The Daily Beast's Margaret Carlson told MSNBC on Wednesday that President Donald Trump's demand that he be allowed to deliver the State of the Union from the House floor despite the objection of Nancy Pelosi reflects the president's voracious ego and his inability to handle defeat.
Andrea Mitchell pointed out that it was simply "tradition" that the State of the Union is delivered to a joint session of Congress, and that Pelosi -who controls that House- was not mandated by the Constitution to yield her chamber to the executive.
"The fact is that we can understand, politically, the Speaker wanting to deny him the platform," said Mitchell. "He wants the stage because he knows he can dominate."
"He now wants that speech in that House as much as he wants to win the showdown," replied Carlson, describing the standoff as "a preliminary bout."
"He has to win it, because Trump has to be seen as a winner in his own mind or it's debilitating for him," she said, adding that she expected the president to win despite the shutdown. "That letter was spell-checked with all those exclamation points because he's dead serious."
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