Sore Winner

   The president celebrated his victory over an impeachment attempt with an hour-long rambling diatribe against his critics, live on nationwide television, heavy on insults and sprinkled with an obscenity.
   He entered the East Room of the White House to a recording of "Hail to the chief, who in triumph advances," preceded by four Ruffles and Flourishes, a musical salute usually reserved for formal occasions.
   Whether this was an occasion important enough to justify the use of the musical salute usually reserved for the formal entrance of the chief of state, or that it was a bid by Team Trump to salve his bruised ego is another question.
   Listeners were reminded of the chant of "Four more years" when he entered the House of Representatives for his State of the Union speech, as well as the chant of "Hail Trump" used by some of his white nationalist supporters during another rally in November 2016, soon after his election.
   Earlier, he attacked his opponents during a speech to the yearly Prayer Breakfast sponsored by religious organizations. This brought criticism from many observers that the remarks were inappropriate, and that he should have focused instead on the need to accept difficulties, learn from them and move on.
   Also this morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called his State of the Union speech "beneath the dignity of the White House and an insult" to the House of Representatives to use the venue for a campaign rally speech.
   At the beginning of the session, the president refused to greet Pelosi with a handshake as he handed her a copy of his speech. And at the end of the speech, Pelosi tore up her copy.
   When questioned about that, she called the speech "a manifest of mistruths." She listed some of them, especially his claim that he inherited an economy that was "a mess." Rather, she pointed out that the recovery from the Great Recession had begun during his predecessor's term, and that "he inherited a momentum," which is continuing.
   And during his celebratory speech in the East Room of the White House, rather than offer some hope for a better relationship with Congress, he offered instead "an apology to my family for having to go through a phony and rotten deal by some very sick people."
   The East Room was packed with supporters of the president, and media representatives were restricted to the back of the room.