The real State of the Union

Trump's impeachment victory speech was one for the diehards

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

By his extraordinary standards, Donald Trump's third State of the Union address on Tuesday night was a relatively tame affair. For every medal presentation and previously unannounced awarding of a brigadier generalship, there was a Vox-approved economic statistic. It was a corporate product, meant for casual fans.

The diehards, old comrades of Eternal Trumpism who had been expecting a glorious Festival of Innocence for the Hero-Son of the Republic, had to wait for his address to Republican lawmakers on Thursday afternoon. This was Trump's Basement Tapes, the unofficial product that people care about more than the real thing anyway and talk about until it finally becomes part of the catalogue.

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.