Trump reportedly warmed up for the State of the Union by slamming Democrats — and John McCain

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

President Trump is expected to use the State of the Union address on Tuesday night to call for unity, but first, he had to get some insults out of his system, The New York Times reports.

During a private lunch with television anchors on Tuesday afternoon, Trump went off on several Democrats, calling former Vice President Joe Biden "dumb" and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) a "nasty son of a bitch," several people in the room told the Times. He also mocked Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D), who held a press conference over the weekend to address a racist photo in his medical school yearbook. "He choked like a dog," Trump said. One person he didn't disparage was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), merely saying privately she is nice to him, but publicly, she's mean.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.