Donald Trump to call for unity in State of the Union address

US president Donald Trump will call for optimism and unity in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, using the moment to attempt a reset after two years of bitter partisanship and deeply personal attacks.

Scepticism is expected to emanate from both sides of the aisle when Mr Trump enters the House chamber for the prime-time address to politicians and the nation.

Democrats, emboldened after the midterm elections and the recent shutdown fight, see little evidence of a president willing to compromise.

And even the president’s staunchest allies know that bipartisan rhetoric read off a teleprompter is usually undermined by scorching tweets and unpredictable policy manoeuvres.

Still, the fact that Mr Trump’s advisers feel a need to try a different approach is a tacit acknowledgement that the president’s standing is weakened as he begins his third year in office.

The shutdown left some Republicans frustrated over his insistence on a border wall, something they warned him the new Democratic House majority would not bend on.

Mr Trump’s approval rating during the shutdown dipped to 34%, down from 42% a month earlier, according to a recent survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said the president would use his address “to call for an end to the politics of resistance, retribution”.

“He’s calling for cooperation,” she said, adding that Mr Trump will point to examples of where this has happened on his watch.

Officials said the president is also expected to highlight infrastructure, trade and prescription drug pricing as areas in which the parties could work together.

But Washington’s most recent debate offered few signs of cooperation between Mr Trump and Democrats.

Under pressure from conservative backers, Mr Trump refused to sign a government funding bill that did not include money for his long-sought border wall. He ultimately agreed to reopen the government for three weeks to allow negotiations on border security to continue.

With the new February 15 funding deadline looming, Mr Trump is expected to use his address to outline his demands, which still include funding for a wall along the US-Mexico border.

He has teased the possibility of declaring a national emergency to secure wall funding if Congress does not act, though it appeared unlikely on Tuesday night that he would take that step.

Advisers have also been reviewing options to secure some funding without making such a declaration.

The president’s address marks the first time he is speaking before a Congress that is not fully under Republican control.

In the audience will be several Democrats running to challenge Trump in 2020, including Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

Another Democratic star, Stacey Abrams, will deliver the party’s response to Mr Trump.

While White House officials cautioned that Mr Trump’s remarks were still being finalised, the president was expected to use some of his televised address to showcase a growing economy.

Despite the shutdown, the US economy added a robust 304,000 jobs in January, marking 100 straight months of job growth, the longest such period on record.

Mr Trump and his top aides have also hinted that he is likely to use the address to announce a major milestone in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria. Despite the objections of some advisers, Mr Trump announced in December that he was withdrawing US forces in Syria.

Administration officials say the White House has also been weighing several “moonshot” goals for the State of the Union address. One that is expected to be announced is a new initiative aimed at ending transmissions of HIV by 2030.

Mr Trump’s guests for the speech include Anna Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old woman whose life sentence for drug offences was commuted by the president, and Joshua Trump, a sixth-grade student from Wilmington, Delaware, who was allegedly bullied because of his last name. They will sit with first lady Melania Trump during the address.