Last night, the country witnessed a spectical put on by an evil man. I live-drew it and went live for the first 40 minutes. That playback is above.
He droned, told long boring stories, snapped, attacked Dems, used innocent people in his performance.
“The president puts on a show and casts democrats as the villan.” -NY Times headline.
At times he really did look maniacal, squinting for extended moments with either a scowl or a smirk, tilting his head back in attempt to show bravado, toughness, kindness, or anger. He clearly was using his face more than I’ve ever seen before. It is hard to draw them all.
He waved at the gallery for a few minutes before climbing to the podium in front of Vance and Johnson.
Rep Al Green held a sign that was a response to Trump having shared a racist, horrible AI video a few weeks ago of the Obamas depicted as apes. Green left not too much later.
Below is an exaggerated sketch, trying to capture how much he tilts when he delivers speeches.
Sen Schumer had a grimace as he was slouched in his chair. Some Democrats held their heads in their hands as if to show a deep weariness and sadness.
There were at times shouts from the Democrat side of the room. Rep Omar reatedly shouted at him as Trump said:
“Stand if you believe we should be a country focused on Americans and not illegal immigrants.”
After this line from him, there was a standing ovation for what seemed like more than five minutes. Undoubtedly, this was planned by Trump and the GOP in an effort to get a visual and embarrass Dems.
He tried this a few times, a tactic I’m sure was planned in advance. He called them sick, crazy.
It didn’t work.
A lawmaker with this pin showed on the screen for a second. I did not catch who he was.
Melanie was there, of course. She wore pants- can you believe that is even something to remark on in 2026?
And all the Trump kids were there, lined up in a neat row. Really didn’t want to draw them, so didn’t.
Trump gave out medals to several war heroes. He had guests there whose loved ones were killed in violent incidents, and he seemed to relish telling the stories - in gruesome detail-of how they died. Several times, in fact. It was notable, I felt for the families.
Finally, a crowning moment of deranged male bravado. Trump had the US Olympic men’s hockey team as guests and spent five mins lauding their goalie, and announced he was going to give the Presidential Medal of Freedom to this athlete. The women’s team ( who also won gold) was not there, they declined his invitation. The day before he had phoned the men’s team, invited them and made a joke at the women’s team expense- which all the male athletes listening laughed at.
When he was finished, the chamber emptied quickly. It was the longest SOTU speech ever recorded. Those who remained to pat his back and shake his hand, get their tie signed (yes I saw that) were white men. Trump has set up a sinister male cabal, which fits in perfectly with what Epstein did.
My main takeaway was that this was a performance of a desperate man. The Epstein Files are getting closer and closer to him, and his actions as president are making his approval ratings with all Americans the worst of any in modern memory.
Thanks for being here, I value your company as we cope with this nightmare.
Thank you Reda Rountree (she/her), Michael Maslin's Ink Spill, Heather Hay Charron 🇨🇦, Ken Firestone, Edward mead, and many others for tuning into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.
