Nancy Pelosi rips apart Donald Trump’s address to polarize Congress

New York: The enmity between the Democrats and Republicans boiled over in Congress as Speaker Nancy Pelosi in an unprecedented show of hostility ripped up the copy of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address dramatically and threw it on the desk as soon as he ended his ceremonial speech.

Under the cloud of impeachment, Trump delivered to the joint session of Congress in Washington on Tuesday the drama-packed speech that sounded like a prelude to his campaign for re-election and stirred the antagonism of the Democrats.

Pelosi later told reporters she tore up Trump’s speech “because it was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives.”

The two of them have not spoken since October and Trump have been sending out a stream of insults against her on twitter and in speeches, calling her among things, “Crazy Nancy”. Pelosi ordered the impeachment proceedings against Trump tarnishing him, although he is certain to be acquitted of the charges on Wednesday by the Senate.

Trump show-cased the nation’s economic advances and the trade efforts in the three years of his administration and avoided any mention of the impeachment.

Democrat Bill Clinton, who is one of the other two presidents to be impeached, delivered the State of the Union Address while the proceedings were on.

Trump created drama like in a TV talk show with an eye on the electorate by having a soldier serving in Afghanistan come to the gallery and reunite with his wife children when he paid tributes to her and other members of military families who are separated from their loved ones abroad.

In the middle of his speech he had his wife, Melania, present the Medal of Freedom to right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who is suffering from advanced lung cancer.

While his speech was focused on his achievements as he prepared to face the electorate, he launched attacks on “socialist” members of the Democratic Party, who he said wanted to nationalize health care, depriving people of private insurance. He also attacked policies of what is called “sanctuary cities” like New York where he said local Democratic administrations protected criminal immigrants and cited the case of an immigrant who sexually attacked and killed a 92-year-old woman, even though he had earlier been arrested for assault and let off. But he said that he was for legal immigration and reiterated his proposal for merit-based immigration that could benefit tens of thousands of Indians waiting for decades to get permanent immigrant status. (IANS)

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