I think Jonah and Ramesh make much too light of Nancy Pelosi insulting President Trump by uninviting him from giving the traditional State of the Union Address before a joint session of Congress.

The State of the Union Speech may not be constitutionally required. It may be a spectacle. It may be manipulative theater. Everything that Jonah and Ramesh think wrong with it may well be true. But it has also become a deeply embedded national tradition and one of the few times in which our president and a representative of the opposing party speak to a national audience about important issues. We swamp creatures may be jaded by the whole thing, but I think many citizens still thrill to the sight of nearly every American national leader gathered together in the House chamber to hear a speech by the president of the United States.


Beyond that, the disinvitation — if it holds — is a body blow to the norms of fundamental political civility that is clearly intended as a flipping of the proverbial bird to the president and his supporters. This affront is a big deal that will stoke ideological antipathy and increase the bile of our political discourse.

If we want to do away with the State of the Union Speech, fine. But we shouldn’t shrug at this “temper tantrum” (to borrow the Democrats’ favorite shutdown talking a point) thrown by the country’s most intractably partisan leader.