Saunders: Trump delivered effective State of the Union speech

Ken Khachigian, who served as chief speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan, gave Trump high marks. The 80-minute speech, he said, was effective. Trump “put to use the oldest rule of communication, a picture is worth a thousand words.”

What’s more, Trump reached out to Democrats and sought their support for a compromise measure to extend President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. As a concession, Trump offered a path to citizenship to some 1.8 million undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as minors, through no fault of their own.

To the right, Trump had conceded a lot. Many DACA critics see a path to citizenship as amnesty. Also, Trump had offered that path to more than twice the 800,000 undocumented immigrants initially covered by Obama’s DACA — and that program was temporary and paved no path to citizenship.

Tables turn for Democrats

In return, Trump argued Democrats would have to support his three pillars — funding for a border wall with Mexico, limits on “chain migration” to immediate family members and an end to the diversity visa lottery system.

It was impossible to not notice the Democrats’ cold reception to Trump’s proposition. Conservatives broadcast photos of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., scowling and sucking on her teeth throughout the evening.

The next morning, Trump stayed off Twitter.

On Thursday, he returned to his favorite social media platform with three tweets. The first chastised Democrats for not producing a single vote in favor of the GOP tax bill. The second hit Pelosi for not working with him on DACA.

The third tweet trumpeted Trump’s belief that with 45.6 million viewers, his first State of the Union address had “the highest number in history.” But Trump was factually incorrect. Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton drew higher audience numbers than Trump for their first State of the Union addresses. But then, the public has become inured to Trump’s factual errors in his favor.

Later, at a speech to Republicans in West Virginia, Trump pressed what he saw as his new advantage — the position where he appeared as a peacemaker and his opposition came off as belligerent and self-centered.

Trump noted, “And when I made that statement the other night, there was zero movement from the Democrats. They sat there, stone cold, no smile, no applause. You would have thought that, on that one, they would have, sort of, at least clapped a little bit. Which tells you, perhaps, they’d rather see us not do well than see our country do great.”

During the tenure of Presidents Clinton and Obama, that was a charge Democrats frequently lobbed at GOP critics — that they were rooting against a strong economy and against the country. Last week, the table was turned.

The CBS News poll included more bad news for Democrats: 43 percent of Democrats approved of Trump’s speech. No cause for applause there.