Tufts Republicans livestreams President Trump's State of the Union

On Tuesday at 9 p.m., Tufts Republicans hosted a viewing event in the Terrace Room in Paige Hall for President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union Address, according to Tufts Republicans President George Behrakis. 

Behrakis, a sophomore, said the group held a discussion of the progress of Trump’s administration during its weekly meeting in advance of the State of the Union address.

“We’re going to talk about the good and bad of the President’s first year in office and discuss what the next year might look like,” Behrakis said before the meeting.

Behrakis said that Tufts Republicans had originally planned on hosting U.S. Senate candidate Beth Lindstrom as a speaker in conjunction with the livestream, but she had to cancel due to illness.

Some members of the group commended Tufts Democrats’ decision to promote its forum with Setti Warren, former Mayor of Newton, Mass. and a Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate, as an alternative to viewing Trump’s State of the Union Address.

“I think that there’s a lot of criticism of some Democrats for saying, ‘Oh, I want to protest Trump’ but then not actually doing anything, and it’s nice to see that Democrats are gathering together and doing something that they feel is an action against Trump — not watching [the State of the Union] and supporting Democrats instead — so good for them,” sophomore Rachel Wolff, outreach coordinator for Tufts Republicans, said.

Tufts Republicans Vice President Robert Whitehead, a sophomore, said that hosting Warren provided an opportunity to engage with politics beyond just the federal level.

“It’s good to see the Democrats focusing on local politics, which I think both parties can do a much better job of doing," Whitehead said. "I think there’s an old saying by [former] Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill that all politics is local at the end of the day."