Trump’s clapping draws amusement, derision on social media

President Donald Trump's repeated clapping throughout his first State of the Union drew reactions from amusement to derision on social media. Trump's applause during Tuesday night's address was audible over and over again as cameras cut away from the president and showed lawmakers and others offering varied levels of approval to his remarks.

Wages rise at 2.6 percent in 2017 despite Q4 slowdown

U.S. workers' wages and benefits grew 2.6 percent last year, the fastest 12-month pace since the spring of 2015. The 12-month gain in wages and benefits came despite a slight slowdown at the end of last year with wages and benefits rising 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter, a tiny dip from a 0.7 percent gain in the third quarter, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

Ginsburg voices judiciary partisan fears, skips Trump speech

One of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's great fears is that the federal judiciary will start to be seen as just another political branch of government divided along partisan lines like Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court justice said Tuesday. Ginsburg skipped President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address, instead speaking at Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island.

Other side pushes Democratic vision

In this July 26, 2017, file photo, Rep. Joe Kennedy , D-Mass., smiles on Capitol Hill in Washington. WASHINGTON -- Soaring stock prices under President Donald Trump have boosted investor portfolios and corporate profits but have not eased the economic anxieties of middle-class families, Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy III said Tuesday night in the Democratic response to Trump's State of the Union address.

State’s GOP delegation gives high marks to speech

President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address got rave reviews from members of the all-Republican Arkansas congressional delegation. The state's two U.S. senators and four U.S. representatives, who have praised Trump's first year in the White House, said Tuesday's speech struck the right tone.

These are the words Trump needed to say – but did not

President Donald Trump gave one of the longest State of the Union addresses in US history, and the teleprompter scrolled through themes and tropes that ring familiar to those who watch these speeches. We heard the touching stories of bravery and patriotism; we heard Trump boast of his successes - keeping the bragging to a more decorous level than his usual - and make some calls for national unity, not usually heard from the current White House.

The first couple reunites on the world stage

Melania Trump, whose appearances often generate public interest, strode into the Capitol Tuesday night with the public eager to read into whatever signals the President might exchange with his wife during the State of the Union speech. With the exception of her unorthodox decision to abandon her husband's vehicle for the ride from the White House to the Capitol building - and instead travel there in her own motorcade with her guests, arriving almost one hour before him - Melania Trump's interaction with the President was, essentially, State of the Union status quo.

Trump calls for optimism in spite of warnings of danger

Addressing a deeply divided nation, President Donald Trump summoned the country to a "new American moment" of unity in his first State of the Union, challenging Congress to make good on long-standing promises to fix a fractured immigration system and warning darkly of evil forces seeking to undermine America's way of life.

Swing voters: Trump speech on ‘plus side of mediocre’

WASHINGTON President Trump's first State of the Union address did little to change the hearts and minds of a group of swing voters who liked his call for more vocational education and paid family leave but rated the speech overall as not terribly convincing. President Donald Trump delivers his first State of the Union address in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol to a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018 in Washington.