The president’s rally-like State of the Union speech and the lopsided congressional response, punctuated by an unrestrained raucous approval by congressional Republicans, reflects the unprecedented divisiveness both in Congress and in the country at large that has characterized the three years of the Trump presidency. In making no pretense of even a hint of the bipartisanship characteristic of past State of the Union addresses, President Trump was clearly using the occasion to set the tone for launching his campaign for reelection.
The degree of partisan rancor exhibited in the House chamber during the president’s self-aggrandizing speech, coming at the climax of his impeachment battle, makes it hard to envision the kind of reconciliation Americans desperately need.
Roger Hirschberg
Bondville, Vt.
Note from KBJ: Because Barack Obama was not divisive.
