SE Cupp: Trump shows he can win four more years
Trump's State of the Union speech tonight was a winner. By that I mean, it should remind everyone, especially Democrats, that he could very well be on his way to winning another four years.
Let's be clear, as fact-checker Daniel Dale was busy pointing out on Twitter, it was full of half-truths and total distortions. But the broad themes Trump hit on are likely to be very popular with wide swaths of American voters.
The economy is good, unemployment is down, and his administration passed key pieces of legislation like paid family leave for federal employees, funds for combating opioid addiction and criminal justice reform.
He boasted of fighting ISIS and putting not one but two prolific terrorist leaders in the ground.
And he directly addressed some of the Democrats' more extreme positions: promising that "we will never let socialism destroy American healthcare," and vowing to end late-term abortion, to uphold the Second Amendment and to end sanctuary city policies.
Democrats don't want to believe it, but all of that probably sounds more reasonable and indeed mainstream than a number of the policies most of the Democrats for president are running on, like free health care for undocumented immigrants, abolishing private health insurance, banning guns and unrestricted abortion rights. If you took Trump out of the House tonight, that speech would probably even appeal to many Democratic and independent voters.
Trump, of course, is both his best pitchman as well as his own worst enemy. Democrats are betting that his lies, his insults and his impeachment will overshadow these winning messages. I wish they mattered as much as they think they do. But I'm willing to bet that if Democrats underestimate the potency of these promises in favor of unpopular, far-left policies, he'll get four more years.
SE Cupp is a CNN political commentator and the host of "SE Cupp Unfiltered."
Julian Zelizer: Democrats are going to need a powerful message to counter Trump
In 2020, Democrats are going to need a stronger and more forceful message in response to President Trump's economic claims.
On Twitter, it is easy to find many very clear and accurate refutations of the President's rhetoric in his State of the Union address, in which he claims credit for just about everything. As former Obama administration officials David Axelrod, Gene Sperling and others tweeted during the address, President Obama produced more jobs in the final three years of his administration than Trump did in the first three years of his.
Unemployment declined from about 10.2% to 4.7% during the Obama presidency, much more dramatic than the additional 1.2% decline in the rate that has taken place since 2017. President Obama guided the nation out of the 2008 financial crash and his economic package was crucial to the recovery.
The current economy carries deep structural problems, such as the constant struggle of middle class Americans who don't feel secure, and whose fortunes don't change dramatically regardless of the macroeconomic numbers.
But Democrats should know by now that fact checking this President alone does not suffice. The overall economic numbers are strong enough that he will be able to use them as a bludgeon on the campaign trail. Democrats will need a forceful response, making a clear-cut case that they can do better and that only their party can ensure these good times continue.
They need to devise a powerful message that provides Americans with an accurate origin story of the boom, and they also need to make a more convincing case about what only they can deliver in the future.
Otherwise, they will keep allowing Trump one of his most potent talking points going into November 2020.
Julian Zelizer is the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University and author of "The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society."
Scott Jennings: Trump grabs the optimism high ground from sulking Democrats
Donald Trump is having the best week of his presidency, and it's only half over.
The latest national polling—including the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll and the Gallup Poll—shows Trump with the highest job approval of his presidency, largely because of his handling of the American economy (63% in the Gallup poll, the highest for a president since George W. Bush just after 9-11)
He was smart to focus on the economic successes happening under his administration during his State of the Union; if he is reelected, it will be because he's done a good job with it and Democrats are offering plans that make it seem like we are living in a new Great Depression instead of an era of extreme prosperity and opportunity. Trump's living in -- and taking advantage of -- reality and the Democrats just aren't.
Trump was also smart to leave impeachment alone, but I can't blame him for shunning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's handshake to start the speech. She's trying to throw him out of office on an impeachment that is now underwater with many Americans, as the aforementioned polling indicates. Trump has come out of impeachment in the strongest position of his presidency, thanks to Democratic overreach and focus on things that just don't matter to average Americans.
The big losers of the night were the sullen Democrats who sat on their hands as the President touted free trade agreements most of them voted for, low unemployment and even a little girl who just found out she's going to a better school.
Trump has grabbed the optimism high ground from a Democratic party that apparently can't see past its own rage over Trump's presidency, which, for most Americans, is turning out pretty well. Presidential elections are usually about the future, and Trump projected a hopeful vision versus a gloomy opposition.
Scott Jennings, a CNN contributor, is a former special assistant to President George W. Bush and a former campaign adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell. He is a partner at RunSwitch Public Relations in Louisville, Kentucky. Follow him on Twitter @ScottJenningsKY.
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