While the State of the Union address is meant to showcase the presidential agenda, sometimes the moments that live on have little to do with policy. And according to BlazeTV host Liz Wheeler, some of the most memorable come from other politicians stealing the spotlight themselves.
“This one I place in the gold medal position here is Nancy Pelosi ripping up President Trump’s speech,” says Wheeler.
In a clip from Trump’s past State of the Union address, Pelosi stands behind Trump as he takes in the applause from the crowd, ripping up a copy of his address.
“This was not an impromptu action that Nancy Pelosi took. This was not something that she did in the heat of the moment. This was not an unscripted emotional outburst. This was something Nancy Pelosi deliberately planned to do, knowing that it would be broadcast in the background internationally,” Wheeler explains.
“This was her response to President Trump. Nothing of substance, no alternative vision, just ripping him up,” she says, pointing out that the Democrats aren’t the only party to have had a politician throw a tantrum at a State of the Union address.
“When Barack Obama was president and he was attempting to debunk a Republican talking about Obamacare … Representative Joe Wilson, in, I think … the first public heckling of a president during the State of the Union address, shouted from the floor of Congress ‘You lie!’ at Barack Obama in 2009,” Wheeler explains.
Wheeler points out that in the video of Obama being heckled by Wilson, Pelosi’s “jaw actually drops.”
“‘You lie’ wins our silver medal for top moments from past State of the Union addresses. And coming in third, the bronze medal, we have to give to Marco Rubio,” she says.
This bronze medal is in honor of Rubio’s “very first meme.”
“This was back in 2013, so over a decade ago, he gave the Republican rebuttal to President Obama,” Wheeler says.
In his rebuttal, Rubio is clearly thirsty and awkwardly bends down to take a swig from a tiny water bottle.
“And that, of course, that moment eclipsed anything else that the president said or didn’t say,” Wheeler adds.
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