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Political Analyst Says Trump's National Address Was About Appealing To His Base

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — For many political insiders, Tuesday night's Oval Office Address wasn't so much about what President Trump said, but the topic he chose to speak about.

CBS13's Political Analyst Gary Dietrich said the speech was designed to appeal to the President's base, adding, "It shows that Trump continues to believe that not only is this critical for our nation's security, but I think critical politically because his base expects this. And now we know from polling, some 80 percent of Democrats against the wall and some 80 percent of Republicans for the wall."

It's a wall the President insists will be paid for by Mexico. Dietrich says the President's plan is to have Mexico pay for the wall via the new Trade Agreement.

"What he means by that is he believes that the new agreement does much more to protect American businesses and generate dollars for American coffers than the old agreement and so that's the indirect payment for the wall," Dietrich said.

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Dietrich was quick to point out the unusual aftermath of the Tuesday's Oval Office Address, an immediate and televised rebuttal speech by the Democrats.

"That is rather uncommon, if not unprecedented, and I think it speaks to the incredibly divisive nature of this particular issue and the fact that now we have a divided Congress--a House that's in Democratic hands that just a few weeks ago--wasn't," he said.

As for when the Government Shutdown will end?

Dietrich believes the President's speech only adds to the guessing game, telling us, "If anybody had the answer to how much longer it's going to be shut down, they ought to make a beeline to Vegas and plunk their dollars down because that is one of the biggest unknowns in politics in recent memory."

You can catch Gary's political analysis only on CBS13 and CBS13.com

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