Hello and welcome to the Americano podcast, a series of discussions about American politics

and the Trump presidency for the New Spectator USA website.

I'm joined today as so often, and I'm so pleased that it's so often, by Jacob Harbrun,

who is the editor of the national interest and a frequent contributor, a columnist at Spectator USA.

And we're going to be looking ahead to the State of the Union address by President Donald Trump tonight

and asking what sort of

condition his presidency is in at this moment. Jacob, I think there's a latest poll has come out,

shows Trump on 48% again. And of course, the team Trump, if you like, are cheering this as a sign that he's still

the Teflon Don.

He still manages to keep his base and remain a strong candidate for 2020, despite all the

confusion and seemingly chaos going on around him.

What do you think?

Well, Freddie, I must say that initially

I had some trepidation when you said that I was a constant guest. I feared I might have worn out my

welcome, but it was good to hear your reassurance afterwards. But I didn't feel as much trepidation,

I suspect, as President Trump did today when he learned that the prosecutors

in the Southern District of New York are seeking to interview members of the Trump organization

and issuing subpoenas about the inauguration and the funding of the 2016 inauguration, including

attempting to seek to find out as far as possible whether Russian money was helping to pay

or is being funneled through the inauguration committee.

But again, there's no real indication of evidence here. There's just

the search for evidence, right? Correct. But it is important to remember that Watergate did

...