By Catherine Lucey
WASHINGTON -- Political whiplash, anyone?
President Trump wrapped up a dizzying week of major wins and a
historic rebuke.
In the victory column, the president clinched congressional
Democratic support for his North American trade deal, won backing
for the creation of the U.S. Space Force, and reached a limited
trade deal with China.
But he also watched as House Democrats moved forward with their
push to make him just the third president in U.S. history to be
impeached, an effort that could energize voters in both parties,
though Mr. Trump faces strong odds of acquittal in the Senate.
While Mr. Trump's White House has long been defined by extreme
contrasts, there was little precedent for the swings showcased in
recent days. The president emerged with a stack of achievements to
tout on the 2020 campaign trail, even if it was tempered by the
push to remove him from office.
"We're having a very exciting month in Washington, D.C. There
haven't been too many like it," Mr. Trump told lawmakers gathered
in the festively decorated White House on Thursday night for the
annual Congressional Ball.
For Mr. Trump, there were clear incentives for reaching
agreements on trade and spending, giving him achievements to tout
as well as evidence he can work amid impeachment. Congressional
Democrats have some similar goals, with those representing swing
districts eager to show they can legislate and impeach at the same
time. And both the U.S. and China have been working to reach a
limited trade deal before a new round of tariffs kicks in.
A senior administration official described Mr. Trump as "upbeat"
about the events of the week, saying he is "feeling very confident
about how things are going." The official also cited the strong
jobs numbers that came out last week, as well as the recent raid
that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as other
items the White House sees in the positive column.
"The White House and President Trump's allies are ecstatic about
how this past week has gone," said former Trump campaign aide Jason
Miller. "Literally on the day Democrats were introducing two
politically driven articles of impeachment, the president had a
rally that filled up a stadium beyond capacity."
Mr. Miller was referring to Mr. Trump's campaign rally in
Hershey, Pa., on Tuesday night, just hours after congressional
Democrats said they would support his long-sought trade deal with
Mexico and Canada, and also announced two articles of
impeachment.
"To me, impeachment is a very ugly word," Mr. Trump said at the
rally. "It's a word I associate with some very bad times in our
country. The good news is we're having the best times in
history."
While Mr. Trump and his aides struck a positive tone,
impeachment clearly still rankled the president, who fired off an
avalanche of tweets throughout the week, mostly about venting about
impeachment or retweeting supporters. He sent over 100 tweets and
retweets Thursday alone, starting just before 7 a.m.
"I did nothing wrong. This will be the first Impeachment ever
where there was no crime," Mr. Trump tweeted early that day.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.,Calif.) on Thursday declared the
articles of impeachment "very strong," calling them a "continuation
of a pattern of misbehavior on the part of the president."
Mr. Trump is accused by Democrats of abusing his power by
pressing Ukraine to investigate a possible Democratic rival in the
2020 U.S. election and conditioning U.S. aid to Kyiv and a White
House meeting on the probe. Democrats also allege Mr. Trump
obstructed Congress by preventing at least nine officials from
testifying and by blocking records from across the federal
government from being shared with lawmakers. Mr. Trump denies any
wrongdoing, and the White House has said it is protecting executive
branch authority by not allowing officials to testify.
"Our president holds the ultimate public trust. When he betrays
that trust, and puts himself before country, he endangers the
Constitution, he endangers our democracy, and he endangers our
national security," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold
Nadler (D., N.Y.) said Tuesday as he announced the articles of
impeachment.
The week also included a last-minute spending deal between
Congress and the White House to avoid a government shutdown, and
saw Mr. Trump meeting with a senior Russian official in the Oval
Office. And there was a politically contentious new report on the
FBI probe into possible links between the 2016 Trump campaign and
Russia, which found that the bureau committed "serious performance
failures," but also said the origin of the investigation was
justified.
That offered ammunition for both sides in a controversy that has
stretched through Mr. Trump's presidency and looks set to continue:
A Justice Department investigator appointed by Attorney General
William Barr is examining the same issues, and both Mr. Barr and
the investigator expressed skepticism over some of the findings in
the Justice Department's inspector general's report.
At the same time, Democrats claimed the legislative deals as
wins for their members. As congressional Democrats announced
support for the North American trade deal Tuesday, Mrs. Pelosi said
the agreement was "infinitely better than what was initially
proposed by the administration."
Mrs. Pelosi touted the number of bills passed out of the House
with bipartisan support and specifically praised the spending deal,
noting that "there's a great deal in the bill for people on both
sides of the aisle to take home" to their districts. Both Democrats
and the White House also took credit for a defense policy bill that
includes a new provision for parental leave for federal
workers.
The landslide of December agreements -- after months of partisan
stalemate -- was the product of a series of complex negotiations
and political calculations, as well as a number of looming
deadlines.
"Let's consider that we're in the middle of December and if
things are going to get settled, they're going to get settled now,"
said William Galston, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and
former domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton.
White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway framed the list of wins
as evidence the president could work despite the impeachment
process.
"These are real results," she said. "These are matters of
consequence that cannot be denied or impeached. The country is
divided, Washington is divided, but there should be very little
division about the historic progress and hearty boldness this
president shows."
The president and his allies say they have seen political
benefits to the impeachment process.
"I've always said I would rather not have the president
impeached," said Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale at a campaign
briefing for reporters Thursday. But he added that "this lit up our
base, lit up the people that are the supporters of the president,"
citing an increase in donations, volunteers and rally
attendance.
Write to Catherine Lucey at catherine.lucey@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 13, 2019 15:10 ET (20:10 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.