State of the Union: Takeaways on speech’s victory laps, showmanship, tension and drama

President Trump's third State of the Union speech, under a cloud of impeachment, was awkward and tense, but the president seized the moment for a triumphant victory lap on the economy and to toss campaign red meat to his base.

It started with a slight, the president not shaking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's hand, and ended with Pelosi, as Trump stood at the podium, tearing up her copy of the speech and tossing it aside.

Beyond that, Tuesday's State of the Union speech was a combination of masterful reality TV showmanship and 2020 election rhetoric.

The showmanship

-- Americans watching saw a serie sof dramatic, unprecedented moments, including the presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by first lady Melania Trump to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, and recognition of a 100-year-old Tuskeegee Airman, retired Brigadier General Charles McGee.

-- The president in Oprah-like fashion revealed to Janiyah Davis, a fourth grade student from Philadelphia, that she was being granted a scholarship the school of her choice.

-- The president punctuated his assault on socialism by pointing out Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó and a surprise appearance by a U.S. serviceman, on his fourth deployment overseas, who hadn't seen his wife and children in months.

-- The president's guests also included Kelli and Gage Hake from Stillwater, Okla. Kelli's husband and Gage's father, Army Staff Sergeant Christopher Hake, was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb Trump said was "supplied by Iranian terrorist leader Qasem Soleimani." In January, Trump ordered an airstrike that killed Soleimani.

All this, but not one mention of the word "impeachment." Nor of congressional probes, as he famously said in the 2019 speech that House democrats had to choose between investigating and legislating.

That and other highlights here:

-- The first third of the speech was a victory lap for the president on the economy. He recited a litany of successes, from record low unemployment to the 2017 tax cut to record heights on Wall Street. As he started, Republicans in the chamber began to chant "Four more years!" momentarily turning the solemn occasion into a campaign rally.

-- The president also touted the USMCA and China trade deals, saying they finally "put America first."

-- He touted the criminal justice reform act, one of the few, and we mean really few, moments of bipartisan applause on a policy position.

-- The president noted his nomination of two Supreme Court justices, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, and said he had plenty more ready in "the pipeline."

Then came the really red meat.

-- The president decried the attempt to impose "socialism" on the health care system, depriving 180 million Americans of the private insurance plans they are "happy" with. That was a shot at two Democrats in the audience, U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who have advocated Medicare for All on the presidential campaign trail.

-- The president also said he is ready to sign a bill to lower prescription drugs, eliciting a chant of "HR 3" from Democrats seated to his right. That was a reference to the Lower Drug Costs Now Act passed by House Democrats that caps the price of drugs sold in the United States to the price paid for those same pharmaceuticals in other countries. The legislation also offers seniors coverage dental, vision and hearing. In a conference call organized by Democrats earlier Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Sunrise, said that in the "two months since the House passed this landmark bill, Trump hasn't shown any interest in signing" the measure. She added: "And no one is surprised because this is just the latest broken promise from a President who has done nothing but attack the health care of millions who desperately need it."

-- Trump also had Democrats in the chamber shaking their hands when he said he would fight to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions. U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, on Tuesday accused the Trump administration of "suing to try to eliminate Obamacare and eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions."

-- There were a few other points policy bipartisanship. One was when Trump vowed to attack the opioid prices. And when he pledged to eliminate AIDS in the United States by the end of the decade.

-- The consensus broke quickly when Trump called for legislation to end late term abortions, touted prayer in public schools and vowed to defend Second Amendment gun rights.

>>PHOTOS: Inside Trump's Mar-a-Lago through the years: Inside and out