Dueling Applause — 1974 vs. 2018

Clapping While the Ship Sinks

When Richard Milhous Nixon gave his 1974 State of the Union address to the 93rd United States Congress, he could not have known his Presidency would last 191 more days.

As we look for corollaries between Nixon’s end, and whether or not we’re currently experiencing a similar moment in time, it’s hard to ignore how the GOP’s ceaseless support (against all odds!) for this current President has antecedents in Nixon’s party.

To visualize, I populated the left channel with Nixon’s 1974 State of the Union speech, from when he was announced by the Sergeant at Arms and welcomed into Congress, through his hasty, post-speech departure.

The only footage I kept of Nixon was when Congress clapped for him.

Trump’s State of the Union speech (in the right channel) on January 30th, 2018 was more robust; in length, applause, number of guests, and in the time it took to get to the podium.