I Was within the Room at Trump’s SOTU. This is What It Was Like.

Within the Home, the chamber is evenly divided between the Republican aspect and the Democratic aspect. However you would not comprehend it from Tuesday evening’s speech.

There have been noticeably fewer Democrats readily available, with a number of seats showing to be empty on their aspect of the aisle. A number of Republicans, apparently benefiting from the open house, even sat on the Democratic aspect.

Lots of the Democratic girls who did attend might be seen carrying white, a colour related to the suffragette motion.

Forward of the speech, Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries inspired Democrats to both boycott the speech or sit in silent protest, an obvious effort to keep away from the disruptions that marked final yr’s speech.

Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont was amongst dozens of Democrats who opted to attend the “Folks’s State of the Union” — a rally sponsored by the liberal teams MeidasTouch and MoveOn that was held on the Nationwide Mall — as a substitute of the speech.

“I need to be surrounded by optimistic people who find themselves actually interested by convey this nation collectively,” Balint informed me. “I can not normalize this anymore. I simply can’t.”

One Democrat who selected to attend, Rep. Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico, informed me earlier than the speech that he believes it is “essential for me to be there to see what the president has to say.”

“Folks can select to do what they need, however I really feel prefer it’s a part of my job to point out up,” Vasquez mentioned.