As the president enumerated achievements and outlined plans, he also talked about capturing the terrorist responsible for the 13 soldiers killed during the Afghanistan withdrawal; made 13-year-old DJ Daniel, a brain cancer survivor, an honorary Secret Service agent; and gave high school student Jason Hartley the news that he was going to be headed to the US Military Academy at West Point. No matter what Trump said, no matter how touching or inspiring the story, the Democrats sat in stony silence, their expressions reminiscent of toddlers denied a second serving of dessert.

Trump could cure cancer and Democrats would complain about the unemployment rate for oncologists.

President Trump, ever the optimist, suggested that even if he discovered a cure for a “devastating disease,” the Democrats would remain unmoved. “This is my fifth such speech to Congress, and once again, I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud,” he mused.

Dems dabble in doodles: Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib turns Trump’s speech Into a live-action fact check.

Not content with mere silence, some Democrats elevated their dissent to performance art. They brandished signs emblazoned with “False” and “Lie,” their way of disagreeing with the President’s statements. Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan took it a step further, wielding a tiny whiteboard to scribble real-time rebuttals. When they weren’t busy acting like children, they were on their cell phones most of the evening.

When the President warned that opposing his tax cuts could lead to electoral doom, Tlaib retorted by writing “Start by paying your taxes.” It’s heartening to see that while bipartisanship is dead, the spirit of middle school debate lives on.

When grandstanding goes off the rails.

The evening’s entertainment wasn’t confined to the president’s speech. Representative Al Green of Texas decided that decorum was overrated, interrupting the address with shouts that culminated in his removal from the chamber. Not to be outdone, Representatives Melanie Stansbury and Jasmine Crockett staged their own walkouts, perhaps in search of a more appreciative audience elsewhere – or maybe they just had to go to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez opted for the classic boycott, sparing herself the ordeal of sitting through a speech that might challenge her facial muscles’ commitment to frowning.

Slotkin reads from the party hymnal: same old anti-Trump script, different day.

Michigan freshman Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin gave the rebuttal speech and it was as predictable as a rom-com plot on the Hallmark Channel. She highlighted her CIA background and portrayed herself as a normal person at the beginning of the speech – but then she went into the regular Democratic talking points of lies and fear-mongering.

She lamented high grocery prices – a trend that began under the Biden-Harris administration. Slotkin also dusted off the classic “tax cuts for billionaires” script, conveniently sidestepping Trump’s broader tax relief proposals. And of course, the old tried-and-true claim about how Republicans want to take away your Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid line was in there.