House Speaker Paul Ryan (R) spoke for a lot of Republicans by essentially not reacting during President Obama's final State of the Union Address on Tuesday. "He didn't even applaud for the troops — that's like booing apple pie," marveled Stephen Colbert on Wednesday's Late Show. Obama did say that he regretted that partisanship got worse during his term, not better — something he suggested Lincoln or Roosevelt might have fixed, "but the president did try to rally the American people to come together and face what many see as an existential threat to our nation: Donald Trump."
Obama didn't call out Trump by name, but parts of his speech were clearly aimed at the Republican frontrunner. And "the president wasn't the only one calling for America to build a wall around Donald Trump," Colbert said. "So was the Republicans' designated response speaker," Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina. "Last night, Donald Trump did something Obama could not: He brought the country together," Colbert concluded. "That means he is as great as Lincoln, he is as great as FDR, and I'm sure Donald Trump would agree." Watch below. Peter Weber
The Week
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