Either bored or because he was bluffing, Trump blinks on State of the Union

[mystery-ak]

Either bored or because he was bluffing, Trump blinks on State of the Union
by Philip Wegmann
 | January 24, 2019 11:06 AM



State of the Unions are seldom this melodramatic. The invitation of President Trump, the subsequent disinvitation by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the posturing in between dominated a week’s worth of news only to end late Wednesday night.

“As the Shutdown was going on, Nancy Pelosi asked me to give the State of the Union Address. I agreed. She then changed her mind because of the Shutdown, suggesting a later date. This is her prerogative -- I will do the Address when the Shutdown is over,” Trump tweeted at 11:12 p.m. when much of the East Coast was doubtless headed to bed.

“I am not looking for an alternative venue for the SOTU Address because there is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber. I look forward to giving a ‘great’ State of the Union Address in the near future!,” the president continued.

His supporters had insisted a strategic Trump was playing chess and a bumbling Pelosi, checkers. Last night the president seemed to pack away the board altogether.

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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/either-bored-or-because-he-was-bluffing-trump-blinks-on-state-of-the-union

[mystery-ak]

He underestimated Pelosi and he caved....

[skeeter]

Geez. The left is dancing & whooping like Sitting Bull after the Little Bighorn all because Trump agreed to wait until after the shutdown for the SOU.

Since they have their "victory" maybe we can get on with life now? I doubt it.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Read the GD title of this article and tell me they aren't overreaching.

Thank God the fight for independence wasn't left to us --- we'd have collapsed like an airless balloon at the first sign of trouble or the first disappointment.

Conservatives --- redefining courage downward for generations.  It's just what they do.

[aligncare]

A deal isn’t completed until the ink is dry. With every move that Trump makes there’s always a rush to judgment around here.

I like to wait for countermoves while the game plays out or a settlement is reached or there’s a walk away and game over.

[dfwgator]

He underestimated Pelosi and he caved....

It's all about The Wall and not the stupid SOTU.

[truth_seeker]

When is the speech?

What will he say?

[dfwgator]

When is the speech?

What will he say?

"The State of the Union is great.....NEXT!"

[the_doc]

@mystery-ak

He underestimated Pelosi and he caved....

I wouldn't call it "caving" at this point (although I might call it "spelunking" inside Pelosi's base of support).  Conceding something that means relatively little in the larger picture is just a way of negotiating to win.

These are not normal negotiations, of course, but a thoroughly nasty struggle for power. I don't think Pelosi is very good at this.   (For that matter, I don't think many of us TBR members would be very good at it, either.)  In any case, Trump just seems to be putting even more pressure on Pelosi to end the shutdown from her side of the mess. (A lot of folks do want to hear the SOTU address--including more than a few people who aren't committed Trumpers.)   

Maybe POTUS is persuaded that acquiescing to Pelosi's thinly veiled, anti-democratic bullying--using a legal but unseemly overreach for power--against a duly elected Chief Executive of the Republic will not quickly end the shutdown. If that is what Trump is thinking and if he's correct about that, then he will come out on top in the overall fight, because he will have demonstrated statesmanlike reasonableness--and by that posture convinced all but the most stupid Americans that Pelosi is a political harlot who would dare to try to prevent Trump from communicating effectually with the electorate about the wall controversy.  (How's that for Democracy in action?)  Of course, Trump will still wind up giving the bombshell SOTU speech over her continuing objections--and he will still build the wall over her continuing objections.  And Pelosi's continuing obstruction of the construction will make the use of the military to build the wall look righteous indeed.  (That will be important and even decisive in the looming court fight.)

If Pelosi does surprise us and "cave" with respect to the border wall, Trump will still give the dreaded SOTU address soon enough anyway (and he will have gotten his wall, of course). 

So, I don't see how President Trump can lose in the overall fight if he is reasonably careful from here on (and especially careful to avoid getting assassinated before he can accomplish either objective).

[XenaLee]

He underestimated Pelosi and he caved....

Maybe he is counting on the perception that Pelosi is just doing more of what Democrats do... obstructionism... as the reason why he didn't give the SOTU on schedule.  He is probably relying on his tweets to inform the public... but most Americans don't 'do' Twitter.  So the end result will, I think, turn out to be a negative one for Trump, positive for Pelosi.  Sucks.

[skeeter]

Its revealing that in her statement today Pelosi, after wrestling with Trump to the mat on the SOU, "wins" then immediately declares how unimportant the issue is in the greater scheme of things and how glad she is to be done with it.

If Trump is one fifth as savvy as some say he is, he'll realize how petulant and vindictive this woman is, and how easy it will be to make her even less popular with the public than she already is.

[Jazzhead]

Funny how so many folks are just aghast at the idea that Trump might take the high road.   

This SOTU flap is the pettiest of the petty.   Trump looks good this morning, and Pelosi looks bad - churlish and small.   

Trump has also offered to trade wall funding for a three-year extension of status for the Dreamers, as well as standing invite for weekly meetings at the White House to address immigration.    Pelosi?   She said no before the President could even announce his proposal. 

The best way to encourage cracks in the Democratic wall is to take the high road.   When he finally gets to give the SOTU - in the majestic setting of the House chamber where it belongs - he will have the time and the opportunity to lay into the Democrats on all fronts.    And it will arrive in citizens' homes without the filter of the mainstream media.   

[XenaLee]

Its revealing that in her statement today Pelosi, after wrestling with Trump to the mat on the SOU, after "winning" goes on to declare how meaningless the issue is in the greater scheme of things.

She is merely, once again and as usual, revealing her blatant elitism.... in her presumptious speaking for the rest of America that the SOTU is "meaningless".   Goes right along with her crack about "crumbs".   So out of touch with real, hard-working Americans ....it's hard to believe someone like her is in a position of such power.  A sad reality of what these leftists have already 'fundamentally transformed' America into.

[skeeter]

She is merely, once again and as usual, revealing her blatant elitism.... in her presumptious speaking for the rest of America that the SOTU is "meaningless".   Goes right along with her crack about "crumbs".   So out of touch with real, hard-working Americans ....it's hard to believe someone like her is in a position of such power.  A sad reality of what these leftists have already 'fundamentally transformed' America into.

Typical behavior of someone, usually someone with anger management or control issues, losing it in a dispute over something insignificant then afterwards tries to recover their dignity by laughing the whole matter off. Its pretty transparent.

After they 'win' of course. Such people NEVER compromise or back down. Trump should use this to his advantage.

[XenaLee]

Typical behavior of someone, usually someone with anger management or control issues, losing it in a dispute over something insignificant then afterwards tries to recover their dignity by laughing the whole matter off. Its pretty transparent.

Such people NEVER compromise or back down. Trump should use this to his advantage.

Agreed.

[Cyber Liberty]

“I am not looking for an alternative venue for the SOTU Address because there is no venue that can compete with the history, tradition and importance of the House Chamber. I look forward to giving a ‘great’ State of the Union Address in the near future!,” the president continued.

Yeah, a great history going all the way back to LBJ.

I stand by my earlier suggestion:  Release the SOTU in a 56-part Tweet, or on whitehouse.gov.  If he doesn't give a speech, then there is no requirement for a rebuttal speech either.

There is no way to sugar-coat this:  Trump caved to Pelosi, and the Leftists are correct to gloat.

[the_doc]

Funny how so many folks are just aghast at the idea that Trump might take the high road.   

This SOTU flap is the pettiest of the petty.   Trump looks good this morning, and Pelosi looks bad - churlish and small.   
 

I agree.  See my #8 for my own dissection of the SOTU versus Wall mess.

[aligncare]

She is merely, once again and as usual, revealing her blatant elitism.... in her presumptious speaking for the rest of America that the SOTU is "meaningless".   Goes right along with her crack about "crumbs".   So out of touch with real, hard-working Americans ....it's hard to believe someone like her is in a position of such power.  A sad reality of what these leftists have already 'fundamentally transformed' America into.

She also presumes to speak for every Democrat legislator. And a few are starting to grumble – as Rush pointed out last hour.

Rush also made a point to remind his listeners that the hate-Trump media won’t give us the skinny on the fractures developing within the Democratic Party, so the public isn’t getting a full picture of who’s strong, who’s weak and who’s actually winning.

[mountaineer]

Bored or bluffing aren't the only possibilities here.

[XenaLee]

She also presumes to speak for every Democrat legislator. And a few are starting to grumble – as Rush pointed out last hour.

Rush also made a point to remind his listeners that the hate-Trump media won’t give us the skinny on the fractures developing within the Democratic Party, so the public isn’t getting a full picture of who’s strong, who’s weak and who’s actually winning.

True.

[skeeter]

Yeah, a great history going all the way back to LBJ.

I stand by my earlier suggestion:  Release the SOTU in a 56-part Tweet, or on whitehouse.gov.  If he doesn't give a speech, then there is no requirement for a rebuttal speech either.

There is no way to sugar-coat this:  Trump caved to Pelosi, and the Leftists are correct to gloat.

Did Trump cave to Pelosi on the issue of where and when to give the SOU? Yes.

Will it matter at all in the long run? Probably not.

[Cyber Liberty]

Did Trump cave to Pelosi on the issue of where and when to give the SOU? Yes.

Will it matter at all in the long run? Probably not.

Agreed on the first, jury is still out on the second.  Depends on how the SOTU gets delivered (as required in the Constitution).

[the_doc]

Did Trump cave to Pelosi on the issue of where and when to give the SOU? Yes.

Willl it matter at all in the long run? Probably not.

To make a really, really bad concession in a negotiation merely to chalk up a "win" in the larger matter of the negotiation is to lose, not win.  However, making an ultimately inconsequential concession might very well be a very shrewd tactic for winning everything.  An inconsequential concession can actually strengthen one's overall position quite a lot, as I suggested in #8.

In that case, I would not use the colorful word "cave"--which only expresses our disappointment that Trump is daring to do what the media likes to style as "blinking."  Heck, I think he is just batting his eyes at Lovely Nancy.  I think Trump is probably very good at this junk.  And yeah, I think Nancy is way over her head on everything nowadays. 

[Right_in_Virginia]

When is the speech?

What will he say?

What will he say? --- Anything he wants.  He will have paid for the microphone, the cameras and the audience. 

But one thing Donald Trump does better than anyone who'll be in that room is tell the backstory of any given news event.  At rallies he started this with:  "Okay, here's the story ….." and the crowds would hang on his every word.

I expect to hear a variation of this "backstory routine" about the shutdown during the SOTU address, including reliving the two times Nancy Pelosi voted not to pay furloughed government workers.  I'm sure there's a lot we don't know  --- yet.  And, the POTUS will do this with Pelosi sitting behind him.   

He'll end this section of his speech with some kind of dual meaning pat on the back to Pelosi and move on to successes and future plans like she is lint on his lapel.

And the President will do all of this in front of the largest SOTH audience in history.

[skeeter]

To make a really, really bad concession in a negotiation merely to chalk up a "win" in the larger matter of the negotiation is to lose, not win.  However, making an ultimately inconsequential concession might very well be a very shrewd tactic for winning everything.  An inconsequential concession can actually strengthen one's overall position quite a lot, as I suggested in #8.

In that case, I would not use the colorful word "cave"--which only expresses our disappointment that Trump is daring to do what the media likes to style as "blinking."  Heck, I think he is just batting his eyes at Lovely Nancy.  I think Trump is probably very good at this junk.  And yeah, I think Nancy is way over her head on everything nowadays.

The one thing they tell you over and over in Contract Negotiation 101 is NEVER piss off your counterpart to the point they become emotionally invested and will not agree to give you anything. If that means making a concession here or there then go ahead as long as you keep your eye on what it is you intend to ultimately get out of the deal.