Dear Madam Speaker:
Thank you for your letter of January 3, 2019, sent to me long after the Shutdown began, inviting me to address the Nation on January 29th as to the State of the Union. As you know, I had already accepted your kind invitation, however, I then received another letter from you dated January 16, 2019, wherein you expressed concerns regarding security during the State of the Union Address due to the Shutdown. Even prior to asking, I was contacted by the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Secret Service to explain that there would be absolutely no problem regarding security with respect to the event. They have since confirmed this publicly.
Accordingly, there are no security concerns regarding the State of the Union Address. Therefore, I will be honoring your invitation, and fulfilling my Constitutional duty, to deliver important information to the people and Congress of the United States of America regarding the State of our Union.
I look forward to seeing you on the evening on January 29th in the Chamber of the House of Representatives. It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!
Sincerely,
Donald J. Trump
Piglosi shot herself in the foot. The original invitation was sent AFTER the "government shutdown" had already started AND the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service have already publicly confirmed that there should be no problems with security for the SOTU speech. Her entire supposed rationale for delaying the SOTU speech has blown up in her face ... because there is no reason for it other than she wants to throw an infantile temper tantrum. Guess what, Nutty Nancy ... you just proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have the mentality and emotional stability equal to that of a two-year-old. ROTFLMAO!
Trump Calls Pelosi's Bluff: I Plan on Showing Up For My Speech, Based On Your Original Invitation
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2019/01/23/trump-is-smart-to-forge-ahead-with-state-of-the-union-as-originally-scheduled-n2539462
... Trump has decided to press ahead with next week's regularly-scheduled State of the Union address, essentially calling Pelosi's bluff. She's using the shutdown - which she's taking zero realistic steps to end - as a pretext to reschedule, but Trump is rightly pointing out that she extended the invitation for January 29th during the shutdown ...
That was Sunday. The White House forged ahead on Tuesday. Pelosi asked, Trump accepted, and now he's indicating that it's his intention to show up and give the speech as planned. This leaves Pelosi with two bad options: (1) Formally rescind the invitation and try to bar Trump from delivering the annual address inside the House chamber, as has become the longstanding tradition, or (2) back down, then devise some other method of undermining his message. The first route would represent an escalation of pettiness and an unusual breach of protocol -- neither of which may play terribly well with the public, especially against the backdrop of her staunch refusal to negotiate a compromise. The second route would look like a surrender, and would raise additional dilemmas about how to handle the resulting optics. Allahpundit sees pitfalls ahead:
If she attends she'll be stuck sitting there silently with a camera trained on her while Trump blames her and Democrats for the shutdown. And it'll be personally humiliating for her to have quasi-disinvited Trump from delivering the speech, had her bluff called, and then left with little choice but to dutifully attend and endure the speech anyway. So she probably won't attend. But if she doesn't, the empty chair in-frame over Trump's shoulder while he makes his speech will reinforce all of the points he's made about Democrats over the past month. They're the ones who are being stubborn, not him. They hate him so much that they've let this become personal, illustrated by an unprecedented SOTU snub by the new Speaker. They're so deep in the tank for illegals that they can't stand to sit there and listen for an hour while he warns the country about the risks of crime from across the border. Bad optics either way ... The likeliest scenario is that Democrats boycott the speech en masse, handing POTUS 72 solid hours of "Trump Derangement Syndrome" material about them in the aftermath.
AP also wonders whom the Democrats might hypothetically select to offer real-time counter-programming, assuming they wouldn't wait around for the typical post-SOTU response. A joint Pelosi/Schumer appearance didn't work out terribly well last time, and showing favoritism toward any of the 150 or so Congressional Democrats running for president would be an internal nightmare. Why not let AOC loose to rant about the 'immorality' of the existence of billionaires, inform voters that they're living in a hellish dystopia, and warn about the impending 2031 apocalypse? Perhaps she could offer additional commentary on her Democratic critics while she's at it. Come to think of it, maybe the Speaker is better off just grimacing her way through the presidential speech, for which she set the date and time earlier this month.
But what if Pelosi opts not to allow the requested SOTU walk-through, basically blocking Trump through bureaucratic and scheduling means? Does Trump take his motorcade down Pennsylvania Avenue, uninvited, and dare Pelosi to literally refuse him entry to the House chamber? Does she really want to risk that sort of ridiculous and totally unnecessary confrontation? ...
Yep ... of course she does ... Piglosi is a clown who loves to make a ridiculous buffoon out of herself. Bravo ... and pass the popcorn!
Update:
Pelosi has informed Trump that he is no longer welcome to deliver the speech next week, effectively rescinding her invitation. This latest stunt underscores Pelosi's pettiness and partisanship. She is emerging as the number one obstacle to reopening the government. I hope the workers she claims to care about are impressed. The president will certainly give the speech elsewhere, and expect Republicans to pound away at this ridiculous episode. ...
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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