He would have them carry him on their shoulders into the Senate for the State of the Union if he could:
President Donald Trump is already itching to broadcast the series finale of his impeachment.
In recent days, he and top White House aides have been considering how he should celebrate his presumed acquittal by the Republican-controlled Senate and whether he should deliver a rare Oval Office address to mark the occasion, according to three senior administration officials.
Trump has not settled on a specific plan yet, but the internal machinations show the extent to which the president remains focused on the details and optics of his ongoing impeachment trial — from the TV slot in which his lawyers argued his case to the performance of his legal team to the look and feel of a speech or ceremony marking the end of the months-long saga.
“The president is giving a lot of thought to where he goes when he is acquitted and vindicated,” a senior administration official said. “This isn’t a one-and-done moment. This will be a sustained exit from a long dreary impeachment process and a great reset to 2020 — not just the 2020 reelection but the 2020 domestic and international arena.”
“This isn’t a one-and-done moment. This will be a sustained exit from a long dreary impeachment process and a great reset to 2020.”
– A senior administration official
White House aides had been hoping to use the State of the Union address to lay out Trump’s agenda for the rest of the year as well as a potential second term, and lately Trump has tried to cast impeachment and the investigations into his conduct as one of his many accomplishments for the country.
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Trump also just loves a good victory lap.
Every campaign rally morphs into a celebration of his presidency and often, a retelling of his November 2016 upset win even as he enters the fourth year of his presidency.
In March 2017, Trump hosted a victory lap in the Rose Garden after the House voted to repeal and replace Obamacare — a celebration that ultimately proved premature since the Senate lacked the votes to kill off the sweeping health care law.
More recently, Trump held a White House ceremony in the East Room of the White House to highlight his and the Senate’s record of filling judicial nominations with over a hundred conservative judges installed on federal district courts, circuit courts and the Supreme Court.
White House aides expect Trump to treat impeachment as a Democratic ploy he managed to beat, and any post-impeachment celebration will likely marry Trump’s love of the victory lap with his penchant for political grievances.
It’s going to be very hard to take. But the Democratic primary will be in full swing so maybe he won’t get the usual attention.
Oy.