Trump has one of best weeks - apart from impeachment

Donald Trump kicked off Christmas vacation on Friday after a series of legislative victories gave him one of his best weeks in office — apart from becoming only the third US president ever impeached.

Surprisingly, for a capital paralyzed by Democratic-Republican gridlock and a presidency mired in scandal, a whole string of breakthroughs came through at once.

While Democrats and Republicans tussle over how his Senate impeachment trial will unfold, possibly in January, Trump is fighting to refocus voters’ minds on the brighter side of his presidency ahead of the 2020 election.

And as he packed his bags for a golf holiday through the New Year at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Congress handed him ammunition.

Trump signed a giant $1.4 trillion spending deal that the Senate passed on Thursday, ahead of a deadline to avoid leaving the federal government with empty coffers.

Also Thursday, the House of Representatives, where the Democratic majority had voted for impeachment a day earlier, finally approved a new US-Mexico-Canada free trade deal, known as USMCA.

That will go to the Republican-controlled Senate and on to Trump.

To top it all off, just before departing for Florida Trump signed a $738 billion defense spending bill that includes funding for the creation of one of his pet projects — a new branch of the military called Space Force.

“Amid grave threats to our national security, American superiority in space is absolutely vital, and we’re leading, but we’re not leading by enough, but very shortly we’ll be leading by a lot,” he said.

“The space force will help us deter aggression and control the ultimate high ground.”

Economic boom, election boost?

One more slice of seasonal cheer was delivered Friday with the White House accepting a formal invitation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of Trump’s leading Democratic foes, to deliver his annual State of the Union speech to Congress on February 4.

Impeachment and the still-to-come trial were not even mentioned.

Not bad for a president who some 48 hours ago was being pilloried by Democrats in the House for betraying his oath of office and impeached on two counts.

Republicans exasperated by Trump’s erratic foreign policy, bombastic style and habit of insulting people in public have long wished he would stick to touting the country’s roaring economy.

Unemployment is rock bottom, the stock market is hitting record highs and, usually, an incumbent president with a good economy gets a straightforward path to re-election.

The fact that despite these advantages Trump’s approval rating is stuck in the low 40 percent range and almost half the country backs impeachment shows his inherent weaknesses.

But Trump appears to be making more effort to stay on message since his impeachment.