “He has betrayed our national security, and he will do so again,” lead House manager Adam Schiff said about Trump. “He has compromised our elections, and he will do so again. You will not change him. You cannot constrain him. He is who he is. Truth matters little to him. What’s right matters even less, and decency matters not at all.”
The president’s lawyers closed their arguments as they had started. They had called the trial an attempt by Democrats to overturn the 2016 election and unseat Trump. “We put our faith in the Senate. Because we know you will put your faith in the American people. You will leave this choice to them, where it belongs,” said Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, referring to the November elections.
Trump will be acquitted in a vote expected Wednesday evening on the two article of impeachment transmitted to the Senate by the House, charging him with abusing the powers of his office and obstructing congress’s investigation into it. Until then, senators from both parties will be debating his fore-ordained fate in speeches explaining their votes, and their reasons.
Republicans control the senate with a 53-47 majority, and will be able to deliver the acquittal easily even if one or two members defected; they need only 34 votes to prevent a conviction.
Faced with defeat, Democrats have floated a proposal to censure the president, but the move had found no traction with Republicans who hold all the cards at present.