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Donald Trump’s busy week

After a State of the Union speech in which he showed positive results, President Trump was acquitted in his political trial.

Donald Trump, president of the United States.

Donald Trump, president of the United States. / Photo: AP

LatinAmerican Post | Juliana Suárez

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Leer en español: Una semana política movida para Donald Trump

The last days were moved in terms of internal policy for the US president because the political trial – or impeachment – that he had been preparing for a House of Representatives Committee came to an end. But before that, and leaving acquitted thanks to the Senate vote, the annual speech of the Union, where the president presents a report with the balance of where the United States is at that time. This speech was Trump's last, at least in this period.

A tense speech

The picture was this: on the one hand, the trial of Donald Trump was about to end, where it would be decided whether or not he would be convicted of two crimes, which meant his possible removal. But, on the other hand, the speech presented the perfect opportunity to show the progress he made in his presidency; what would be a propaganda campaign for the elections that will take place later this year.

Thus, Trump took advantage of the State of the Union speech to set aside the issue of impeachment and did not even mention it, although it was evident that the tension was around as it was a few hours after the vote.

On the contrary, the president focused on highlighting his achievements under the premise of what was his campaign slogan in 2016, 'Make America Great Again'. In the speech he spoke mainly of the economy and highlighted his efforts to reduce unemployment, which, according to figures from the White House, has come down to 3.5%, becoming the lowest rate in half a century in the country. This data, however, was contrasted by the American press in which they affirm that 4.2 million people have stopped using the coupons that the government gives to the unemployed, despite the fact that he claimed that they were 7 million.

Another aspect that stood out during his speech was the improvement in relations with China, a country with which he maintained a commercial war that lasted for months and that until now is beginning to calm down thanks to the first phase of an agreement signed by both countries. Faced with this, Trump said he had managed to make the other economic giant "stop taking advantage of them."

Seizing the opportunity to make his campaign career, Trump spoke about “the great American return, in which he has been working for the past few years and hopes to continue in the next period. Thus, he stressed his slogan of this campaign, which is consistent with the previous one: 'Keep America Great'. In this order of ideas, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said, according to CNN, that Trump will focus on five points: workers, promotion, and support for families, reducing costs of medical care, immigration and protection of American families

National security was also a fundamental part of the speech. The president attacked terrorism, taking advantage of the latest tensions with Iran, and said that “Our message to the terrorists is clear: they will never escape US justice. If you attack our citizens, you lose your life! ”

Read also: Maduro Vs Duque: new tensions between Venezuela and Colombia

Regarding foreign policy, the US president carried out a very emphatic political act by taking as a guest the interim president of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, whom he considers to be the legitimate president of the Latin American country. In his presence, he stressed that he will fight against socialism in Latin America and presented his support to Guaidó, referring to him as "the true president of Venezuela."

With these acts, he finished a speech in which he boasted about his past years, his period that is about to end and the one that, according to him, is about to come.

Although he was applauded by the Republicans, the Democrats had their differences. As the representative of the Democratic party, the president of the lower house, Nancy Pelosi, showed her dissatisfaction with the words of the president. That, coupled with the fact that before starting the speech, Trump left Pelosi with her arm stretched out, ignoring the greeting.

The Democrat, who also led the battle in the investigation against Trump, ended the occasion with a strong message. When the president had finished his speech, she broke Trump's speech in half. Upon leaving the meeting, an American journalist asked her why she had broken the speech, to which she replied that "it was a manifesto of falsehoods."

Pelosi spoke at a press conference about the president's statements and the outcome of the trial and said they should not continue lending for the "reality show" that was being presented with unreal things.

An expected result

After months of the Committee chosen to investigate the alleged crimes of the president of the United States, the Senate had the final say in a trial that lasted 2 weeks.

The previous days were tense in the atmosphere of the US Congress, as some Republicans were supposed to be willing to grant the committee to present more witnesses. The presentation of more witnesses was the slogan for which they were fighting the most against the Republicans because they considered that it was enough. So, the fact that some Republicans changed their position could compromise the outcome.

However, they achieved that there were no more witnesses and on Wednesday, one day after the State of the Union address, the trial concluded with a vote of the 100 members of the Senate.

During the trial, the Investigative Committee presented to the senators the evidence they had against Trump in the crimes of obstruction and abuse of power.

Also read: All about the political trial against Trump

Finally, the expected decision was made: Donald Trump was acquitted of both charges and the Democrats did not succeed in his removal. There were 52 votes that declared him not guilty, compared to 48 yes.

Perhaps the reason why the president was not a little worried during the speech, a day before the impeachment ended, was because from the beginning he knew what the outcome would be.

From the beginning, Trump lashed out at Nancy Pelosi and the other Democrats who drove the investigation saying that what they were doing was a 'witch hunt'. And, in the end, I knew that in the Senate, a Republican majority, I had the chance to win.

Not only does the Republican Party have a majority, with 53 seats, but for the president to be dismissed he had to have 2/3 of the votes. In the end, the only vote that surprised was that of Mitt Romney, who hours before the vote had already announced that he would vote to blame the president. Although Donald Trump criticized him, in social networks there was a trend #MittRomneyAmericanHero.

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