As Donald Trump spoke last night, we have to admit we were drawn to other areas of the TV, namely Nancy Pelosi’s face. Her expressions and body language were like a screen within a screen, two shows at once. And the Speaker’s performance was often far more entertaining, without saying a word.
For as long as we’ve watched State of the Union addresses, the Vice President and Speaker mostly sit like statues behind the president, rising to applaud at the appropriate moments. And while Mike Pence kept his face mostly frozen for more than an hour, Pelosi was reading along with Donald Trump, searching the crowd for reaction and even showing disgust, especially when Trump said the only thing that could slow down the American economy was “foolish wars, politics, or ridiculous partisan investigations.”
But the line that captured the evening was when Trump spoke of cooperation for the common good. Pelosi rose and pointedly aimed her applause at the president as if to say, “that’s up to you!”
Check out this piece from Vogue. They’ve compiled the best internet reaction to “the clap.”
The other surprising moment was when Trump spoke of women and new jobs. “No one has benefitted more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58% of the new jobs created in the last year,” Trump said. To which all the newly-elected women in Congress stood up and cheered. Priceless.
As for the speech itself, Dan Rather writes:
“No surprises. No real changes. Vintage Trump. Doubled down on “The Wall,” in effect threatened Congress if it wants legislation, it must do less investigation (of him.) Did a good bit of fear-mongering (mostly about immigrants), and used a lot of the language of division while mixing in, from time to time, some talk of unity.
The whole thing had the feel and tone, as much as anything, of a “Campaign for Re-Election” speech. More informative about “The State of Trump” than “The State of the Union.”
News, analysis and opinion by News and Guts
