Joe Biden attacked Donald Trump

It seems To the fact that the two political sides in the United States no longer share any values.

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Then President Joe On Friday night, Norwegian time, Biden took the podium in the US Congress To give his speech about the state of the nationthe annual State of the Union, I was afraid the audience would fall asleep.

Yes, I was almost worried that Biden himself would fall asleep during his speech. It didn't happen. Biden was surprisingly energetic in a fierce, defiant, and fiery speech that had every Democrat in the room shouting in unison: “Four more years!” Four more years! Four more years!'

Biden and the public's reactions produced a new kind of State of the Union address, one that began with President Donald Trump: the political and polarizing State of the Nation address.

Speech of the nation Naturally, a situation always has partisan political elements. It was always members of the incumbent president's party who applauded the most. But this speech and its reception in Congress have reached a whole new level of polarization.

Had Biden's speech been delivered four years before Trump became president, it would have been condemned as partisan, hyperbolic, and unnecessarily aggressive, and dismissed as not a state-of-the-nation address at all, but a campaign speech. And that was it too – the campaign speech.

Republicans have done it To make a speech polarizing, because speech is essentially a collaboration between the speaker and the audience. In all speeches throughout history, both sides of the House have found moments of agreement as Republicans and Democrats stand together and applaud shared American values.

While Democrats stood and applauded roughly once every minute during Biden's speech, Republicans only stood twice: when the president entered, and when he mentioned civil rights activist John Lewis. For the rest of the speech, Republicans ostensibly sat on their hands, when they weren't looking distractedly at their cell phones.

It seems To the fact that the two political sides in the United States no longer share any values. In contrast to previous State of the Nation speeches, it has now almost become a norm for opponents in the room to interrupt, shout “lies” and the like, or shout “boo.”

When Biden spoke about immigration, Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene loudly shouted, “Say her name,” and urged Biden to say Laken Riley’s name. A 22-year-old nursing student was murdered by an illegal immigrant.

It was a clearly veiled accusation that she believed Biden's policies were responsible for the abuses. But Biden knew the accusation was coming and he grabbed a small metal plate engraved with Riley's name, held it up for all to see, said the name, apologized to the Riley family, and said he had a policy that could solve the problem.

Such aggressive dialogue It is a completely new style during the State of the Nation Address. Most State of the Nation addresses are the same every year, but they evolve over time. In some of the early years, the speech was not a speech at all, but a written summary.

Until the first half of the twentieth century, people had to read about the speech in newspapers, before it was broadcast on radio in 1923, in 1947 it was first broadcast on television, and in 1997 it was broadcast over the Internet. With these changes, the State of the Nation Address moved from addressing Congress to addressing citizens.

More than ever, this speech is the speech of the citizens rather than the speech of a unified Congress—and now it is not just for the people, it is also against the other side.