The House speaker's gesture at the very end encapsulated the seething atmosphere in the Capitol as Trump made a one hour and 18 minutes pitch for a second term in office.
At one moment he paused his speech to praise Rush Limbaugh, one of the fathers of America's hugely influential conservative radio landscape, who disclosed this week that he has advanced lung cancer.
Later, Trump outdid even this stroke of theatrics by singling out a woman in the audience whose army husband had been away for months on foreign deployments, then telling her he had"a very special surprise." But since being reassured that his party will come through with full acquittal, Trump has shown growing signs of confidence that he can march forward with a bid for re-election.
Trump got yet more good news on Tuesday with a Gallup poll showing his approval rating at its highest ever: 49 percent.
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