from ZeroHedge:

With Democrats on the back-foot following the twin catastrophes of the Iowa Caucus and their unsuccessful push to call John Bolton as a witness in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, which is expected to end Wednesday with a resounding acquittal and Trump’s approval rating at record highs.

With stocks near record highs and all of Trump’s geopolitical rivals on the back foot, this will be the first SOTU for Trump that won’t be overshadowed by government shutdown-related shenanigans or the Russia collusion narrative.

It’s also important because it’s the last SOTU of Trump’s first term. Trump never really stopped campaigning, though he officially launched the 2020 campaign with a major speech in Florida last year. With a second term hanging in the balance, expect Trump to luxuriate in his rivals’ many mistakes and unforced errors.

Tuesday night’s speech is only Trump’s third state of the union, since the big speech he delivered after inauguration day back in 2017 wasn’t technically a state of the union.

The address starts at 9 pm ET. Readers can watch it live below:

Since the gist of the speech is typically leaked to the press before Trump starts speaking, online betting markets are focused on the length of Trump’s speech, as well as the number of times he’ll say certain words, like “China” or “Democrat”.

Here’s a roundup of SOTU-related Over/Unders, courtesy of Sports Betting Dime.

A few years ago, researchers at the Constitution Center put together this ‘State of the Union’ bingo board the reflects topics reliably mentioned by both Republican and Democratic candidates.

While Democrats like to complain about President Trump’s frequent errors of grammar and spelling, the grade-reading level of the (typically) annual address has declined in recent decades, a trend that started long before President Trump rode that Trump Tower escalator to glory.

Read More @ ZeroHedge.com