Nation readies for State of the Union

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump will speak to the nation in his second State of the Union address Tuesday evening. Despite the threat of another partial government shutdown in just 10 days, the president is expected to deliver an optimistic assessment of how the United States has fared under his leadership. He will likely point to a roaring U.S. economy, the passage of a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill, the replacement deal for the North American Free Trade Agreement, and strong jobs numbers. Trump is also expected to continue to make his case for a wall at the U.S. southern border. He has threatened to declare a national emergency at the border to secure funds for a wall without congressional support.

Democrats selected former Georgia state Rep. Stacey Abrams to deliver their response to the speech. Though Abrams lost her bid for governor of Georgia in November, Democrats see her as a future star of the party. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra will also deliver an opposition response on Telemundo.

The president’s invited guests to the speech include two survivors of the October 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation synagogue in Pittsburgh; the first prisoner released under the criminal justice reform bill known as the First Step Act; Alice Johnson, whose life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense the president commuted; and a child who has been bullied at school for having the last name Trump (no relation).