00:00The chandeliers glowed above the state dining room as governors gathered at the White House
00:03for the annual dinner of the National Governors Association. It was meant to be a rare pause in
00:08partisan combat. Instead, it produced another moment that quickly traveled across social media.
00:13Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth opened the evening with an extended prayer. The former Fox News host
00:17invoked King Jesus, referenced One Nation Under God, and linked the country's history from George
00:23Washington to President Donald Trump. He prayed for Trump's safety and wisdom, for Vice President
00:28J.D. Vance, for cabinet members, governors, and what he called civil magistrates, framing the
00:34appeal in explicitly theological language. As Hegseth spoke, cameras captured Trump intermittently
00:39lifting his head and scanning the room while others kept their eyes closed. The clip circulated
00:43within hours, drawing commentary not for the substance of the prayer alone, but for the
00:47President's visible restlessness during it. Taken in isolation, the moment was minor. In the current
00:52political climate, it became symbolic. The dinner followed a tense week. According to the Associated
00:57Press, Trump initially declined to invite Democratic governors Wes Moore and Jared Polis to a working
01:02session, reversing course shortly before the event. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey skipped the
01:07dinner, calling the broader proceedings a farce. Moore, serving as the NGA's vice chair, said governors
01:12remained focused on their agenda despite distractions. To all the people who tried to make that happen,
01:17you failed, he said, emphasizing bipartisan cooperation. The week also included a significant ruling from the
01:22Supreme Court of the United States, which struck down a sweeping tariff policy in a 6-to-3 decision.
01:27Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry criticized the timing of the decision. Utah Governor Spencer Cox,
01:32speaking earlier at a Politico event, questioned whether Trump was seeking national unity,
01:37saying the President had indicated, that's not who he is.
01:39Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson recalled past NGA.
01:43NGA dinners as occasions of civility ever underscored how even ceremonial rituals now unfold under the
01:48glare of partisan scrutiny, where gestures as small as a bowed head or an open eye.
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