Donald Trump gave his first State of the Union address last night - and like everything involving the president, it got tongues wagging.
Characteristically, the 80-minute speech was “80% celebration of what he has done and 20% talking about what he would like to do”, says CNN.
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Democratic lawmakers, however, were caught looking markedly less enthused as Trump rattled off his laundry list of achievements:
More than a dozen Democrat lawmakers chose to skip the address, but Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, widely tipped as a potential presidential nominee in 2020, did attend - and she pulled no punches when it came to explaining why:
However, even Trump’s critics could hardly deny that he knows how to put on a show, with the president telling the stories of special guests including a North Korean defector and a police officer who adopted a baby from a heroin addict:
Those familiar with US political protocol (or Netflix) will know that every State of the Union address has a “designated survivor” - a cabinet member who spends the event in a safe location in case of an attack or accident which takes out the president and the immediate line of succession.
Last night, that task fell to Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Although the vast majority of Americans are unfamiliar with Perdue, Trump’s detractors took to him at once:
And some saw the plus-side of having a farmer at the head of the nation in the event of an apocalyptic catastrophe:
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