MOULTRIE, Ga. — Tuesday night, President Donald Trump described his agenda for 2019 in a State of the Union speech that exceeded an hour. The Democratic Party response by former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams was dramatically shorter.

In Colquitt County, several people had told The Observer they’d be watching the speeches. On Wednesday, four of them responded to a request for their reaction.

Of the four, Dru Dixon was the only one who said he watched both speeches all the way through.

“On the positive side, both spoke about bipartisanship and working together,” Dixon said. “However, there was finger pointing by both, oddly mostly by Stacy, more so than Trump.

“I’m interested in hearing more about Trump’s plan on immigration reform, other than the wall,” he said. “He touched briefly on it, and it surely intrigued me.

“I don’t identify as Democrat or Republican, and I’ve been very hard on Trump during his tenure as president. Last night, I saw some compassion in him and that struck a chord with me.”

For Tom Hornbuckle, a huge issue is abortion, so Trump’s proposal to outlaw late-term abortions resonated with him.

“Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life,” the president said. “And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: all children — born and unborn — are made in the holy image of God.”

“Babies ARE created in God’s image!!” Hornbuckle told The Observer Wednesday via Facebook. “How can anyone support Baby Killers?”

Hornbuckle added his own anecdote.

“Back in the early 80s an employee came over and bragged about taking his wife to Jacksonville for an abortion,” he said. “He knew we opposed abortion. They had a daughter. He said they’d still like a son but right then they’d rather have a swimming pool.

“The value of a baby’s life: A swimming pool.

“If you believe, as I do, that babies should be protected in the womb there can be no other issue,” Hornbuckle said. “The most important right is the right to life.”

Hornbuckle said he started watching Abrams’ response but turned it off after a few minutes because she spoke in favor of abortion rights.

Debbie Newman Armstrong was also impressed with the president’s speech.

“He has always done an excellent job even while trying to keep the Democrats off his back over nothing,” Armstrong said. “No, I did not listen to the Democratic rebuttal because it was just going to be more Trump bashing. I have heard enough from the Democrats.

“I have never claimed to be Democrat or Republican,” she said, “but I am so sick of the Democrats trying to destroy America. I am very proud of our president.”

Before the speech Sandra May told The Observer via Facebook, “Have to watch the train wreck. Rubber necking is an instinct.”

Afterwards, she said she hadn’t been able to watch either speech all the way through. “But what I did see of Trump it was angry and divisiveness,” she said.