‘Donald Trump was in defiant mood at last night’s State of the Union Address in Washington, D.C., confident that he will be acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial today. While there is a great amount of talk that the United States is racked with partisan strife, when it comes to foreign policy, the parties are in near lockstep agreement. A case in point was the cheers from the audience as Trump announced that “we are once again standing up for freedom in our hemisphere” by “supporting the hopes of Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.”
“The United States is leading a 59 nation diplomatic coalition against the socialist dictator of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro. Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, a tyrant who brutalizes his people. But Maduro’s grip on tyranny will be smashed and broken,” Trump declared. He then turned to the gallery to announce that he had invited a “very brave man who carries with him the hopes dreams and aspirations of all Venezuelans” to be there, “The true and legitimate president of Venezuela Juan Guaidó.” Perhaps the loudest applause of the night was reserved for Guaidó, as Democrats and Republicans rose as one to salute the self-declared president. Leading the clapping was Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives and liberal icon Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi was more enthusiastic even than Vice-President Mike Pence, beating him out of her seat to give Guaidó a standing ovation.
While showing very little disagreement with the president’s proclamations, she was still lauded in liberal circles for tearing up Trump’s speech at the end of the event, long after the president had refused to shake her hand. Immediately “Nancy the Ripper” became the trend of the night on social media, as messages of support flooded in for the supposedly brave action that spoke truth to power. On the other hand, conservatives were outraged at the gesture. “It was disgraceful. It was disgusting. I was sitting 50 feet away for her and it made me angry because what she showed and what congressional Democrats showed was contempt for America; that they won’t root for the American people and they won’t show even the barest modicum of respect for the American president,” roared Texas Senator Ted Cruz on Fox News.’
Read more: SOTU: Democratic “Resistance” Give Trump’s Venezuela Aggression a Standing Ovation
