Tuesday at 9:00pm EST, Donald Trump will make his first State of the Union address. Nobody is quite sure what he’ll talk about. Nobody is entirely sure just who will be there. But unlike quite a few States of the Union, it’s likely that many Americans will be keeping an eye on it. If you’re one of them, here’s how to catch the event.
First off, if you’re near a television, it’s going to be hard to miss. All four broadcast networks, PBS, and all major cable news channels carry the State of the Union as a matter of course. But if you’re away from the TV, it’ll be streamed live on C-SPAN’s website (with an audio feed on C-SPAN’s radio app), via Reuters TV on their website and app, and it’ll also be streaming on Twitter, although you’ll have to put up with the tweets using the #SOTU term. These channels will also mostly carry the Democratic rebuttal from Rep. Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts.
It’ll be an interesting speech not simply because of Trump’s preference for going off script, but also because of who will and won’t be in attendance to hear it. Multiple Democrats have publicly stated they’re not attending out of protest. Other politicians are bringing guests, including sexual assault survivors and survivor advocates, to highlight issues that Trump may prefer not to discuss, or (in the case of such as Paul Ryan’s challenger, Randy Bryce) to nettle other Republicans. Many Democratic lawmakers plan to wear black, and it’s likely that recent sexual misconduct accusations about Republican National Committee finance chair Steve Wynn (who has now resigned) will be a sore spot. Trump will also be facing DACA recipients even as he likely weighs in on immigration.
If you just want the highlights, you can find them as they happen on our Twitter feed and our Facebook wall, and of course, we’ll be covering this event on UPROXX as it happens. It’s unlikely anything truly dramatic will happen, of course. Usually, this is a polite and somber affair. But this president is anything but polite and somber, and the event may unfold differently than many hope.