Donald Trump clapped his way through his own speech

Donald Trump applauds - Copyright Reuters

Published on 31/01/2018 - 13:06

President showed himself appreciation as Democrats expressed their distaste.

Donald Trump's first State of the Union speech was longer than that of any of his recent predecessors.

However, he didn't actually deliver more words. In fact, the text of his speech was shorter than the debuts of Barack Obama in 2010, Bill Clinton in 1994 and Ronald Reagan in 1982.

What did take up some time was the president's habit of applauding himself. The Republicans in Congress generally followed suit. Democrats however largely maintained a stoney silence or even booed - those that turned up at least because a number of representatives boycotted the speech.

Comments