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House Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) said that there would be no State Of The Union speech for Trump is the government remains closed.

Rep. Clyburn was asked on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports if there will be no State Of The Union address.

Video:

There will be no Trump #SOTU if he keeps the government closed. pic.twitter.com/sQ6Dgj5znR

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 16, 2019

He answered, “Well, that’s what the letter seems to indicate to me. And I don’t think we ought to conduct ourselves that way. Look, I seem to remember in my lifetime that we had the president taking obligation in writing. It is not unusual for this report to be made without us going into a joint session. I’ve seen that — I think that’s happened in my lifetime. Sometimes I have problems with dealing with history that I’ve read as opposed to history that I’ve lived.”

Uninviting Trump Is A Shrewd Pelosi Move

Taking back the SOTU invitation was a smart move by Speaker Pelosi because it highlights the fact that the shutdown, not Trump’s border wall, is the real crisis. Trump continues to talk about his made up crisis on the border when the reality is a real crisis exists for millions of federal workers and contractors who are not getting paid, and in the case of contractors, won’t get back pay when the shutdown ends.

It is appropriate for House Democrats to treat the shutdown as the crisis that it is.

Trump could end this crisis in less than a minute by calling up Mitch McConnell and telling him to pass a clean government funding bill. If the government remains closed on January 29, the press will be full of reporters discussing Trump as the reason why there is no SOTU.

The tables have been turned, and Trump faces another avalanche of approval rating killing publicity if he chooses to keep the government closed.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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