Look, let’s get the hard part out of the way first. We’re going bankrupt. Nobody in Washington cares. The collective bipartisan erection over infrastructure spending was just too much. Sad to see that no one cares about spending. The President wants to send us to Mars and the Democrats will gladly help if he is on the first rocket.

We are going bankrupt.

But fundamentally, that was the best State of the Union address ever. It was all showmanship. We had a World War II hero, the parents of an ISIS victim, Rush Limbaugh, a military reunion, and more. All we missed was the dog.

The Democrats gave the President a great new attack line by refusing to cheer a black mother and her daughter who are going to be able to get a better education. Nancy Pelosi tore up the speech as the President stood there, which was remarkably petty.

The President is making a serious, serious play for black voters and the Democrats have played into his hands. He started in Atlanta months ago with his rally. He made a big splash with his Super Bowl ad. Then his speech tonight it was targeted to black Americans. Democrats refusing to clap at success stories in the black community really is something.

I have seen just about every State of the Union address since Ronald Reagan honored Arland D. Williams, Jr. in his State of the Union address. There were other speeches that had more soaring rhetoric. There were other speeches that had less laundry lists of items. But there’s never been the showmanship that we saw last night. In the twenty-first century, these sorts of optics matter and President Trump took this speech to a whole new level.

It was remarkable and Trump at his best. His job approval rating has gone up as he has been sidelined from the news, ironically over impeachment. If he can keep up this tone and statesmanship, he will be on course for a second term.