JUDY WOODRUFF: Welcome to our
"PBS NewsHour" special live
coverage of President Trump's

second State of the
Union address, and the
Democratic response.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

Mr. Trump faces a deeply
divided Congress and nation.

He is expected to call for
unity, while, at the same time,
continuing his demand for a

 

wall on the U.S. southern
border with Mexico.

Tonight's address was delayed a
week by the federal government
shutdown, with another

potentially on the
horizon next week.

Stacey Abrams, who lost a close
governor's race in Georgia
last November, will deliver

 

the Democratic response.

But, for the first time, we
will see newly elected Speaker
of the House Nancy Pelosi

 

seated behind Mr. Trump.

It is his first address before
this divided Congress, with
a new Democratic majority in

 

the House.

Our Lisa Desjardins is there
at the Capitol, and Yamiche
Alcindor is at the White House.

 

Yamiche, the president
left the White House.

He has just arrived
at the Capitol.

What do we expect him to say?

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, we know
that president is extremely
excited to deliver this State

of the Union address
in the House chambers.

Important to note that
the president at one
point was looking at
other locations outside

Washington, D.C., to deliver
his State of the Union address,
but instead decided that

the House was where he wanted
to deliver it because of all
of its grandeur and all of

its history.

We know that the president
is going to be talking
about immigration.

He is going to be casting
immigration as a moral issue,
and saying that the political

class of D.C. that is safe and
that has gates on their homes,
that they are going to deny

that same sense of security
to working-class people.

The president is also
going to try to deliver
a unifying message and
talk about prescription

drugs and infrastructure.

But the one thing to remember,
of course, is that the
president has some credibility

issues on that, because
Democrats are saying that
he has offended them,
that he has insulted

Democrats, that he has even
suggested that Democrats don't
believe in border security.

But we are going to try to
think that the president is
really going to try to deliver

a message to say this is
not about his agenda, but
about America's agenda.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Lisa, at
the Capitol, it is hard to
think of a State of the Union

that has been preceded by as
much drama as we have had over
the last few weeks, waiting

to see whether this government
shutdown would end, they would
come to some sort of temporary

agreement.

How has that affected
the anticipation there?

LISA DESJARDINS: I think
there is a lot of anxiety and
frustration at deeper levels,

especially for Republicans
here at the U.S. Capitol.

But it is an interesting
contrast tonight, Judy, because
there is also a different kind

of excitement than I have
felt in a while here.

And that's because -- think
about it -- there are 101 new
members of this Congress, many

of them never elected
to office before.

(CROSSTALK)

JUDY WOODRUFF: Lisa, I have
got to interrupt you just
a second, just one second.

MAN: The president
of the United States!

 

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JUDY WOODRUFF: And the president
enters the chamber of the
House of Representatives.

Lisa, I interrupted you, so
that we could hear the president
announce by the sergeant

at arms.

But continue with
what you were saying.

You were saying a
lot of anxiety there.

LISA DESJARDINS: Well, I
am happy to be interrupted
by the announcement of
the president of the

United States.

(LAUGHTER)

LISA DESJARDINS: I will step
aside any time for that.

There is anxiety, especially
among Republicans,
over the shutdown.

And kind of in general, the
last year has been one of
ups and downs legislatively.

 

However, there is a lot of
excitement because think about
this; 101 people in that chamber

 

are newly elected.

They have never been to a
State of the Union before.

So there is almost just sort
of like a first day of school
kind of excitement for many

of these especially younger
and first-time lawmakers that
are in that chamber tonight.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Yes.

You are exactly right.

And a lot of them are
a lot younger than the
class that preceded them.

As we watch President Trump
greet and be greeted by members
of Congress who are seated there

 

along the aisle, I want to
introduce all of you to the
team who is going to be with me,

 

watching the president and
analyzing his remarks later.

Joining us all this night,
syndicated columnist
Mark Shields, Amy Walter
of The Cook Political

 

Report, Peter Wehner of the
Ethics and Policy - - Public
Policy Center in Washington.

He served in the last three
Republican administrations.

Karine Jean-Pierre, senior
adviser to MoveOn.org, she
worked in the Obama White House.

And Chris Buskirk, editor
of the conservative
blog American Greatness.

Welcome to all of you.

And, Mark Shields, I am
going to come to you first.

MARK SHIELDS: Sure.

JUDY WOODRUFF: This is the --
President Trump's second State
of the Union address, but the

atmosphere, I think it
is fair to say, is very
different from last year.

MARK SHIELDS: Totally
different, Judy.

It's a -- after presidents
have suffered stinging
rebukes in midterm elections,
the common approach

 

is to reach for common ground,
to reach across the aisle, to
come in a little bit humbled,

 

as Bill Clinton did in '94,
as George Bush did in 2007.

 

And it will be interesting to
see if Donald - - if President
Donald Trump does try that

 

sort of grace note that
particularly comes to mind with
George W. Bush, who said that

 

he was -- he felt privileged
to speak words that nobody
had ever spoken before, "Madam

Speaker," when he introduced
Nancy Pelosi the first
time she was speaker.

And so I will just be interested
to see how he handles the
rebuke, or just ignores it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And President
Trump is giving, as tradition
would have it, a copy of his

remarks, the address,
to both Speaker Pelosi
and Vice President Mike
Pence, both of whom

 

will be sitting behind him.

And we will be watching their
reaction throughout the night,
because they are the fixture, as

 

- - again, as tradition
would have it.

The president at this point
enjoying a round of applause
that he is getting as he -- and

 

everybody is standing,
Democrats and Republicans.

It is a point of honor as
the president comes in.

Peter Wehner, you have
watched this president before.

He seems to be
enjoying the moment.

PETER WEHNER, Ethics and Public
Policy Center: Well, he enjoys
it when he's the center of

attention.

And he is the
center of attention.

But I tell you, what I am
looking for in the speech is --
his aides were saying that this

is going to be an effort
to unify the country.

I just don't think
that is realistic.

And the reason I don't is that
this is a person whose entire
presidency has been based on

division and acrimony and anger.

And, number one, I don't
know that he can pull it off.

And, number two, even if he
does, I don't know how plausible
it is or how long it will

last.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Amy Walter,
that is the skepticism that
is out there, isn't it?

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political
Report: Well, and it is
a well-earned skepticism.

(LAUGHTER)

AMY WALTER: But, look, there
are actually real things on
the table here that have to

be -- theoretically, have to
be figured out in the next few
days here, especially about

a potential government shutdown.

DONALD TRUMP, President
of the United States:
Thank you very much.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The president.

DONALD TRUMP: Madam Speaker,
Mr. Vice President, members of
Congress, the first lady of the

United States.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Madam Speaker, Mr. Vice
President, Members of Congress,
the First Lady of the United

States, and my fellow
Americans:We meet tonight at a
moment of unlimited potential.

 

As we begin a new Congress,
I stand here ready to
work with you to achieve
historic breakthroughs

 

for all Americans.

Millions of our fellow citizens
are watching us now, gathered
in this great chamber, hoping

 

that we will govern not as
TWO PARTIES but as ONE NATION.

 

The agenda I will lay out this
evening is not a Republican
Agenda or a Democrat Agenda.

 

It is the agenda of
the American People.

Many of us campaigned on
the same core promises:
to defend American jobs
and demand FAIR TRADE

 

for American workers; to rebuild
and revitalize our nation's
infrastructure; to reduce the

 

price of healthcare and
prescription drugs; to create an
immigration system that is safe,

 

lawful, modern and secure;
and to pursue a foreign policy
that puts America's interests

 

first.

There is a new opportunity in
American politics, if only we
have the courage to seize it.

 

Victory is not
winning for our party.

Victory is winning
for our COUNTRY.

 

This year, America will
recognize two important
anniversaries that
show us the Majesty of

 

America's Mission, and the
Power of American Pride.

 

In June, we mark 75 years
since the start of what General
Dwight D. Eisenhower called

 

the Great Crusade - the
Allied liberation of
Europe in World War II.

 

On D-Day, June 6th, 1944,
fifteen thousand young American
men jumped from the sky and

 

sixty thousand more stormed
in from the sea, to save our
civilization from tyranny.

 

Here with us tonight are
three of those heroes:
Private First Class Joseph
Reilly, Staff Sergeant

 

Irving Locker, and
Sergeant Herman Zeitchik.

 

Gentlemen, we salute you.

 

In 2019, we also celebrate 50
years since brave young pilots
flew a quarter of a million

 

miles through space to
plant the American flag
on the face of the moon.

 

Half a century later, we are
joined by one of the Apollo
11 astronauts who planted that

 

flag: Buzz Aldrin.

 

This year American
astronauts will go back to
space on American rockets.

 

In the 20th century,
America saved freedom,
transformed science,
and redefined the middle

 

class standard of living
for the entire world to see.

 

Now, we must step boldly and
bravely into the next chapter of
this Great American Adventure,

 

and we must create a
new standard of living
for the 21st century.

 

An amazing quality of life
for all of our citizens
is within our reach.

 

We can make our communities
safer, our families
stronger, our culture
richer, our faith deeper,

 

and our Middle Class
bigger and more prosperous
than ever before.

 

But we must reject the politics
of revenge, resistance and
retribution - and embrace

 

the boundless potential
of cooperation, compromise
and the common good.

 

Together, we can break decades
of political stalemate.

 

We can bridge old divisions,
heal old wounds, build new
coalitions, forge new solutions,

 

and unlock the extraordinary
promise of America's future.

 

The decision is ours to make.

We must choose between greatness
or gridlock, results or
resistance, vision or vengeance,

 

incredible progress or
pointless destruction.

Tonight, I ask you
to choose GREATNESS.

 

Over the last two years, my
administration has moved with
urgency and historic speed

 

to confront problems
neglected by leaders of BOTH
parties over many decades.

 

In just over two years since
the election, we have launched
an unprecedented economic

 

boom - a boom that has
rarely been seen before.

 

We have created 5.3 million
new jobs and importantly
added 600,000 new
manufacturing jobs -something

 

which almost everyone said
was impossible to do, but the
fact is, we are just getting

 

started.

 

Wages are rising at the fastest
pace in decades, and growing
for blue collar workers, who I

 

promised to fight for,
faster than anyone else.

 

Nearly 5 million Americans have
been lifted off food stamps.

 

The U.S. economy is growing
almost twice as fast today as
when I took office, and we are

 

considered far and away
the hottest economy
anywhere in the world.

 

Unemployment has reached the
lowest rate in half a century.

 

African-American,
Hispanic-American and
Asian-American unemployment
have all reached their lowest

 

levels ever recorded.

 

Unemployment for Americans
with disabilities has also
reached an all-time low.

 

More people are working
now than at any time in
our history - 157 million.

 

We passed a massive tax cut
for working families and
doubled the child tax credit.

 

We virtually ended the
estate, or death, tax
on small businesses,
ranches, and family farms.

 

We eliminated the very
unpopular Obamacare individual
mandate penalty - and to give

 

critically ill patients
access to life-saving cures,
we passed RIGHT TO TRY.

 

My Administration has cut more
regulations in a short time
than any other administration

 

during its entire tenure.

 

Companies are coming
back to our country in
large numbers thanks to
our historic reductions

 

in taxes and regulations.

 

We have unleashed a revolution
in American Energy - the
United States is now the number

 

one producer of oil and
natural gas in the world.

 

And now, for the first
time in 65 years, we are
a net exporter of energy.

 

After 24 months of rapid
progress, our economy
is the envy of the
world, our military is

 

the most powerful on earth, and

 

America is winning
each and every day.

 

Members of Congress: the
State of our Union is Strong.

 

Our country is vibrant and
our economy is thriving
like never before.

 

On Friday, it was announced
that we added another 304,000
jobs last month alone - almost

 

double what was expected.

 

An economic miracle is taking
place in the United States
- and the only thing that

 

can stop it are foolish
wars, politics or ridiculous
partisan investigations.

 

If there is going to be peace
and legislation, there cannot
be war and investigation.

 

It just doesn't work that way!

 

We must be united at home to
defeat our adversaries abroad.

 

This new era of cooperation can
start with finally confirming
the more than 300 highly

 

qualified nominees who are
still stuck in the Senate -
some after years of waiting.

 

The Senate has failed to
act on these nominations,
which is unfair to the
nominees and to our

 

country.

Now is the time for
bipartisan action.

Believe it or not, we
have already proven
that it is possible.

 

In the last Congress,
both parties came together
to pass unprecedented
legislation to confront

 

the opioid crisis, a sweeping
new Farm Bill, historic VA
reforms, and after four decades

 

of rejection, we passed VA
Accountability so we can finally
terminate those who mistreat

 

our wonderful veterans.

 

And just weeks ago, both parties
united for groundbreaking
Criminal Justice Reform.

 

Last year, I heard
through friends the
story of Alice Johnson.

 

I was deeply moved.

In 1997, Alice was sentenced to
life in prison as a first-time
non-violent drug offender.

 

Over the next two decades,
she became a prison
minister, inspiring
others to choose a better

 

path.

She had a big impact on
that prison population
- and far beyond.

 

Alice's story underscores the
disparities and unfairness
that can exist in criminal

 

sentencing - and the need
to remedy this injustice.

 

She served almost 22 years and
had expected to be in prison
for the rest of her life.

 

In June, I commuted Alice's
sentence -when I saw Alice's
beautiful family greet her

 

at the prison gates, hugging
and kissing and crying and
laughing, I knew I did the right

 

thing - Alice is
here with us tonight.

 

Alice, thank you for reminding
us that we always have the
power to shape our own destiny.

 

Inspired by stories like
Alice's, my administration
worked closely with
members of both parties

 

to sign the First
Step Act into law.

 

This legislation
reformed sentencing laws
that have wrongly and
disproportionately harmed

 

the African-American community.

The First Step Act gives
non-violent offenders
the chance to re-enter
society as productive,

 

law-abiding citizens.

Now, states across the country
are following our lead.

 

America is a nation that
believes in redemption.

We are also joined tonight by
Matthew Charles from Tennessee.

 

In 1996, at age 30, Matthew
was sentenced to 35 years
for selling drugs and related

 

offenses.

Over the next two decades, he
completed more than 30 Bible
studies, became a law clerk,

 

and mentored fellow inmates.

Now, Matthew is the very first
person to be released from
prison under the First Step

 

Act.

Matthew, on behalf of All
Americans: WELCOME HOME.

 

Now, Republicans and
Democrats must join forces
again to confront an
urgent national crisis.

 

Congress has 10 days
left to pass a bill that
will fund our government,
protect our homeland,

 

and secure our Southern Border.

 

Now is the time for Congress
to show the world that America
is committed to ending illegal

 

immigration and putting the
ruthless coyotes, cartels, drug
dealers, and human traffickers

 

OUT OF BUSINESS.

 

As we speak, large, organized
caravans are on the march
to the United States.

 

We have just heard that Mexican
cities, in order to remove
the illegal immigrants from

 

their communities, are getting
trucks and buses to bring them
up to our country in areas

 

where there is little
border protection.

I have ordered another 3,750
troops to our Southern Border
to prepare for the tremendous

 

onslaught.

This is a MORAL issue.

The lawless state of
our Southern Border is
a threat to the safety,
security and financial

 

well-being of all Americans.

We have a moral duty to create
an immigration system that
protects the lives and jobs of

 

our citizens.

This includes our obligation
to the millions of immigrants
living here today, who followed

 

the rules and
respected our laws.

LEGAL immigrants enrich our
nation and strengthen our
society in countless ways.

 

I want people to come
into our country, but they
have to come in legally.

 

Tonight, I am asking you to
defend our very dangerous
southern border out of LOVE and

 

DEVOTION to our fellow
citizens and to our country.

 

No issue better illustrates
the divide between America's
WORKING CLASS and America's

 

POLITICAL CLASS than
illegal immigration.

Wealthy politicians and donors
push for open borders while
living their lives behind walls

 

and gates and guards.

 

Meanwhile, working class
Americans are left to pay the
price for mass illegal migration

 

- reduced jobs, lower wages,
overburdened schools and
hospitals, increased crime, and

 

a depleted social safety net.

Tolerance for illegal
immigration is not
compassionate - it is cruel.

 

1 in 3 women is sexually
assaulted on the
long journey north.

 

Smugglers use migrant children
as human pawns to exploit our
laws and gain access to our

 

country.

Human traffickers and sex
traffickers take advantage of
the wide open areas between our

 

ports of entry to smuggle
thousands of young girls and
women into the United States and

 

to sell them into prostitution
and modern-day slavery.

 

Tens of thousands of innocent
Americans are killed by lethal
drugs that cross our border

 

and flood into our cities
- including meth, heroin,
cocaine and fentanyl.

 

The savage gang, MS-13,
now operates in at
least 20 different
American states, and they

 

almost all come through
our Southern Border.

 

Just yesterday, an MS-13 gang
member was taken into custody
for a fatal shooting on a subway

 

platform in New York City.

We are removing these gang
members by the thousands, but
until we secure our border

 

they're going to keep
streaming back in.

 

Year after year, countless
Americans are murdered by
criminal illegal aliens.

 

I've gotten to know many
wonderful Angel Moms, Dads and
families -no one should ever

 

have to suffer the horrible
heartache they have endured.

 

Here tonight is Debra Bissell.

Just three weeks ago, Debra's
parents, Gerald and Sharon, were
burglarized and shot to death

 

in their Reno, Nevada
home by an illegal alien.

 

They were in their eighties
and are survived by 4
children, 11 grandchildren,
and 20 great-grandchildren.

 

Also here tonight are Gerald
and Sharon's granddaughter,
Heather, and great-granddaughter

 

Madison.

To Debra, Heather, Madison,
please stand:few can
understand your pain.

 

But I will never forget, and
I will fight for the memory
of Gerald and Sharon, that

 

it should never happen again.

Not one more American
life should be lost
because our nation failed
to control its very

 

dangerous border.

In the last two years,
our brave ICE officers
made 266,000 arrests of
criminal aliens, including

 

those charged or convicted of
nearly 100,000 assaults, 30,000
sex crimes, and 4,000 killings.

 

We are joined tonight by
one of those law enforcement
heroes: ICE Special Agent Elvin

 

Hernandez.

When

 

Elvin was a boy, he and his
family legally immigrated to the
United States from the Dominican

 

Republic.

At the age of eight, Elvin
told his dad he wanted to
become a Special Agent.

 

Today, he leads investigations
into the scourge of
international sex trafficking.

 

Elvin says: "If I can make sure
these young girls get their
justice, I've done my job."

 

Thanks to his work and
that of his colleagues,
more than 300 women and
girls have been rescued

 

from horror and more than
1,500 sadistic traffickers
have been put behind bars.

 

Special Agent Hernandez please
stand: We will ALWAYS support
the brave men and women of

 

Law Enforcement -and I pledge
to you tonight that we will
NEVER Abolish our heroes from

 

ICE.

 

My administration has sent
to Congress a commonsense
proposal to end the
crisis on our Southern

 

Border.

It includes humanitarian
assistance, more law
enforcement, drug
detection at our ports,

 

closing loopholes that enable
child smuggling, and plans for
a new physical barrier, or wall,

 

to secure the vast areas
between our ports of entry.

 

This

 

is a smart, strategic,
see-through steel barrier - not
just a simple concrete wall.

 

It will be deployed in the areas
identified by border agents
as having the greatest need,

 

and as these agents will
tell you, where walls go up,
illegal crossings go way down.

 

San Diego used to have
the most illegal border
crossings in the country.

 

In response, a strong security
wall was put in place.

 

This powerful barrier
almost completely ended
illegal crossings.

 

The border city of El Paso,
Texas, used to have extremely
high rates of violent crime

 

- one of the highest in the
country, and considered one
of our nation's most dangerous

 

cities.

Now, with a powerful barrier
in place, El Paso is one
of our safest cities.

 

Simply put, WALLS WORK
and WALLS SAVE LIVES.

 

So let's work together,
compromise, and reach a deal
that will truly make America

 

SAFE.

As we work to defend our
people's safety, we must also
ensure our economic resurgence

 

continues at a rapid pace.

No one has benefitted more from
our thriving economy than women,
who have filled 58 percent

 

of the new jobs created
in the last year.

 

All Americans can be proud
that we have more women in the
workforce than ever before -

 

and exactly one century
after Congress passed
the Constitutional
Amendment giving women

 

the right to vote, we also
have more women serving in
Congress than ever before.

 

As part of our commitment to
improving opportunity for women
everywhere, this Thursday we are

 

launching the first ever
government-wide initiative
focused on economic
empowerment for women

 

in developing countries.

To build on our incredible
economic success, one priority
is paramount -reversing decades

 

of calamitous trade policies.

We are now making it
clear to China that after
years of targeting our
industries, and stealing

 

our intellectual property,
the theft of American jobs
and wealth has come to an end.

 

Therefore, we recently imposed
tariffs on $250 billion
dollars of Chinese goods - and

 

now our Treasury is receiving
billions of dollars.

 

But I don't blame China for
taking advantage of us - I blame
our leaders and representatives

 

for allowing this
travesty to happen.

I have great respect for
President Xi, and we are now
working on a new trade deal with

 

China.

But it must include real,
structural change to end unfair
trade practices, reduce our

 

chronic trade deficit,
and protect American jobs.

 

Another historic
trade blunder was the
catastrophe known as NAFTA.

 

I have met the men and women of
Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Indiana, New Hampshire,

 

and many other states whose
dreams were shattered by NAFTA.

 

For years, politicians
promised them they would
negotiate for a better deal.

 

But no one ever
TRIED - until now.

Our new U.S.-Mexico-Canada
Agreement - or USMCA - will
replace NAFTA and deliver for

 

American workers: bringing
back our manufacturing
jobs, expanding American
agriculture, protecting

 

intellectual property,
and ensuring that more
cars are proudly stamped
with the four beautiful

 

words: MADE IN THE USA.

 

Tonight, I am also asking
you to pass the United States
Reciprocal Trade Act, so that

 

if another country places an
unfair tariff on an American
product, we can charge them

 

the exact same tariff
on the same product
that they sell to us.

 

Both parties should be able to
unite for a great rebuilding
of America's crumbling

 

infrastructure.

 

I know that Congress is eager to
pass an infrastructure bill -and
I am eager to work with you on

 

legislation to deliver new
and important infrastructure
investment, including
investments in the cutting

 

edge industries of the future.

This is not an option.

This is a necessity.

The next major priority for me,
and for all of us, should be
to lower the cost of healthcare

 

and prescription drugs -
and to protect patients with
pre-existing conditions.

 

Already, as a result
of my administration's
efforts, in 2018 drug
prices experienced their

 

single largest
decline in 46 years.

 

But we must do more.

It is unacceptable that
Americans pay vastly
more than people in
other countries for the

 

exact same drugs, often made
in the exact same place.

 

This is wrong, unfair, and
together we can stop it.

 

I am asking Congress to
pass legislation that
finally takes on the problem
of global freeloading

 

and delivers fairness
and price transparency
for American Patients.

 

We should also require drug
companies, insurance companies,
and hospitals to disclose real

 

prices to foster competition
and bring costs down.

 

No force in history has done
more to advance the human
condition than American Freedom.

 

In recent years we have made
remarkable progress in the
fight against HIV and AIDS.

 

Scientific breakthroughs
have brought a once-distant
dream within reach.

 

My budget will ask Democrats
and Republicans to make the
needed commitment to eliminate

 

the HIV epidemic in the
United States within 10 years.

 

Together, we will
defeat AIDS in America.

 

Tonight I am also asking you to
join me in another fight that
all Americans can get behind:

 

the fight against
childhood cancer.

 

Joining Melania in the gallery
this evening is a very brave 10
year old girl, Grace Ee-line.

 

Every birthday

 

since she was 4, Grace asked her
friends to donate to St. Jude
Children's Research Hospital.

 

She did not know that one day
she might be a patient herself.

 

Last year, Grace was
diagnosed with brain cancer.

Immediately, she began
radiation treatment.

At the same time, she rallied
her community and raised more
than $40,000 dollars for the

 

fight against cancer.

 

When Grace completed treatment
last fall, her doctors and
nurses cheered with tears

 

in their eyes as she hung
up a poster that read:
"Last day of Keemo."

 

Grace - you are an
inspiration to us all.

 

Many childhood cancers have not
seen new therapies in decades.

 

My budget will ask Congress
for $500 million dollars over
the next 10 years to fund this

 

critical life-saving research.

To help support working parents,
the time has come to pass
SCHOOL CHOICE for America's

 

children.

I am also proud to be the first
President to include in my
budget a plan for nationwide

 

paid family leave - so that
every new parent has the chance
to bond with their newborn

 

child.

 

There could be no greater
contrast to the beautiful image
of a mother holding her infant

 

child than the chilling displays
our nation saw in recent days.

 

Lawmakers in New York cheered
with delight upon the passage
of legislation that would

 

allow a baby to be ripped
from the mother's womb
moments before birth.

 

These are living, feeling,
beautiful, babies who will never
get the chance to share their

 

love and dreams with the world.

And then, we had the
case of the Governor of
Virginia where he stated

 

he would execute a
baby after birth.

To defend the dignity of every
person, I am asking Congress
to pass legislation to prohibit

 

the late-term abortion
of children who can feel
pain in the mother's womb.

 

Let us work together
to build a culture that
cherishes innocent life.

 

And let us reaffirm a
fundamental truth: all children
- born and unborn - are made

 

in the holy image of God.

The final part of my agenda
is to protect America's
National Security.

 

Over the last two years, we
have begun to fully rebuild the
United States Military -with

 

$700 billion dollars last
year and $716 billion
dollars this year.

 

We are also getting other
nations to pay their fair share.

 

For years, the United States
was being treated very unfairly
by NATO - but now we have

 

secured a $100 billion
dollar increase in defense
spending from NATO allies.

 

As part of our military
build-up, the United
States is developing a
state-of-the-art Missile

 

Defense System.

Under my Administration,
we will never apologize for
advancing America's interests.

 

For example, decades ago the
United States entered into a
treaty with Russia in which

 

we agreed to limit and reduce
our missile capabilities.

 

While we followed the
agreement to the letter, Russia
repeatedly violated its terms.

 

That is why I announced
that the United States
is officially withdrawing
from the Intermediate-Range

 

Nuclear Forces
Treaty, or INF Treaty.

 

Perhaps

 

we can negotiate a different
agreement, adding China and
others, or perhaps we can't -in

 

which case, we will outspend and
out-innovate all others by far.

 

As part of a bold new diplomacy,
we continue our historic
push for peace on the Korean

 

Peninsula.

Our hostages have come home,
nuclear testing has stopped,
and there has not been a missile

 

launch in 15 months.

If I had not been elected
President of the United
States, we would right
now, in my opinion,

 

be in a major war
with North Korea.

 

Much work remains to be done,
but my relationship with
Kim Jong Un is a good one.

 

Chairman Kim and I will
meet again on February
27 and 28 in Vietnam.

 

Two weeks ago, the
United States officially
recognized the legitimate
government of Venezuela,

 

and its new interim
President, Juan Gwydo.

 

We stand with the Venezuelan
people in their noble quest
for freedom - and we condemn

 

the brutality of the Maduro
regime, whose socialist
policies have turned that nation

 

from being the wealthiest in
South America into a state of
abject poverty and despair.

 

Here, in the United States,
we are alarmed by new calls to
adopt socialism in our country.

 

America was founded on
liberty and independence
- not government
coercion, domination and

 

control.

We are BORN FREE, and
we will STAY FREE.

 

Tonight, we renew our resolve
that America will NEVER
be a socialist country.

 

One of the most complex
set of challenges we face
is in the Middle East.

 

Our approach is based
on principled realism
- not discredited
theories that have failed

 

for decades to yield progress.

 

For this reason, my
Administration recognized
the TRUE capital of
Israel - and proudly

 

opened the American
Embassy in Jerusalem.

 

Our brave troops have now
been fighting in the Middle
East for almost 19 years.

 

In Afghanistan and Iraq,
nearly 7,000 American Heroes
have given their lives.

 

More than 52,000 Americans
have been badly wounded.

 

We have spent more than
$7 trillion dollars
in the Middle East.

 

As a candidate for President,
I pledged a new approach.

 

Great nations do not
fight endless wars.

 

When I took office, ISIS
controlled more than 20,000
square miles in Iraq and Syria.

 

Today, we have liberated
virtually all of that
territory from the grip
of these bloodthirsty

 

killers.

Now, as we work with our allies
to destroy the remnants of
ISIS, it is time to give our

 

brave warriors in Syria
a warm welcome home.

 

I have also accelerated
our negotiations to
reach a political
settlement in Afghanistan.

 

Our troops have fought with
unmatched valor - and thanks
to their bravery, we are now

 

able to pursue a political
solution to this long
and bloody conflict.

 

In Afghanistan, my
Administration is holding
constructive talks
with a number of Afghan

 

groups, including the Taliban.

As we make progress in these
negotiations, we will be able
to reduce our troop presence

 

and focus on counter-terrorism.

 

We do not know whether we
will achieve an agreement -
but we do know that after two

 

decades of war, the hour has
come to at least try for PEACE.

 

Above all, friend and foe alike
must never doubt this nation's
power and will to defend

 

our people.

18 years ago, terrorists
attacked the USS Cole - and last
month American Forces killed

 

one of the leaders
of the attack.

 

We are honored to be
joined tonight by Tom
Wibberley, whose son, Navy
Seaman Craig Wibberley,

 

was one of the 17 sailors
we tragically lost.

 

Tom: we vow to always remember
the heroes of the USS Cole.

 

My administration has acted
decisively to confront the
world's leading state sponsor

 

of terror: the radical
regime in Iran.

 

To ensure this corrupt
dictatorship never
acquires nuclear weapons,
I withdrew the United

 

States from the disastrous
Iran nuclear deal.

 

And last fall, we put in
place the toughest sanctions
ever imposed on a country.

 

We will not avert our eyes from
a regime that chants Death to
America and threatens genocide

 

against the Jewish People.

 

We must never ignore
the vile poison of
Anti-Semitism, or those who
spread its venomous creed.

 

With one voice, we must
confront this hatred anywhere
and everywhere it occurs.

 

Just months ago, 11
Jewish-Americans were
viciously murdered in
an Anti-Semitic attack

 

on the Tree of Life
Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

SWAT Officer Timothy Matson
raced into the gunfire and was
shot seven times chasing down

 

the killer.

Timothy has just had his 12th
surgery - but he made the trip
to be here with us tonight.

 

Officer Matson: we are
forever grateful for your
courage in the face of evil.

 

Tonight we are also joined by
Pittsburgh survivor Judah Samet.

 

He arrived at the synagogue
as the massacre began.

 

But not only did Judah narrowly
escape death last fall -
more than 7 decades ago, he

 

narrowly survived the
Nazi concentration camps.

 

Today is Judah's 81st birthday.

 

Judah says he can still remember
the exact moment, nearly 75
years ago, after 10 months

 

in a concentration camp, when
he and his family were put on a
train, and told they were going

 

to another camp.

Suddenly the train
screeched to a halt.

 

A soldier appeared.

Judah's family
braced for the worst.

Then, his father cried out
with joy: "It's the AMERICANS."

 

A second Holocaust survivor
who is here tonight, Joshua
Kaufman, was a prisoner
at Dachau Concentration

 

Camp.

He remembers watching through
a hole in the wall of a cattle
car as American soldiers

 

rolled in with tanks.

"To me," Joshua recalls, "the
American soldiers were proof
that God exists, and they

 

came down from the sky."

I began this evening by honoring
three soldiers who fought on
D-Day in the Second World War.

 

One of them was
Herman Zeitchick.

But there is more
to Herman's story.

A year after he stormed the
Beaches of Normandy, Herman was
one of those American Soldiers

 

who helped liberate Dachau.

 

He was one of the Americans
who helped rescue Joshua
from that hell on earth.

 

Almost 75 years later, Herman
and Joshua are both together
in the gallery tonight -seated

 

side-by-side, here in the
home of American Freedom.

Herman and Joshua: your
presence this evening honors
and uplifts our entire nation.

 

When American soldiers set out
beneath the dark skies over
the English Channel in the

 

early hours of D-Day, 1944,
they were just young men of
18 and 19, hurtling on fragile

 

landing craft toward the
most momentous battle
in the history of war.

 

They did not know if they
would survive the hour.

They did not know if
they would grow old.

But they knew that
America had to prevail.

 

Their cause was this nation,
and generations yet unborn.

 

Why did they do it?

They did it for AMERICA
- they did it for us.

 

Everything that has come since
-our triumph over communism,
our giant leaps of science

 

and discovery, our unrivaled
progress toward equality and
justice - ALL of it is possible

 

thanks to the blood and tears
and courage and vision of the
Americans who came before.

 

Think of this Capitol -think
of this very Chamber, where
lawmakers before you voted

 

to end slavery, to build the
railroads and the highways,
to defeat fascism, to secure

 

Civil Rights, to face
down an evil empire.

 

Here tonight we have
legislators from across
this magnificent Republic.

 

You have come from the rocky
shores of Maine and the volcanic
peaks of Hawaii; from the

 

snowy woods of Wisconsin and
the red deserts of Arizona;
from the green farms of Kentucky

 

and the golden
beaches of California.

Together, we represent
the most extraordinary
nation in all of history.

 

What will we do
with this moment?

How will we be remembered?

I ask the men and women of
this Congress: Look at the
opportunities before us!

 

Our most thrilling
achievements are still ahead.

 

Our most exciting
journeys still await.

 

Our biggest victories
are still to come.

 

We have not yet BEGUN TO DREAM.

We must choose whether we are
defined by our differences -
or whether we dare to transcend

 

them.

We must choose whether we
squander our inheritance
- or whether we
proudly declare that WE

 

ARE AMERICANS:
We do the incredible.

We defy the impossible.

We conquer the unknown.

This is the time to re-ignite
the American Imagination.

 

This is the time to search for
the tallest summit, and set
our sights on the brightest

 

star.

This is the time to rekindle
the bonds of love and loyalty
and memory that link us together

 

as citizens, as
neighbors, as patriots.

 

This is our future -our fate
- and our choice to make.

 

I am asking you to
CHOOSE GREATNESS.

No matter the trials we face, no
matter the challenges to come,
we must go forward together.

 

We must keep America
FIRST in our hearts.

We must keep Freedom
alive in our souls.

And we must always keep FAITH
in America's Destiny -that
One Nation, Under God, must

 

be the HOPE and the PROMISE
and the LIGHT and the GLORY
among all the nations of the

 

world!

Thank you.

God Bless You, God Bless
America, and Goodnight!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

DONALD TRUMP: Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And that
concludes President
Trump's second State
of the Union address.

Coming up in a few minutes will
be the Democrats' response.

That will be delivered
by Stacey Abrams, who
lost last November to
Republican Brian Kemp

 

in a tight contest for
governor of Georgia.

You can see the president
applauding, as he is applauded
by members of Congress, as he

 

is there in the chamber of
the House of Representatives
with all the members
of the House and the

 

Senate, his Cabinet, members
of the Supreme Court.

This has been an
hour-and-a-half-long speech.

The president touched on themes
from unifying the two parties,
pleading with Democrats to

 

work with him on his immigration
and border security proposal,
deploring abortion, loosening

 

abortion rights measures,
and on a number of
foreign policy issues.

 

It crossed the spectrum.

And there was a good -- a
good amount of this speech was
devoted to celebrating heroes in

 

the audience from World War II
Holocaust survivors, to a young
girl who has fought back brain

 

cancer.

I am joined here in the
studio by Mark Shields,
Amy Walter, Peter Wehner,
Karine Jean-Pierre,

 

and Chris Buskirk.

And I want to -- Mark, I
want to turn to you first.

This is a president who spent
so much of this speech pleading
with Democrats to work with

 

him across the aisle, pleading
for unity, and yet we are
coming off one of the most

divided periods
in recent history.

MARK SHIELDS: Yes.

Judy, it is fascinating to me.

As I listened to the speech,
he devoted three pages of
the speech to the economy.

 

And he has got a marvelous
economic story to tell, and
he never talks about it.

 

I mean, he very
rarely brings it up.

And he did tonight.

And I think he is on strong
ground when he does it.

The rest of it, when he said,
this is not - - he opened
it up by saying, this is not

a two-party -- it's not --
I don't want a Republican
or Democrat response.

 

Any time we use Democrat as
an adjective, it sends up the
hairs on the back of every

 

Democrat's neck.

The word is Democratic.

That's an adjective.

Democrat is a dismissive,
pejorative word.

And, you know, so, if you
are offering an olive branch,
that isn't the way to begin.

 

It was a long speech.

He delivers the speech
better than he has in the
past, but I just thought
it was conspicuously

 

unmemorable.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Peter Wehner?

PETER WEHNER: I will
say a couple of things.

Just from the craft of a
speech, it was very bad.

 

It was banal.

It was undisciplined.

It was windy.

And it was tossed together.

It didn't have the sense
that there was somebody
in control of the speech.

You know, the teleprompter is
not a friend of Donald Trump,
and he proved that tonight.

And this is a -- this is
a man who is more or less
allergic to eloquence.

And he showed that
again tonight.

So, in that respect, I
thought it was a bad speech.

I thought it was -- contrary
to what his aides said, it
wasn't a speech of unity.

It was at its core a
speech for the base.

He gave -- devoted one
sentence to education.

And he must have gone on 15
minutes on illegal immigration.

 

So that was his target audience.

The last thing on this
immigration issue, that argument
and his entire case is built

 

on a fiction.

And the fiction is that this
is an unprecedented crisis.

You can be in favor of border
security, but illegal border
apprehensions are at their

lowest point since 1971.

And yet he speaks as if this is
the great crisis facing America.

And it is not.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Amy Walter, what
did you make of the speech?

AMY WALTER: Yes.

This sounded a lot more to
me like a 2020 convention
speech at the RNC than a State

 

of the Union speech.

You made a point, Judy, saying
he was pleading with Democrats.

I really didn't hear pleading.

I heard him saying, as he has
pretty much for the entirety
of the time that Democrats

 

have been in control of
Congress, that, this is the
way that I want it to be.

Here are the problems
on the border.

He has made the same
case over and over again
on border security and
what he wants for the

wall.

There wasn't a sense, we
are going to compromise,
we are going to find
common ground, and really

no answer to the question of,
what happens in 10 days from
now to the government workers

who are sitting there
wondering, if there is no
agreement, what happens to us?

 

JUDY WOODRUFF: I want to
turn to our correspondent
at the Capitol, Lisa
Desjardins, and Yamiche

 

Alcindor, who is
at the White House.

Lisa, the members had some
sense of what the president was
going to say tonight, but they

 

didn't know -- they certainly
didn't know all the detail.

Are you able to a pick up
from any of them in these last
few minutes how they -- how

they read this?

LISA DESJARDINS: Yes.

I am looking off to my right
here with the House chamber
just about 100 feet away, Judy,

and I see members just
starting to come out now.

So we haven't had a chance
to talk to them yet.

And I have been e-mailing
with my sources.

I think some things that they
will be thinking about -- this
is a tough speech in a way for

members to react to,
because I counted myself
29 different topics.

That's not just words
he mentioned, but topics
that he spoke about
in multiple sentences.

 

That's lot to react to.

On the one hand, he did
reach out in bipartisan
ways on some issues.

On the other hand, on the issue
of border security, he tried
to make that a class issue,

and say that Democrats
were against the working
class in their stance
for illegal immigrants.

 

I think that is something we
are going to see Democrats
react strongly to, as well as

the abortion language
that the president had.

I would expect a statement
from Virginia's governor, Ralph
Northam, who was specifically

singled out for, I think, direct
attack from the president.

But, Judy, I will let you know.

We are waiting for the
members to come out now.

As you saw, the applause was
scattered, sometimes bipartisan.

Sometimes, we saw even
the president's most
adamant opponents stand
up for his statements.

Other times, it was
clearly a partisan room.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Very
quickly to Yamiche Alcindor
at the White House.

We have got about
three-and-a-half minutes
before we hear from
Stacey Abrams with the

Democratic response.

Yamiche, the president went into
this knowing that he is working
with a Democratic majority

 

in the House.

That had to enter into the
calculus of what he had to say.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, the
White House said that this was
supposed to be a speech about

unity and a speech about
bringing the country together.

But the president made
clear that he doesn't
want a compromise and
that he still wants

a border to be built -- and
a border wall to be built.

The president also used
some misleading language.

He talked about the fact that
border walls in San Diego
and El Paso led to a decrease

 

in crime and a decrease
in illegal immigration.

What we know for a fact,
actually, is that there has
been no new wall built and that

there has been some fixes
to existing fences that were
passed by prior administrations.

 

The president also was talking
about the idea that border walls
would somehow stop the flow

 

of illegal drugs coming
into the country.

What we know is that
most drugs come through
legal ports of entry.

The president did, however,
talk about the low unemployment
rate for African-Americans.

That is true.

The employment
rates are very low.

He also talked about NATO
and getting NATO to have
more defense spending.

That is true.

The president pushed
that body to spend more
on defense spending and
to have the countries

around him spend more
on defense spending.

The president in some ways
had a touching moment.

He talked about a cancer
survivor that he brought as a
guest, and he also talked about

Alice Johnson, who
he freed from prison.

Those were moments where
you could see unity.

But I think the most telling
moment, for me as a reporter
watching this, was when the

president said, the state of
our union is strong, Mike Pence
clapped, Republicans started

 

chanting, "USA, USA," but
Nancy Pelosi sat in her seat.

And what you -- what that tells
is that we can believe our eyes.

The state of our
union is divided.

And we have a president who,
as much as he wants to talk
a about the border wall and

border security, he also is
someone who is still using
misleading statements and still

 

not telling the entire truth
in a speech that was, as you
noted, an hour-and-a-half long.

 

JUDY WOODRUFF: And to Robert
Costa joining us now, Washington
Post reporter Robert Costa,

 

who is, of course, the moderator
of PBS' "Washington Week."

Robert, I saw you tweeting
during the speech about
the president going
back to basics when

 

it came to immigration
and the border wall.

ROBERT COSTA: A dark, defiant
speech that has echoes of what
he said, American carnage,

 

at his inauguration, echoes of
what he said in 2015 when he
entered the presidential race.

 

His message on illegal
immigration was one of trying
to say to the Republican Party,

stick with me, taking
this hard line, trying
to build a border wall.

This is a president staring
divided government in the face
and saying, I will not change.

 

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Robert,
it's -- there is a contradiction
there, because the White

House all day today and up --
leading up until this saying
the president was going to be

reaching out, trying to
show that he was prepared
to work with Democrats.

ROBERT COSTA: That was the White
House message, but then there
was the actual message in this

 

speech.

It began with overtures to the
Democrats, mentions of Buzz
Aldrin, chants of "USA, USA,"

 

then that turn toward
immigration, the turn
toward talk of mass
illegal immigration at

 

the border, of crime.

This is who President Trump was
reaching out to, the Republican
voter who he wants to stand

by him through this turbulent
year ahead, with Robert
Mueller's investigation looming

and so much else.

JUDY WOODRUFF: All right,
Robert Costa with "Washington
Week in Review" and also with

 

The Washington Post.

And now the Democratic response.

It's being delivered tonight by
Stacey Abrams, who lost a close
race for governor in Georgia.

STACEY ABRAMS (D), Former
Georgia Gubernatorial
Candidate: Good evening,
my fellow Americans.

And happy lunar new year.

I'm Stacey Abrams, and I am
honored to join the conversation
about the state of our union.

 

Growing up, my family went
back and forth between lower
middle class and working poor.

 

Yet, even when they came home
weary and bone-tired, my parents
found a way to show us all who

 

we could be.

My librarian mother taught
us to love learning.

My father, a shipyard
worker, put in overtime
and extra shifts; and they
made sure we volunteered

 

to help others.

Later, they both became
United Methodist ministers,
an expression of the
faith that guides us.

 

These were our family
values - faith, service,
education and responsibility.

 

Now, we only had one
car, so sometimes my
dad had to hitchhike
and walk long stretches

 

during the 30 mile trip
home from the shipyards.

One rainy night,
Mom got worried.

We piled in the car and went
out looking for him - and
eventually found Dad making his

way along the road, soaked and
shivering in his shirtsleeves.

When he got in the
car, Mom asked if he'd
left his coat at work.

He explained he'd given
it to a homeless man
he'd met on the highway.

When we asked why he'd given
away his only jacket, Dad
turned to us and said, "I knew

 

when I left that man,
he'd still be alone.

But I could give him
my coat, because I knew
you were coming for me."

 

Our power and strength as
Americans lives in our hard
work and our belief in more.

 

My family understood firsthand
that while success is not
guaranteed, we live in a nation

 

where opportunity is possible.

But we do not succeed
alone - in these United
States, when times are
tough, we can persevere

 

because our friends and
neighbors will come for us.

Our first responders
will come for us.

It is this mantra - this
uncommon grace of community -
that has driven me to become

 

an attorney, a small business
owner, a writer, and most
recently, the Democratic nominee

 

for Governor of Georgia.

My reason for running for
governor was simple: I
love our country and its
promise of opportunity

 

for all, and I stand here
tonight because I hold fast to
my father's credo - together,

 

we are coming for America,
for a better America.

 

Just a few weeks ago, I joined
volunteers to distribute
meals to furloughed federal

workers.

They waited in line for a box
of food and a sliver of hope
since they hadn't received

 

a paycheck in weeks.

Making their livelihoods
a pawn for political
games is a disgrace.

 

The shutdown was a
stunt engineered by the
President of the United
States, one that defied

 

every tenet of fairness
and abandoned not just our
people - but our values.

 

For seven years, I led the
Democratic Party in the Georgia
House of Representatives.

I didn't always agree with
the Republican Speaker or
Governor, but I understood that

our constituents didn't care
about our political parties -
they cared about their lives.

 

So, when we had to negotiate
criminal justice reform
or transportation or
foster care improvements,

 

the leaders of our state didn't
shut down - we came together.

And we kept our word.

It should be no different
in our nation's capital.

We may come from different sides
of the political aisle; but, our
joint commitment to the ideals

of this nation
cannot be negotiable.

Our most urgent work is to
realize Americans' dreams
of today and tomorrow.

 

To carve a path to
independence and prosperity
that can last a lifetime.

 

Children deserve an excellent
education from cradle to career.

We owe them safe schools
and the highest standards,
regardless of zip code.

 

Yet this White House responds
timidly while first graders
practice active shooter drills

 

and the price of higher
education grows ever steeper.

From now on, our leaders must
be willing to tackle gun safety
measures and the crippling

 

effect of educational loans;
to support educators and invest
what is necessary to unleash the

 

power of America's
greatest minds.

In Georgia and around the
country, people are striving for
a middle class where a salary

 

truly equals economic security.

But instead, families' hopes
are being crushed by Republican
leadership that ignores real

 

life or just doesn't
understand it.

Under the current
administration, far too
many hard-working Americans
are falling behind,

 

living paycheck to paycheck,
most without labor unions to
protect them from even worse

 

harm.

The Republican tax
bill rigged the system
against working people.

Rather than bringing back jobs,
plants are closing, layoffs
are looming and wages struggle

 

to keep pace with the
actual cost of living.

We owe more to the millions
of everyday folks who
keep our economy running:
like truck drivers

 

forced to buy their own rigs,
farmers caught in a trade war,
small business owners in search

 

of capital, and domestic
workers serving without
labor protections.

 

Women and men who could
thrive if only they had the
support and freedom to do so.

 

We know bi-partisanship could
craft a 21st century immigration
plan, but this administration

 

chooses to cage children
and tear families apart.

 

Compassionate treatment
at the border is not the
same as open borders.

President Reagan
understood this.

President Obama understood this.

Americans understand this.

And Democrats stand ready
to effectively secure
our ports and borders.

 

But we must all embrace that
from agriculture to healthcare
to entrepreneurship, America

 

is made stronger by the presence
of immigrants - not walls.

 

Rather than suing to dismantle
the Affordable Care Act, as
Republican Attorneys General

have, our leaders must protect
the progress we've made and
commit to expanding health

care and lowering
costs for everyone.

My father has battled
prostate cancer for years.

To help cover the costs, I
found myself sinking deeper into
debt - because while you can

 

defer some payments, you
can't defer cancer treatment.

In this great nation, Americans
are skipping blood pressure
pills, forced to choose between

 

buying medicine or paying rent.

Maternal mortality rates show
that mothers, especially black
mothers, risk death to give

 

birth.

And in 14 states, including
my home state where a majority
want it, our leaders refuse

 

to expand Medicaid, which
could save rural hospitals,
economies, and lives.

 

We can do so much more: Take
action on climate change.

 

Defend individual liberties
with fair-minded judges.

But none of these ambitions are
possible without the bedrock
guarantee of our right to vote.

 

Let's be clear: voter
suppression is real.

 

From making it harder to
register and stay on the rolls
to moving and closing polling

places to rejecting lawful
ballots, we can no longer ignore
these threats to democracy.

 

While I acknowledged the
results of the 2018 election
here in Georgia - I did not and

 

we cannot accept efforts to
undermine our right to vote.

 

That's why I started a
nonpartisan organization
called Fair Fight to
advocate for voting rights.

 

This is the next battle for
our democracy, one where all
eligible citizens can have their

 

say about the vision we
want for our country.

We must reject the cynicism that
says allowing every eligible
vote to be cast and counted

 

is a "power grab."

Americans understand that these
are the values our brave men
and women in uniform and our

 

veterans risk their
lives to defend.

The foundation of our moral
leadership around the globe is
free and fair elections, where

 

voters pick their leaders
- not where politicians
pick their voters.

 

In this time of division and
crisis, we must come together
and stand for, and with, one

 

another.

America has stumbled time and
again on its quest towards
justice and equality; but with

each generation, we have
revisited our fundamental
truths, and where we
falter, we make amends.

 

We fought Jim Crow with the
Civil Rights Act and the Voting
Rights Act, yet we continue

 

to confront racism from our
past and in our present - which
is why we must hold everyone

from the very highest offices
to our own families accountable
for racist words and deeds - and

 

call racism what it is.

Wrong.

America achieved a measure of
reproductive justice in Roe
v. Wade, but we must never

forget it is immoral to allow
politicians to harm women and
families to advance a political

 

agenda.

We affirmed marriage equality,
and yet, the LGBTQ community
remains under attack.

 

So even as I am very
disappointed by the
President's approach to our
problems - I still don't

 

want him to fail.

But we need him to tell the
truth, and to respect his duties
and the extraordinary diversity

 

that defines America.

Our progress has always found
refuge in the basic instinct
of the American experiment

 

- to do right by our people.

And with a renewed commitment
to social and economic justice,
we will create a stronger

America, together.

Because America wins by
fighting for our shared
values against all enemies:
foreign and domestic.

 

That is who we are - and
when we do so, never wavering
- the state of our union

 

will always be strong.

Thank you, and may God bless
the United States of America.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JUDY WOODRUFF: And that was
Stacey Abrams delivering the
Democrats' response to the

president's State of
the Union address.

Still with us at the "NewsHour"
table, Mark Shields, Amy
Walter, Peter Wehner, Karine

Jean-Pierre, and Chris Buskirk.

Karine, remarkable in -- on
a number of counts, I mean
in contrast to the president.

You have a woman of color
delivering the Democratic
response and you have
someone who lost a race,

who doesn't hold
office right now.

I believe that is a first...

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, Democratic
Strategist: It is a first.

JUDY WOODRUFF: ... to have
someone not holding office
making the Democratic response.

 

She went to her family.

She talked about her father.

And she laid it on the
line in terms of what
this administration has
done in terms of health

care, immigration,
and the shutdown.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Yes,
you said it perfectly, Judy.

That is exactly right.

She is the first black
woman to give a response.

Look, giving a response
is very difficult.

It is not easy to do.

Many have failed.

And I believe she
nailed it tonight.

It was a complete opposite
of contrast to what we just
heard from Donald Trump moments

 

ago, a speech at a State of
the Union that you would never
hear being given by a president

of the United States.

Her speech was powerful.

It was optimistic.

It was talking about
bringing people together,
and it wasn't going down
in the mud with Donald

Trump, which is something
that Democrats shouldn't do.

It should be about a
vision of how we are going
to move America forward.

And that's what
we heard from her.

And another thing that you
just said, Judy, that I really
agree with you on is, having

a woman of color respond to
Donald Trump, that alone is such
a powerful statement, especially

 

from all the hateful rhetoric
that we hear from this
president and we have heard from

this president these
last two years.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Chris
Buskirk, what did you take
away from Stacey Abrams?

CHRIS BUSKIRK,
AmericanGreatness.org:
I thought two things,
style and substance.

I thought she was a
really interesting choice
to do the rebuttal.

I was sort of expecting
before she was announced
maybe somebody like a
Kamala Harris or something

like that.

And then the political
context struck me.

And I thought, there are so
many Democrats, Kamala Harris
being one of them, running for

president, they almost
had to go with somebody
who wasn't in office.

And so there is this backdrop
which I keep thinking about.

How does this whole night
play into 2020, both for the
president, also for Democrats,

who obviously will be
seeking the presidency?

And so that is sort of the
style, the political part of it.

On the substance, I thought
it was -- you know, it
was very up in the air.

You know, it was very, a lot
of -- a lot of sort of glib
talk about, you know, the shirt

 

off my back and
this sort of thing.

Great.

I mean, those things sound good.

But then you have to sort
of come up with policies
to put behind that.

You know, there is the rhetoric,
and then there is the action.

And so I -- it just struck
me what we have seen over the
past 15, 20 years is that the

 

Democratic -- Democratic Party.

MARK SHIELDS: Thank you, Chris.

CHRIS BUSKIRK: I
got the adjective.

(CROSSTALK)

CHRIS BUSKIRK: The
Democratic Party has become
the party of the rich.

Since 2008, the majority of
voters with over $200,000 of
income have gone Democratic.

 

And that doesn't jibe
well with the rhetoric.

And that was -- I think
there is this battle
for the middle class.

We saw it in Trump's
speech, trying to explain
what his vision is for
the middle class and

 

for the working class, and
how that ties to things
like immigration and trade.

And then you saw Stacey Abrams
trying to claim that same
mantle for the Democratic Party.

And that's where the battle
is going to be fought.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Is that what
you heard, Mark Shields?

MARK SHIELDS: Yes, I mean,
Stacey Abrams didn't try
to answer Donald Trump.

She gave basically a Democratic
speech, her Democratic speech,
or sort of her signature

speech.

And, you know, it
is an impossible
assignment for anybody.

And if we wanted to list
on one hand the memorable
ones, I think, you
know, we, unfortunately,

 

remember the unfortunate,
the Marco Rubio striving for
the water, you know, whatever

 

else.

Jim Webb, I think,
probably gave the only
good one I can remember.

That was 15 -- or 13 years ago.

But she -- no, she was good.

And I think Chris is right.

It was a way of avoiding
a family argument.

I mean, you choose her,
she -- you stay out
of the presidential.

You are not showing favoritism.

And, certainly, I mean,
she emerged from that
race in Georgia with
a surprising strength,

 

surprising -- I will
just say one with thing.

What Trump tried to do in
his speech was, he tried to
recreate the Reagan mystique.

 

Ronald Reagan could talk about
America and its values by
talking about World War II and

 

D-Day.

He had a great gift for that.

It doesn't ring true with
Donald Trump, because he never
has talked about it before.

That has never has been a
part of his basic composition
or just in his knowledge.

 

And I thought, you know, the
idea that an American first,
which is what his foreign

 

policy is, the irony
is, he is praising World
War II and America's
involvement in it, when

 

his predecessors in
that movement, America
first, did everything
they could to stay out

of World War II.

So, I mean, it is
sort of an interesting
bookend philosophically,
if contradictory.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It was striking
that Stacey Abrams was the one
who cited President Reagan.

MARK SHIELDS: That's right.

No, exactly.

Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: She talked about
understanding that compassionate
treatment at the border

is not the same as open borders.

MARK SHIELDS: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Put Stacey
Abrams in context, Peter Wehner,
with what the president had

 

to say.

PETER WEHNER: Well, as everybody
said, it is very, very hard
to give a response to the

State of the Union.

I thought that she carried
it off pretty well.

You have some people who
have crashed and burned
in these kind of things.

Nobody has ever given a response
to a State of the Union that has
been really deeply memorable.

And this one won't be either.

It was -- it was probably a
good choice for the Democrats
to make, for the reasons that

 

Chris said.

I thought she was
relitigating to some extent
her loss in Georgia.

She spent a fair amount
on the right to vote.

That is an important issue.

But when you have seven minutes
to give a national response,
I think I probably would

have advised going in
a different direction.

It was culture, leaning
toward culture, as opposed
to economic growth.

And it wasn't a hugely uplifting
vision, but it was fine.

I will say that, a week
from now, both speeches, I
think, will be forgotten.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What do you
think the overriding message...

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE:
But the contrast...

(CROSSTALK)

AMY WALTER: The contrast
will be important.

I think Chris made
a good point, too.

It's -- you know, we get into
2020, the battle is, who best
represents the middle class?

The middle-class people, who
do you think is looking out
for them, the Republican or

the Democrat?

And also this fight that we are
going to see in 2020 reflects
what Mark was talking about,

 

the president, really a
nostalgia for the way things
were and celebrating things of

 

the past, vs. Stacey
Abrams, what she represents,
both her age, her gender,
and her race, sort

 

of future-looking, we are
going to have somebody
that looks different,
sounds different, comes

from so many different places
to be in a leadership position.

So those will be at a contrast.

I think she also basically
hit every note of the sort of
grievances of Democrats for

 

the last two years, children
in cages, you have to call
racism out, the president needs

 

to tell the truth, being able
to get every one of those --
this was sort of this trying

to be above, right, above
politics, we are going to be
the party that doesn't get down

 

in the muck, but then got a
chance to just get some of
those digs just right in there.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE:
Yes, a little bit.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Yes.

Well, we are -- just a
couple of minutes more
before we take a short break.

But I just want to quickly
say to Karine, I thought from
-- cosmetically, I think they

 

needed more light there.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: You
said that at the beginning.

You said, it's so dark.

(LAUGHTER)

JUDY WOODRUFF: It was dark.

And I think, when you give the
Democratic nuance, it is often
in an unfortunate location.

It is someplace.

It's not the chamber
of the House.

And you can't see.

And you are focused on trying
to see and hear sometimes.

And they do reach
for water sometimes.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, we
are going to be back after
the turn of the hour.

But we know that some
stations will be cutting away.

We are coming up on 11:00
Eastern, 8:00 p.m. Pacific time.

And as our coverage of the State
of the Union continues, we are
going to give some PBS stations

the opportunity to resume
their regular programming.

But for those stations staying
with us and for those of you
watching online, don't go

anywhere.

We will be right back.

Mark Shields, Peter Wehner,
Chris Buskirk, Amy Walter,
and Karine Jean-Pierre, thank

 

you.

 

(BREAK)

 

JUDY WOODRUFF: And welcome
back to special "PBS NewsHour"
coverage of the State of the

 

Union address tonight and
the Democratic response.

I'm Judy Woodruff.

And let's pick up the
conversation where we left
off, with Lisa Desjardins.

She is at the Capitol, where
she has been following reaction
to the president's speech.

And Yamiche Alcindor, who
is at the White House.

Lisa, I am going to come to
you, because you were looking
for some members to try to get

their reaction.

Were you able to talk to any?

LISA DESJARDINS: Right.

I was able to speak to a wide
group of members, everyone from
the top Republican in the House,

Kevin McCarthy, to one of
the freshman Democrats.

Your panel will be shocked.

There are differing views on
how the president did tonight.

(LAUGHTER)

LISA DESJARDINS: Kevin McCarthy,
someone who's seen as one of the
closest allies of the president,

so I wanted to make
sure and talk to him.

He said he thought the president
did very well and that, in his
words, surpassed Democratic

 

expectations.

He said he thought the president
reached out to Democrats more
than he or Democrats would

 

have expected.

When I brought up the areas that
Democrats felt were attacks,
he said he felt they were

 

justified.

When you talk to Democrats,
like Colin Allred
of Texas, a freshman
member, he said he wanted

 

to look for points of agreement.

When the president brought up
specifically his tone and words
on immigration, Colin Allred

 

being from a border state,
he found that was a problem.

He said he went too far
and it got too partisan.

And he also, interesting,
Judy, said, as a freshman, he
didn't expect to have such a

feeling when he walked into
that chamber that he didn't
just represent himself, but that

every time he stood up,
he was standing up for
his entire district.

He said he felt that
heavily on his shoulders.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It's
interesting, Lisa.

Mark Shields just handed me a
note saying that he thought,
for the most part, the freshman

members behaved themselves, that
they didn't get out of control.

 

How did you read that?

I mean, I am sure you were
watching, too, their reaction.

They did stand.

I mean, the women were standing,
freshmen and others, when
the president talked about

 

more women being
employed today than ever.

LISA DESJARDINS: Right.

That was one of the more
delightful and surprising
moments of the night, I think.

But Mark Shields is on
to something, not for
the first time . That
was intentional, Judy.

 

This freshman class has
been very strategic.

They are aggressive
and assertive.

They are activists mostly, but
they are being very careful
about when they choose their

moments.

And they are -- they want to be
seen as dignified and serious.

They do not want to be seen
as a class that is going to
knee-jerk react to everything.

And I think you saw that
in the speech tonight.

I think we will see in their
Twitter feeds probably more
of their emotional reaction

 

that they chose not to display
as much on the House floor.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I know that
Speaker Pelosi said earlier
today, when I was one of a group

of reporters talking to her,
she said that she didn't
think she would need to signal

to her members to
-- quote, unquote --
"behave or stay calm."

 

But there was a point
during tonight's State of
the Union when it looked
like she was gesturing.

 

I am not sure.

I don't know whether
you saw that.

LISA DESJARDINS: No, I did see,
but with the Republicans --
we are thinking of different

moments, perhaps.

I saw her gesturing toward
the Republican side when the
president said something to

the effect of...

JUDY WOODRUFF: Ah.

LISA DESJARDINS: ... if I had
not -- if I wasn't president,
I think we would be in a

major war with North Korea.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Ah.

LISA DESJARDINS: And
there was some applause.

I saw Speaker Pelosi look over
askance and try to see who was
clapping at that line about

 

major war.

I missed any other
moment like that.

So, I don't know if
that is the same one.

(CROSSTALK)

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, that
line certainly got a reaction.

I want to turn to Yamiche
at the White House.

Yamiche, they had to take into
consideration that this is a
very different Congress the

 

president was talking to
tonight than the one he has
been dealing with for the last

two years.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: I
think the president took
that into consideration.

And that is why you saw the
president do that shout-out and
say there are a record number

of women serving in Congress.

He didn't talk about the fact
that the record number of women
are serving on the Democratic

side, and wearing all white
to make sure that that
is visually very shown.

 

But the president here
was in some ways still
having -- trying to have
this tone of unification,

while I still think
not compromising.

The president wanted to make it
clear that he wants his wall.

He said, walls save lives.

But he did talk
about health care.

And he talked about it
in a long way, much like
he did with immigration.

He spent some time really
talking about the cost
of health care and how
he wanted to eliminate

the transmission of HIV/AIDS.

I also want to point out
something that he said
about cancer research.

He said: "My budget will ask
Congress for $500 million
over the next 10 years to fund

this critical
lifesaving research."

Now, it is important to point
out that, while the president
-- that is going to be about

$50 million a year if it is
spread out evenly over 10 years
-- that is a fraction of the

total budget.

It is about 0.001 percent.

And in -- now, in President
Obama's last State of the Union,
he talked about cancer research

funds as well.

By 2023, the budget estimate
for the program that was
started by President Obama would

be $1.8 billion.

So, what you have there is just
really a comparison of President
Trump and President Obama.

 

But I think there are
a lot of Democrats who
stood up and clapped when
they heard the president

talk about health care.

But, of course, they also were
I think very - - were very
dismayed when he pointed out

the idea that immigrants
and people -- and people
that come to this country
and are undocumented

 

are somehow adding to the
criminalization of America.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It is so
important to get this
context and to get these
comparative numbers,

Yamiche.

I mean, I certainly
appreciate it.

I know our audience appreciates
the fact that you and our
crack team of researchers here

 

have been looking at this,
looking at what the president
is saying, trying to understand

what the context is, because
it may be that a number is
accurate, but when you put it

 

in context and you compare it
with what has been done in the
past, it can take on a different

 

- - a different cast.

I want to also bring in
Robert Costa, moderator
of PBS' "Washington
Week" and, of course,

 

a reporter at The
Washington Post.

Robert, you had been telling
us earlier in the hour that
this is President Trump going

 

back to who he is and what
he fundamentally believes.

But there was this reaching
out to Democrats tonight to
say, you have a choice, you can

 

work with me or not.

You know, it is a chance
to make a difference.

Why do you think they did that?

ROBERT COSTA: The president
believes that he can try to
maybe work with Democrats down

the line, but more important to
him, based on my conversations
with White House officials,

is solidifying that
Republican base, reassuring
them on immigration, that
that signature campaign

 

promise, the border wall, in
some way is going to be pursued.

That is the president's aim.

He believes that base
will sustain him through
all the political winds
that are likely to

come this year.

Is there a chance the Democrats
could work with the president
on something like prescription

drugs or infrastructure?

Sure.

But this is a White House,
from acting Chief of Staff
Mulvaney, to the Cabinet, to the

president himself, who are not
pursuing those things, those
bipartisan aims in the same

aggressive way.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But those
numbers, we know, the
base numbers, don't
add up to 51 percent.

So that has to be a part
of the calculus as well.

ROBERT COSTA: Well,
that is exactly right.

But this is a White
House right now that is
looking more at Governor
Larry Hogan of Maryland,

 

looking at former Massachusetts
Governor Bill Weld.

And they see a possible primary
challenge on the horizon,
if those Republican numbers

 

in various polls start to slip.

And they want to prevent
that from happening.

The White House has urged its
political allies to take action
at the party level to try to

stave off a primary challenge.

You are right.

In the general election,
his numbers are weak
among every poll.

At the same time, this is
a White House that says, we
have to stop a primary first.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Yes, fascinating.

We are all thinking ahead.

We're trying not to think
ahead to 2020, but we are
thinking ahead to 2020.

But you are absolutely right,
Robert, in that the White
House has been to be focused on

the next contest.

And if there is a primary
challenge, that's what they
have to deal with first.

Robert Costa, thank
you very much.

Still with us at the table, the
"NewsHour" table, Mark Shields,
Amy Walter, Peter Wehner,

 

Karine Jean-Pierre,
and Chris Buskirk.

I want to take you back
to one of the president's
comments tonight.

 

We have been talking
about rejecting the
politics of revenge.

But this is -- I
believe this is right.

Am I hearing you correctly,
those of you who are
talking in my ear?

(LAUGHTER)

JUDY WOODRUFF: The chunk of
sound that we want to play,
this is when the president spoke

 

about the constitutional
amendment that gave
women the right to vote.

Let's listen.

DONALD TRUMP: And exactly one
century after Congress passed
the constitutional amendment

 

giving women the right to
vote, we also have more women
serving in Congress than at any

 

time before.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

 

JUDY WOODRUFF: Dressed in white,
in honor of women's suffrage.

 

Mark Shields, that
was a striking moment,
because the president
is celebrating the fact

that women, more women are
working than ever before, more
women elected to Congress.

Of course, most of those
women are Democrats.

Republicans lost numbers
of women in the House
of Representatives.

MARK SHIELDS: That's right.

We are now talking about
80 percent of the women
in Congress are Democrats.

 

The 35 elected in 2018,
all but one was a Democrat.

 

And I think, even beyond that,
as you look at the diversity, I
mean, the religious diversity,

 

all the Hindus, the
Muslims, the Buddhists,
I mean, are Democrats.

 

I mean, all but two of the
Jewish members are Democrats.

I mean, it is just -- it is a
-- it's fascinating that the
Republicans have become narrow.

And I will just say
this about Donald Trump.

He is -- his strategy, as Robert
Costa was talking about it, is
totally alien and contradictory

 

to that of George W. Bush,
who added 11.5 million
votes from 2000 to 2004.

 

It's totally alien to that of
Ronald Reagan, who went from...

JUDY WOODRUFF: You mean
relying on the base,
trying to rely on the base.

MARK SHIELDS:
Relying on the base.

The point is to enlarge it,
Bill Clinton -- or anybody
who won a second term.

I mean, it is just that tending
the base and holding the base
and courting the base and

 

wooing the base and making
sure -- I mean, I just think
it is a very finite and limited

 

political strategy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But we heard
Robert say -- Peter Wehner, we
heard Robert say what they are

focused on right now is a
potential Republican challenge.

PETER WEHNER: I
think that's right.

And they're also, frankly,
focused on impeachment.

They have to.

With the specter of
impeachment, he has got
to keep his base there.

I want to say one thing Mark
said with the contrast with
Reagan, which is true in many

 

ways.

One of the things I was struck
by -- and I wonder if people
really fully realize -- is

the degree to which Donald Trump
has transformed the Republican
Party on a whole set of issues.

 

There was not a word about
spending or deficits or
limited government or liberty.

 

Illegal immigration,
Ronald Reagan gave
amnesty to three million.

And Trump devoted so much
of his attention there.

Protectionism, Ronald
Reagan was a free trader.

Donald Trump is a protectionist.

He was critical of NATO.

He had more critical words
to say about NATO than
he did with North Korea.

And one of the things that a
lot of us during the primary
season said, that Donald Trump

could do to the Republican
Party that Hillary Clinton never
could do, is to transform it,

because he could
do it from within.

And I do think, if people went
back and read the speeches of
Reagan or Bush, and contrasted

 

that with Trump, they would see
a very dramatic change in the
tone and policy and the heart

 

and the spirit of the GOP.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Chris
Buskirk, how do you read
that contrast between
this president and another

Republican president,
Ronald Reagan?

CHRIS BUSKIRK: You know, I am
glad you asked me that question,
because when I was listening

to Stacey Abrams.

I was -- and her talking
about Ronald Reagan.

The 1986 immigration bill,
Ronald Reagan said afterwards
that he got rolled, and that it

was a huge mistake
that he signed it.

So that is a bit of
revisionist history there.

He did it.

He regretted it later, and he
thought that it was something
that he could have done better.

I think that -- I think that
Reagan and Trump actually stand
in a long line of intellectual

 

continuity within the
American Republican Party.

Reagan's policies were
appropriate and salutary
for the country in the
1970s, '80s, into the

 

'90s.

But our biggest problem right
now is not the taxes, marginal
taxes need to go down, or

 

that we need to defeat
international communism.

It is about -- statesmanship
is about applying the
same principles to
different circumstances.

And that's why I think that
Donald Trump's stance on things
like immigration or on trade,

on China and so on, or
what he calls principled
realism in foreign
policy, I think those are

 

consistent with the
Republican Party's principles
for a very long time.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Pete's
point, that the fact he didn't
talk about the debt, didn't

talk about spending
is, I mean...

(CROSSTALK)

CHRIS BUSKIRK: This is
-- I will tell you, this
is the strangest thing.

There is a bipartisan consensus
right now to totally ignore
the debt, until it blows

up in somebody's face.

And then I think the
plan is just blame it on
who is in office then.

And it is a huge mistake.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Amy Walter,
do you want to pursue that?

(LAUGHTER)

AMY WALTER: On what
happens when we get there?

Listen, the two parties
are now really reflective
of their constituencies
and of who their bases

 

are.

And we got a very strong example
of that in Virginia this week,
and the blowback to Governor

 

Northam and the
blackface incident.

And now, of course, we have his
-- the lieutenant governor of
the state with sexual assault

 

allegations.

It is a Democratic Party now
that is reliant on voters of
color and women to deliver the

 

votes.

The Republican Party is
reliant on older white voters
to deliver their votes.

 

And so they are reflecting
their constituencies.

And the constituency that made
up the Republican Party in the
1980s, many of those folks now

are Democrats.

We saw that transition
and the realignment
in the 2018 election.

Those suburban voters who had
been voting on fiscal issues
for all those years and stuck

by Republicans, saying, I
am fiscally conservative
and I want government to
spend my money smartly,

 

maybe they were a little
more socially moderate,
they definitely were
not happy in 2016 with

 

their choices between
Trump and Clinton.

Many of them didn't
vote for Donald Trump.

And two years later, this is
a constituency that, I would
argue many of them a Reagan

 

constituency, that has
absolutely abandoned
the Republican Party.

And now it is small-town rural
America, many of which had
been the Democrats' base, that

 

make up what the
Democratic Party is.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So with --
Karine Jean-Pierre, with
the two parties headed
in opposite directions,

 

is it smart for the president
to do as he did tonight, to say,
you know, to say to Democrats,

 

let's work together on a few
things, but still to hold --
you know, to stick to his guns

on the things that he
thinks he needs to --
you know, to not move on?

 

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: There
was no surprises in the
president's speech tonight.

He basically spoke to his base,
which is a small and shrinking
base, which is something

 

that he does all the time.

To me, there was no difference
from what he did at the State
of the Union address tonight

with what he does
in front of a rally.

It was -- he gave maybe two
minutes or so of bipartisanship,
but everything else was

 

a doubling down on divisiveness,
hateful rhetoric, and this is
just the way Donald Trump is.

 

He believes that, in order --
if he is looking towards 2020,
which it seems to be, that he

 

needs to double out and continue
to shore up his small base.

He has never been a
president for everyone.

He has never -- from the moment
that he stepped in -- into the
office, the day of inauguration,

 

it has been about carnage,
it's been about divisiveness.

So, there's -- so there's no
surprises at all, and this
is what he is doing, but it

 

is going to hurt the
Republican Party.

We saw that in November with
suburban voters, in particular
women in suburban areas.

 

They are sprinting away
from the president and
the Republican Party.

 

And also independent voters
are sprinting away from
the Republican Party.

So they are going to be
in a tough spot in 2020.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I want to come
back to you, Robert Costa,
because you started all of this

by pointing out that the
president at this point, despite
the -- some talk about reaching

 

across the aisle, is very --
is hyper-focused on his base.

ROBERT COSTA: And it is, Judy,
perhaps historically notable in
the way the president disavowed

 

socialism.

He addressed the rise
of a vigorous new left
in this country, a
movement that was stoked

 

by Senator Bernie Sanders
in his 2016 campaign,
was then championed in
2018 by new Democrats

 

like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
the new member from New York.

And he is saying to the
Republican Party, there will
never be a socialist government

in this country.

That is a rally cry for a right
wing in this country that is
nervous about this vigorous

 

left.

And he is saying that there
is a line in the sand between
that vision that is emerging

on the left and his own that
he has cultivated on the right.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Robert
Costa reporting for us
from The Washington Post.

I want to spend the remaining
time we have here, Mark,
looking at how the president has

 

set the table for this coming
year, whether it is immigration,
whether it is -- whether

 

they do something together on
infrastructure, but trying to
shore up his base and, frankly,

 

making sure he is in as strong
a possible position, given
that there may be a Mueller

 

investigation result that is
not favorable to him -- we
don't know -- and any number

of other things that could go
wrong, other investigations
that are leading somewhere.

MARK SHIELDS: No.

I mean, I thought if, in fact,
he was secure with his base
and not worried about losing

 

support with any kind
of impeachment effort,
which I don't see
immediately on the horizon,

 

then doing the infrastructure,
and particularly drug prices,
in a bipartisan way, I think,

 

is just a political
winner for the president.

But it was almost cursory,
it was almost pro forma,
the way he did that.

I mean, you know, infrastructure
has become a throwaway line.

It is like the balanced budget
constitutional amendment.

I mean...

(CROSSTALK)

JUDY WOODRUFF: But a lot of
people would agree the country
is in desperate need of getting

its infrastructure fixed.

MARK SHIELDS: I agree.

Everybody talks about it, but
nobody does anybody about it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well...

MARK SHIELDS: I mean, he
asked for $1.5 trillion,
and the Congress appointed
$21 billion, and,

you know, which was,
what, one-half a percent.

You know, it was
just the last year.

I mean, but he is asking the
Congress for a plan, instead
of coming in with a plan.

I mean, and on the prescription
drugs, I mean, I think
it is a winner for him.

 

But I saw tonight more word
paid to it, and not sort of that
sense of passionate commitment.

 

That's where you
get the coalition.

That's where you get
the bipartisanship,
if he really wants it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And that's
something the Democrats
have said they would
like to work with the

president on.

MARK SHIELDS: Sure they would.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Pete Wehner, how
has he set the table, do you
think, for this coming year?

PETER WEHNER: Well, I
don't think the speech
will have set the table.

I think it was primarily
a political speech, as
opposed to a policy speech.

State of the Unions
are always a mix.

But this is a White House,
if you talk to Republicans
on Capitol Hill, which I have

done, where the policy
process is broken.

So I think you have to view
most of these initiatives
that he mentioned as basically

 

public relations.

Look, the country,
unfortunately, is going
to be more divided at
the end of this year

than it is right now, because
you have several things
that are going to happen.

 

You have a president
whose natural instinct is
toward the inflammation
of the body politic,

 

who seeks to divide.

That is what gives him energy.

And, secondly, he believes that
it is in his political interest
to do it, for the reasons

that we have discussed.

And, third, you are going
to have the Mueller report.

It was very interesting.

At the beginning of the
speech, he -- his tone and
his countenance struck me.

It was like he was hit
by a tranquilizer dart.

And when did he begin
to become animated?

It was when he went after this
illegal, partisan investigation.

 

And that is the thing that
is closest to his heart.

That's what he tweets about.

And that is what
draws his energy.

So, you know, I wish it were
something else, but I don't
think that this speech will have

 

been a foreshadowing
of the year to come.

I think that it will be
viewed as a parenthesis.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, do we just
go back to the way things
were after the speech...

AMY WALTER: Yes.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Pretty much.

JUDY WOODRUFF: ... as
if the State of the
Union never happened?

Amy Walter.

AMY WALTER: I was reading this
line where he said, we can
build new coalitions, forge

new solutions, break decades
of political stalemate.

A lot of people voted for
Donald Trump thinking that
is exactly what he would do.

I don't think they were -- they
weren't totally naive, but they
did think, here is somebody

who is going to come into
this process who is not
attached to the party.

He has no ideological moorings.

He can kind of go
wherever he needs to go.

And I was wondering that, too,
that, in that moment of time
between the election and his

inauguration, was there
going to be this moment
where the president could
reach out and create

 

these new coalitions?

We knew these new coalitions
had formed in the 2016 election,
especially in the Upper

Midwest that had for years gone
Democratic and went to the GOP.

 

So there was this
chance, whether it was
with infrastructure,
prescription drugs, certainly

the opioid crisis.

That could have been the
first thing out of the gate.

It would have absolutely put
Democrats back on their heels,
because they wouldn't be feeling

 

very sure of what to
do with this, right?

Well, we have got to work
out with the president.

He's saying things...

JUDY WOODRUFF: Rather than
trying to kill health care.

AMY WALTER: Right, absolutely,
not only kill health care, but
the very first thing he did

was the -- was calling
for the travel ban, right?

That was the first
thing out of the box.

JUDY WOODRUFF: That
was the very first...

(CROSSTALK)

AMY WALTER: And, at that
moment in time, you could see
that potential going away.

And the other issue, the other
reason we are not going to
see bipartisanship, there is

just an absolute
lack of trust there.

There was always wariness
with the president.

But after the debacle over
the wall funding, there is not
one Democrat right now who I

 

talk to who thinks it is worth
putting any stock in anything
that the president says

 

to you in private or in public
about -- whether it is about
infrastructure or other things

 

that they can agree on.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And, given that,
Chris Buskirk, how does this
president get anything done

 

that he wants done going
forward in this climate?

CHRIS BUSKIRK: Yes, I think
there is always the opportunity
for a president to reset the

table and take action.

The question will be,
will this one do it?

And I, for one,
would like to see it.

I think I have heard other
people who are on the left
say, in some instances, narrow

instances, they would
like to see that too.

Infrastructure is, again,
one of these things that
has been in every speech.

Where is the legislation?

Preexisting conditions, those
are things that could be done,
or at least solutions offered.

Drug prices, these are things.

But you really have to push
a legislative agenda hard.

And that requires working with
Republicans and Democrats.

I don't expect bipartisanship.

People like to say that
to kind of win the day.

Politics are real.

The disagreements are real.

But there are places
where people can find
common interests,
political interests, and

pass some of these things.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Criminal
justice reform.

CHRIS BUSKIRK: Sure.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And then
the president keeps
coming back to that.

And the Democrats, Karine,
come back to that as well.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE:
Right, right.

It was a -- it is a first step,
hence the name of the now law.

 

And if some -- that would be
something that Democrats would
work on to make it better,

 

along with infrastructure
and other things.

But it is just -- it is just
not going to happen because
of just the speech that we

saw tonight.

But there were a couple
of differences tonight,
something that Donald
Trump surely has never

seen before, is, it is probably
the first time in his career
as a politico that he spoke

 

in front, an audience that
was majority Democrats, right?

It is a divided government.

And that is something, that
does sit in his craw, because he
knows the Mueller investigation,

the question of impeachment.

Now there's the SDNY that
he can't even control.

There is no one
he can fire there.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Southern
District of New York.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Yes, right,
Southern District of New York
that is now looking at -- now

looking at the inaugural
committee and sent out
subpoenas a couple of days ago.

So, we are living in a new
world for Donald Trump.

The one thing I want to say
that was kind of comical,
when he talks about women, and

everybody stands up
and clapping, and he
is acknowledging them,
the funny thing about

it is, he is one of the reasons
why many women decided to run
in 2018 and take it on, because

 

they wanted to...

JUDY WOODRUFF: That's right.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: ... to be
a part of Congress, to stop the
madness that they were seeing.

So it is kind of comical that
he was, you know, acknowledging
it, but he is kind of

the catalyst for it too.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It was striking,
because a lot of these women
to decided to get in and

jump in and run
because they were...

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE:
Right, because of
what they were seeing.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Opposed him.

Well, our time is
just about at an end.

I have to say, some news is
apparently being made tonight.

Amy Klobuchar, the senator from
Minnesota, has tweeted that
she will have an announcement

to make, I think, in a few days.

So it sounds like maybe she
will be, what, the fourth woman
to announce that she's running

for president...

(CROSSTALK)

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: Fourth
woman, crowded field.

JUDY WOODRUFF: ... on
the Democratic side.

MARK SHIELDS:
Everybody satisfied?

(LAUGHTER)

JUDY WOODRUFF: Hey,
we will talk about it.

We will talk about it.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE:
It is historical.

It is historical.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I just have to
thank these wonderful people
for sticking with us through

this -- this extraordinary
State of the Union night.

Thank you for joining us.

I want to thank again
all of our guests, Mark
Shields, Pete Wehner, Amy
Walter, Karine Jean-Pierre,

 

Chris Buskirk.

Thank you all, and, of
course, to our correspondents
at the Capitol, Lisa
Desjardins, Yamiche Alcindor

 

at the White House, Robert Costa
there at The Washington Post.

Thank you, all.

And thank you for watching.

Stay with us.

Our coverage will
continue online.

Tomorrow, we will have
our podcast State of
the Union after-show,
available at 6:00 a.m.

 

Eastern.

Get up early and watch that.

Listen to that.

And be sure to tune in to
the "NewsHour" tomorrow for
a full report and analysis.

 

For all of us at the "PBS
NewsHour," thank you,
and we'll see you soon.