Tuesday was a miserable night for congressional Democrats. Most looked as if they would rather be anywhere other than in the House chamber, listening to the State of the Union.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi thumbed frantically through her copy of President Trump’s speech, as if that would hurry him along. Presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris pursed her lips and shook her head as Mr. Trump declared his commitment to “putting the ruthless coyotes, cartels, drug dealers and human traffickers out of business.”