From start to finish, President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address was marked by partisan tension that spilled out in the exchange between the leaders of both parties: Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
He refused to shake her hand after she introduced him. She tore his speech up and tossed it aside as soon as he was done.
Even before the president uttered the first word of his State of the Union address, the political and personal friction between the president and the House speaker, who has been leading his impeachment, was palpable.
Pelosi omitted the customary language about it being a “high privilege and distinct honor” to introduce the president. Trump then handed the traditional copies of his speech to Vice President Mike Pence and to Pelosi, but when she reached out to shake his hand, he turned his back on her.
The awkward exchange continued the drama from last year’s address when Pelosi clapped back at the president in a moment that went viral and Trump barely acknowledged her even though she introduced him and was seated behind him.
This year’s exchange marked the first time they’ve met since Pelosi stood up and walked out of an Oct. 16 meeting on Syria in the White House.
When Trump took the dais Tuesday, the Republican side of the House chamber erupted with chants of “Four more years,” an unusually partisan display during a State of the Union address.
Pelosi was clad in a white pantsuit again this year, as were a number of female lawmakers who sat in the gallery. A color that is a form of protest as well as a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the suffragette movement that gave women the right to vote.
The tension between the two rivals – and the two parties – lasted much of the night.
Most of the time, as GOP lawmakers stood up and lustily cheered the president’s words, Democrats sat quietly, shaking their heads.
Pelosi, sitting behind the president in her customary spot behind the dais, wryly smiled when Trump talked about protecting pre-existing medical conditions first guaranteed by President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which Republicans, including Trump, have tried to dismantle for years.
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