On Feb. 7, President Joe Biden addressed the nation with the annual State of the Union speech. Biden touched on many hot-button issues dividing the country right now, including price inflation, police violence, and government-funded benefits for senior citizens.
Not only were there many obvious and vivid reactions from members of the crowd, including other politicians and special invitees, but there were also myriad responses on social media. In just the last 24 hours, the terms “State of the Union” and its abbreviation, “SOTU,” were mentioned over 1.27 million times in media. While many other nations around the world had tuned in or joined the discussion, 570.2K of those mentions came from the United States.
Sentiment was proportionally similar both globally and nationally, as 67% of mentions worldwide were negatively coded and 66% of U.S. mentions were negative. Perhaps it’s more shocking that one-third of all mentions were positive, as many people use online platforms to attack opposing viewpoints regardless of if they agree with the speech’s content.
Twitter was where the bulk of the content volume came from, but traditional news sources’ online vehicles also provided lots of traffic, with NBC News, the BBC, CNN, and USA Today’s websites among the top contributors.
Beyond policies, political drama made a lot of headlines. Divisive Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene engaged in her usual antics, not only heckling Biden with other audience members but also bringing a white balloon with her to parody the Chinese spy balloon event earlier this week.
Marjorie Taylor Greene bringing a big white balloon to the State of the Union is the perfect symbol of the Republican Party on the eve of its demise.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) February 8, 2023
It’s all white, full of air, hollow, childish, handled by an ignorant demagogue, and slowly deflating until there’s nothing left.
Additionally, recently elected Republican representative George Santos, who has been the subject of several investigations surrounding his credentials and allegedly lying about various parts of his resume and personal biography, received a frosty welcome. Biden appeared to snub him as the president entered and greeted many other representatives, and Mitt Romney called Santos a “sick puppy” and said he “shouldn’t be there.”
Some political issues that arose in Biden’s address included taxation, police violence, and Medicare and Social Security for seniors. One thing Biden argued for an increased tax on billionaires.
No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a school teacher or a firefighter. #SOTU
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) February 8, 2023
Biden also hosted the family of Tyre Nichols at the address. Nichols was killed by a group of elite police officers in Memphis several weeks ago, and the video of the beating was recently released to the public. Biden spoke out about how white families never need to have “the talk” with their children that Black and brown families do, about how to act around police and the extra danger many minority groups face.
I’ve never heard a @POTUS reference “the talk” in a #SOTU. My son texted me from his room “I hope @JoeBiden talking about that makes us safer.” The real estate in a SOTU is prime. That he took a moment to acknowledge the fears of black parents & their children is breathtaking. pic.twitter.com/XUb1xB42QU
— colmon (@colmonelridge) February 8, 2023
A last major point from the night was benefits for America’s seniors, including Medicare and Social Security. Amidst Republican attempts to cut these benefits, Biden reaffirmed his commitment to the elderly and even used the platform to get his opponents to agree to this sentiment.
Among his supporters, this moment was triumphed as a masterstroke of politicking and a highlight of the night. People began using the moniker “Dark Brandon” to refer to Biden’s effective speech-making. This phrase was mentioned 23.9K times in the last 24 hours with a major surge around 10 p.m. Eastern time, shortly after this topic was addressed.
https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/1623150933633822721?s=20&t=dVAIFIX1eBf1O5C5vTWCwQ
Yet among his opponents, including many of the Republicans who feature among the most-shared Tweets of the night, it was just another example of “lying,” as Marjorie Taylor Greene called out throughout the address. However, fact-checkers were also busy online throughout the night and did indeed find several Republican representatives arguing for the very thing they said they never did and never would .
GOP Senator Mike Lee sits in disbelief that Biden claims GOP wants to cut social security & Medicare.
— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) February 8, 2023
Here is (checks notes) Sen Mike Lee saying that's EXACTLY what GOP wants.
"phase out Social Security, pull it up from the roots, get rid of it."#SOTUpic.twitter.com/8J7E0SZ8FC
Overall, like many political addresses and events, the State of the Union address was fraught with drama and discord. The two sides couldn’t even agree on whether this strife was appropriate or not, with Tweets arguing it was both close to what the Founding Fathers intended government to be, as well as wholly inappropriate and childish to engage in debate and audience discussion.
You can watch the entire State of the Union address here.
Author: Kayleigh Jackson
