At points during President Trump’s State of the Union, he tried to spread a message of unity. But from inside the House chamber, it was apparent that there is lots of division. Many female Democratic House members wore black to honor victims of sexual misconduct, while members of the Congressional Black Caucus wore Kente cloths to protest Trump’s reported reference to African nations as “s—hole” countries. Even more wore butterfly buttons to support Dreamers, reports Variety. Many Democrats boycotted the speech, while others demonstrated their discontent in the chamber by not going near Trump when he entered the chamber.
Trump made many comments about his accomplishments during his first year in office, but also emphasized American exceptionalism, and made pointed comments about immigration and national security. Though Trump pitched the speech as unifying, he made multiple polarizing points. At one point he talked about the need for “one American family” but then spent many minutes of his speech bringing up one of the themes of his presidential campaign, crime committed by illegal immigrants. He touted his biggest accomplishment this year, the tax bill. And he brought up the national anthem protests, saying, “We proudly stand for our national anthem.”
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