President's Guests

For John, BLUF:  I was impressed that the President had Venezuela's legitimate President Juan Guaidó in the Gallery, and that Mr Chris Matthews mentioned this on a panel led by Ms Rachel Maddow.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Matthews:  Trump Set Up The Fight Against Bernie — And Split The Democrats — With Guaidó Shout-Out

From Hot Air, by Blogger Ed Morrissey, 5 February 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

Donald Trump’s broadside against socialism might not have taken up much of his State of the Union speech, but MSNBC’s Chris Matthews believes it could be very, very effective.  Matthews offered general praise for the speech anyway, telling the Rachel Maddow-led panel after the SOTU, “I think people where I came from will like the speech tonight … because it’s all good stuff.”

Introducing Juan Guaidó, Matthews argued, was a masterstroke, especially if Bernie Sanders starts gaining momentum.  The more Trump can make 2020 a fight between traditional American values and Marxism, the better off Republicans will be — and the more division it will create among Democrats.  One only has to look at Pelosi’s reaction to this part of Trump’s speech to see the problem Trump is creating, Matthews argues ....

Here is the money quote:

Pelosi was especially loathe to offer any rhetorical support to Trump’s speech last night, but she certainly shot of[f] her chair to salute Guaidó.  That signals a clear division within the Democratic Party that will come to the fore if Sanders wins the nomination, Matthews warns, one that Trump is already exploiting.  Sanders and his allies embrace socialists like Nicolas Maduro and not just the softer socialists in Western Europe.

Reporter Chris Matthews is pretty insightful and I would think he is on to something.

The question is, who helped President Trump craft the roster of people he had at the State of the Union Speech?  Or did he direct it himself?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff