House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) snubbed President Trump at the start of the State of the Union (SOTU) address by giving him a shortened introduction, reflecting a cold sentiment she carried all the way to the conclusion of the speech, which she promptly ripped up.
The speaker immediately snubbed the president prior to the start of his State of the Union speech, forgoing the traditional introduction, “Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States.” She offered a shortened version, instead.
“Members of Congress, the President of the United States,” Pelosi said:
Even the New York Times observed the significance of Pelosi’s omission:
Then Ms. Pelosi dealt Mr. Trump a slight of her own by omitting the customary laudatory words in her introduction of the president. Normally, she would have said, “I have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the president of the United States.” Instead, she said simply, “Members of Congress, the president of the United States.”
Pelosi carried the cold sentiment to the end of the SOTU, ripping up her copy of the president’s speech as he wrapped up the address:
She later defended her action as “the courteous thing to do, considering the alternative”: