Forget About Impeachment, Trump has one of best weeks as he leaves on Christmas vacation

Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump leaves on Christmas vacation Friday after a series of legislative victories gave him one of his best weeks in office -- apart from becoming only the third US president ever impeached.

Surprisingly, for a capital paralyzed by Democratic-Republican gridlock and a presidency mired in scandal, a whole string of major breakthroughs came through at once.

While Democrats and Republicans tussle over how his Senate impeachment trial will unfold, possibly in January, he is fighting to refocus voters' minds on the brighter side of his presidency ahead of the 2020 election.

And as he packed his bags for a golf holiday through the New Year at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Congress handed him ammunition.

The Senate passed a giant $1.4 trillion government spending deal on Thursday, with Trump expected to add his signature on Friday -- hours before the deadline to avoid leaving the federal government with empty coffers.

Also Thursday, the House of Representatives, where the Democratic majority had voted for impeachment a day earlier, finally approved a new US-Mexico-Canada free trade deal, known as USMCA.

That will go to the Republican-controlled Senate and on to Trump.

To top it all, Trump is scheduled Friday to sign a $738 billion defense spending bill that includes funding for creation of one of his pet projects -- a new branch of the military called Space Force.

- Economic boom, election boost? -

One more slice of seasonal cheer was delivered Friday with the White House accepting a formal invitation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of Trump's leading Democratic foes, to deliver his annual State of the Union speech to Congress on February 4.

Impeachment and the still-to-come trial were not even mentioned.

Not bad for a president who some 48 hours ago was being pilloried by Democrats in the House for betraying his oath of office and impeached on two counts.

Republicans exasperated by Trump's erratic foreign policy, bombastic style and habit of insulting people in public have long wished he'd stick to touting the country's roaring economy.

Unemployment is rock bottom, the stock market is hitting record highs and, usually, an incumbent president with a good economy gets a straightforward path to reelection. Read More