Political Mayhem Thursday, State of the Union Edition

So if we can't even get a State of the Union address off the ground, it would seem that the state of our union is pretty messy. Here is the lay of the land right now according to the New York Times (which also provided the photo above):

-- The Constitution requires that a State of the Union message be given
-- From 1801-1913, it was written rather than delivered as a speech
-- Most presidents since then have delivered a speech before a joint session of Congress (Jimmy Carter was an exception in 1981; he delivered a written message)
-- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has refused to invite the President to the floor of the House to give the speech.
-- The President can't just show up and start talking (at least not with lights and amplification), since the facilities are literally controlled by the Speaker of the House.

My hunch is that President Trump will find a way to turn this into some new kind of political theater, so stay tuned!

And no, none of this is normal.