WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump is delivering his first State of the Union speech Tuesday in what's become a familiar spot: at a historic low in polls, furious over the Russia investigation and frustrated that he is not getting credit for a good economy and keeping his promise to shake up the government.
But don't look for a dour presentation when Trump steps onto the rostrum amid the pageantry in the House of Representatives for the annual presidential address. Aides describe an upbeat speech, with Trump taking credit for the booming economy while holding out hope for a bipartisan achievement that has eluded him _ on immigration, or a major new infrastructure initiative.
Trump, like other presidents facing troubles, is hoping the high-profile, nationally televised speech will help him move past the tumult in his White House and the shadow of the Russia investigation _ into his campaign's possible collusion with Russia's election meddling, and his own alleged acts of obstruction _ that has consumed his first year in office.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in her preview, called the state of the union "incredible."
"And I think that you'll hear that in the president's words," she said.
Aides said Trump will hammer the theme of "building a safe, strong, proud America," which fits loosely around his policy proposals to create a $1 trillion plan to rebuild roads, bridges and other public works, increase spending on the military and overhaul the immigration system, sharply cutting the number of legal immigrants while allowing a path to citizenship for young "dreamers" who came to the country illegally as children.
Trump has framed his desire to restrict immigration as a security issue, arguing that a porous border has increased the threat of terrorism and drug trafficking. Immigrant advocates say Trump is creating scapegoats and they accuse the president of deepening racial and ethnic divides.
The president, however, will contend in his speech that he wants to be a uniter.
Although Trump often tweets angrily at his perceived enemies and has continued to call on the FBI to prosecute his former rival, Hillary Clinton, he struck a conciliatory tone ahead of Tuesday's speech while meeting with television network news anchors at the White House.
"I want to see our country united," Trump said, according to a partial transcript released by the White House. "I want to bring our country back from a tremendous divisiveness."
Trump told the anchors that his biggest lesson since taking office more than a year ago has been tempering his profit-centered business instinct with the need to show "heart" in his governing decisions. Those twin impulses have made the job harder, he said.
"What I'm doing now, a lot of it is heart, a lot of it is compassion, a lot of it is far beyond money _ such as immigration," he said, adding, "If I was doing this purely from an economic standpoint, I would sit down and tell you in one second what I'd be doing, OK? It's so simple."
Eleven months ago in late February, Trump addressed Congress and a prime-time TV audience from the Capitol, but by tradition a president's first report on the state of the union _ based on a constitutional requirement _ does not occur until after a year in office.
Last year's speech likewise became Trump's attempt to pivot from the early weeks of disorganization within his White House and during his post-election transition. In that speech, Trump departed from his combative campaign rhetoric and bleak inaugural address evoking "American carnage" to pitch a "renewal of the American spirit," while urging Americans to leave "the trivial fights behind us."
Although presidents traditionally use these speeches to lay out their vision early in the year, they also try to claim credit for first-year achievements. Trump plans to speak extensively about the economy and his $1.5 trillion tax cut, boasting as he often does about the rising stock market and low unemployment.
Those trends began in President Barack Obama's first term, after the Great Recession, and the pace of growth actually slowed a bit in the final quarter of 2017. But that has not stopped Trump, as he did during a speech Friday at the World Economic Form in Davos, Switzerland, from arguing that the country would have hit the skids if he had not been elected.
"The world is witnessing the resurgence of a strong and prosperous America," Trump said in Davos. "America is open for business and we are competitive once again."
Americans are generally pleased with the economy. In a recent Pew poll, 41 percent of Americans rated it as excellent or good, one of the strongest such ratings in a decade. Yet many Americans do not give Trump credit. On average, polls show his approval at about 40 percent, lower than the standing of any of his predecessors in the modern era after a year in office.
Democrats have worked aggressively to deny Trump any credit for the economy, arguing that his predecessor is responsible for the trends Trump inherited and that subsequent gains are little different from those in Obama's final years.
"Two words I don't think we'll hear tonight: Thanks, Obama," said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.
The recently passed tax cut law has elicited mixed expectations, according to Pew, with about a third of Americans saying they expect it to improve their personal finances, a third saying they expect it to harm them and another third expecting no change.
Other polls have shown a majority of Americans believe the tax cuts favor high-earners, contradicting Trump's promise to deliver for blue-collar workers and the middle class.
Administration officials say the tax cut will grow more popular as Trump sells it and as the large reduction in corporate rates leads to higher middle-class wages. Economists, including at the Federal Reserve, have more modest expectations, predicting a small short-term effect on economic growth.
Trump is unlikely to change many minds with a single speech. For all the attention paid to them, these prime-time addresses seldom move public opinion much. Supporters and detractors tend to seize on whatever reinforces their opinions. And Trump has had a particularly difficult time sticking to a message, often creating new controversies within days of a well-received speech _ like the one last February, which he followed with an explosive tweet alleging without evidence that Obama had tapped his phones.
Even as Trump speaks, members of Congress are debating the potential impacts of a memo alleging abuses by the Justice Department and FBI. It was created by the staff of Rep. Devin Nunes, the California Republican who leads the House intelligence committee. The memo is based on classified surveillance and already has further polarized the Russian investigation.
Some Republicans who have seen it say it shows bias in the FBI while Democrats familiar with it argue that the Republicans selectively used information to scuttle the Russia investigation. Republicans on Nunes' committee defied Justice Department objections and voted to release the memo Monday night in a party-line vote; Trump now has up to five days to weigh in but he is not expected to object to its release.
The issue underscores the increasingly tense and partisan climate now surrounding the investigation, as Trump and his allies have worked to cast doubt on law enforcement's ability to conduct an unbiased probe.
Trump all but ignored that backdrop in his meeting with network anchors on Tuesday, insisting he was on a path toward healing the nation's divide, which he argued has been brewing at least since President Bill Clinton's impeachment nearly 20 years ago.
"I would consider it a great achievement," he said. "if we could make our country united."
