The Dems thought they had a game plan going in to the State of the Union. And the game plan was #resistance. Wear protest clothes, scowl through the whole thing, bring along members of designated victim groups, illegal aliens, transgender soldiers, and then go back to spinning Russia conspiracy theories.
It had worked until now. But then President Trump changed the game. And even though the game change had been signaled up front, the Dems went on with business as usual. They ignored the White House messaging about a positive, unifying and bipartisan speech.
They counted on Trump being predictable. And then suddenly he wasn't.
And so the country watched as Rep. Pelosi chewed imaginary sour lemons, as Senator Schumer hunched over like a gargoyle, as the Congressional Black Caucus refused to applaud lower African-American unemployment, as the Dems sat in their seats while President Trump praised veterans, the anthem, the flag and all the great traditions of this country.
It was a bad look.
It'll play well with the left, which is no doubt assembling "Pelosi has no time for X" memes, but it plays badly with Americans.
The Dems are betting on their 2018 wave. But the leaders of that wave once again came out looking terrible. After losing the shutdown, they lost the State of the Union. And that's a problem because they have to convince ordinary voters, especially independents, to hand control of Congress to them to balance out Trump.
But those voters were not seeing the people they would want to hand that control to.
Instead the Democrats scowled and booed through an optimistic vision of America. And then brought out a Kennedy to deliver a tearful rant about how broken this country is.
The Democrats had their big moment. And they used it to showcase an angry aging establishment whose big idea is foisting another Kennedy on the country.
And now the Democrats have to wonder which Trump will show up. National Moment Trump or American Carnage Trump. Their jobs just got a lot harder.