House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up her copy of Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday, in a pointed political gesture after listening tight-lipped to the president tout his achievements to Congress.
The tension between Trump and his Democratic nemesis was palpable from the outset, as Pelosi extended her hand for a handshake–and the president failed to return the favor.
Seated in silence behind the president in the House of Representatives, Pelosi frowned, repeatedly shook her head and smiled disbelievingly until he finished speaking and Republicans erupted in applause–at which point she rose and very visibly tore up the papers in front of her.
Asked afterward by a reporter to give a reason for her gesture, Pelosi replied: “Because it was the courteous thing to do, considering the alternatives.”
And in a follow-up tweet, the 79-year-old Pelosi said Democrats would “never stop extending the hand of friendship to get the job done.”
Trump was impeached by the Democratic-controlled House six weeks ago, and the flashpoint with Pelosi comes one day before the US Senate is all but certain to vote to acquit him on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice.
During the impeachment crisis, Trump, 73, has repeatedly assailed the speaker for her impeachment “hoax,” branding her “nervous Nancy” and “crazy Nancy” on Twitter.
READ: Trump’s impeachment trial hangs
Pelosi’s gesture capped a night where the country’s bitter political divide was on full display, as Trump’s address earned a triumphant reception from the Republican half of Congress–but sullen silence, boos and jeers from the Democrats present.
Chuck Schumer, the senior Democrat in the Senate, said that the speech was “more like a Trump rally than a speech a true leader would give.”
“It was demagogic, undignified, highly partisan and in too many places, untruthful,” he said.
The White House was quick to hit back at Pelosi, saying she had insulted the Americans honored in Trump’s speech, from a veteran airman to a premature baby or a mourning military family.
“That’s her legacy,” it said.
As this developed, Democratic White House candidate Pete Buttigieg seized a shock lead in the chaotic Iowa caucuses, closely trailed by leftist senator Bernie Sanders, according to partial returns released
on Tuesday after an embarrassing delay in reporting the results.
Progressive standard-bearer Elizabeth Warren was in third place followed by Joe Biden, a disappointing showing for the former vice president who has claimed he is best positioned to defeat Donald Trump in November.
Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has been battling Biden for the moderate wing of the party, hailed what he called an “astonishing victory” in the midwestern farm-state which kicks off the presidential nominating process.
“I have never been more confident in our campaign, in our team, and in the vision that brought to us this point,” Buttigieg told ecstatic supporters in New Hampshire, which holds the next nominating contest on Feb. 11.
With polls still mixed on whether Americans would be comfortable with an openly gay president, Buttigieg also made a rare, though implicit, reference to his sexuality–and the added significance it gave the Iowa outcome.
“It validates for a kid, somewhere in a community, wondering if he belongs, or she belongs, or they belong in their own family, that if you believe in yourself and your country there’s a lot backing up that belief,” he said with a catch in his voice.
According to the partial results, Buttigieg, unknown nationally a year ago, leads with 26.8 percent followed by Sanders, the 78-year-old self-described democratic socialist, with 25.2 percent, followed by Senator Warren with 18.4 percent, and Biden with 15.4 percent.
The centrist senator from Minnesota Amy Klobuchar was in fifth place on 12.6 percent, with 71 percent of the precincts reporting.
The results were posted some 21 hours after Iowans gathered across the state to hold the first vote of the presidential nominating season.
