US president Donald Trump showed his dislike towards House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as he snubbed her handshake after giving her a copy of his written speech during the State of the Union address to congress at Capitol Hill on Tuesday night .
Trump, still unhappy at Pelosi’s orchestrated impeachment effort towards him, turned away as the Speaker took her copy of his speech, then stood in front of a chamber with echoes of ‘four more years’ from Republicans – while Democrats sat stone-faced.
Pelosi, angered by Trump’s snub, did not give Trump the typical introduction a speaker gives the president.
Traditionally, speakers introduce the president this way: ‘Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States’.
But Pelosi simply said: ‘Members of Congress, the president of the United States.’
On Wednesday Trump is expected to be acquitted by the Republican majority senate over abuse of power and obstruction of congress charges leveled by the House of Reps against him.
The US State of the Union for 2020 took a different turn as Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi was spotted on camera ripping up a printed copy of President Donald Trump’s address.
This came after the US President stood before the lawmakers to give an account of the progress his administration has made since he got elected.
In the opening lines of his address, President Donald Trump said he was coming to the house with incredible results as “jobs are booming, incomes are soaring, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling, confidence is surging, and our country is thriving and highly respected again! America’s enemies are on the run, America’s fortunes are on the rise, and America’s future is blazing bright.”
However while lawmakers applauded after he concluded his speech, the House’s Speaker Nancy Pelosi took a printed copy of Trump’s speech and tore it in half. She placed the shredded copy in a stack on the dais as Trump made his way to greet members of Congress.
When asked by reporters why she tore the speech, she said;
“It was the courteous thing to do given the alternative.”