Can the United States reconcile around State of Union false premises?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We must reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good.

Mara Liasson (NPR)

LIASSON: Well, my biggest takeaway was that the big question of the speech remained unanswered, which is what was going to be his approach to the new era of divided government? The speech almost suggested he hasn't decided yet. It was two speeches grafted together. One was this standard rally speech about immigration, abortion and socialism. The other one offered some olive branches to Democrats on infrastructure, prescription drug prices, paid family leave. We still don't know which way he wants to go.

And my other takeaway was that he did offer this gracious grace note when he acknowledged that there were more women than ever before in Congress. What he didn't say, of course, is there are actually fewer Republican women, and there were more Democratic women. And the other big takeaway was just the visual of this sea of women in white suits on one side of the aisle and then a lot of men in dark suits on the other one.

We will examine the overall thrust of the speech including omissions and overt actions.