There has been much speculation about the State of the Union ever since Nancy Pelosi purported to withdraw the House’s invitation to the president to speak in the speech’s traditional home, the House chamber. Some have speculated that Trump might deliver his speech to a cheering throng, away from D.C.–the alternative I advocated–or that he give the speech at the Southern border.
But today President Trump threw down the gauntlet on Instagram, making public this letter to Nancy Pelosi. Click to enlarge:
The punch line:
Therefore, I will be honoring your invitation, and fulfilling my Constitutional duty, to deliver important information to the people and Congress of the United States of America regarding the state of our union.
I look forward to seeing you on the evening of January 29th in the Chamber of the House of Representatives. It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very important, on location!
What’s Nancy going to do? Tell the Sergeant at Arms to lock the door?
UPDATE: In response to Trump’s letter, Pelosi remained obdurate. Trump apparently has decided to go elsewhere, saying “The State of the Union has been canceled by Nancy Pelosi because she doesn’t want to hear the truth.” More specifically, she doesn’t want the voters to hear the truth.
Trump says he will “look for alternative venues” for the State of the Union. Maybe this means he will follow my suggestion:
I would like to see Trump deliver the State of the Union before a cheering throng of 15,000 or 20,000 in an arena. He could invite members of Congress and justices of the Supreme Court to attend, and simultaneously deliver his report on the state of the union to Congress in writing.
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