Donald Trump has just made his first State of the Union address – an annual televised speech to a joint session of Congress – but viewers were distracted by the fact that he kept loudly slow clapping directly into his microphone.
Trump applauding himself is just … perfect. #SOTU pic.twitter.com/m3s71IZdXP
— Paul Kidd (@paulkidd) January 31, 2018
He clapped pretty consistently throughout the speech, like when he introduced Preston Sharp, the 12-year-old who took it upon himself to put US flags on soldiers’ graves on Veterans’ Day.
President Trump: “Preston’s reverence for those who have served our nation reminds us why we salute our flag, why we put our hands on our hearts for the pledge of allegiance, and why we proudly stand for the national anthem.” https://t.co/S5WRbdypkH #sotu #sotu18 pic.twitter.com/sFfhGPVJV3
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 31, 2018
He even did it at the end of the address, which did look a little as though he was clapping himself.
Had to walk away from the SOTU broadcast, not because of the speech itself, but because of Trump’s clapping himself
— Tracey Zullman (@zulloverfolks) January 31, 2018
Despite his experience working in television, Trump regularly clapped inches from a hot mic, and it seemed to really annoy people.
Trump clapping directly into the mic pic.twitter.com/GWPbSJPT2R
— Kayla (@SheetsKayla) January 31, 2018
This was the most tweeted about State of the Union address ever, garnering about 4.5 million tweets, and several of those were mocking his slow claps.
Ima need Trump to not clap directly in the Mic… #kthank #SOTU pic.twitter.com/NpBFtWFGCP
— •°Kevin°• (@Aim4Kev) January 31, 2018
He did it so often, someone suggested turning the whole thing into a lethal drinking game.
New drinking game: take a drink every time there’s a standing ovation & take a shot every time Trump claps into the mic #SOTU
— Kayla A. Landsberger (@kalandsberger) January 31, 2018
And some viewers complained that it was making the mammoth speech a little painful to sit through.
@POTUS please turn away from the mic a little more while clapping i just cant handle it anymore #StateOfTheUnion
— Alisa Boyle (@ABoyyy12) January 31, 2018
It’s actually hurting my ears the way Donald Trump is clapping for himself.
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) January 31, 2018
Alright…. audio guy needs to mute the mic when @POTUS claps. #SOTU
— WBTV Ben Williamson (@benlwilliamson) January 31, 2018
And he wasn’t the only one clapping – the Republicans were up and down in their seats giving standing ovations throughout the 80-minute speech .
The Democrats sat in relative silence, save for some audible groans after the president mentioned ending “chain migration”, and even laughing when he called his immigration plans a “down-the-middle compromise”.
Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, raised her hands to hush her party’s representatives when he spoke about immigration.
