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Two images captured the mood in Washington this week as excited children crowded into the normally staid House of Representatives to help the re-elected speaker, Nancy Pelosi, welcome the most diverse new intake of lawmakers in US history, while Donald Trump surrounded himself with tough guys at a surprise White House press briefing, delivering another hardline push for his wall project on the US-Mexico border.

Amid the ongoing government shutdown and nearly two years into the Trump presidency, US politics looked into the abyss and saw the divide in Washington – but also glimpsed the future.

Donald J. Trump speaks about border security in the White House briefing room meanwhile Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, surrounded by children and grandchildren of lawmakers, raises her hand at the closing of the opening of the 116th Congress at the US Capitol in Washington Composite: Rex/Shutterstock/AFP/Getty Images

The most racially diverse and most female group of representatives ever elected to the House in congressional history crowded into the traditionally white and male halls of Capitol Hill for their swearing-in on Thursday afternoon.

They were joined by partners, parents and children who also better reflected the country’s patchwork of identities than Congress traditionally does, and signaled that a more diverse future is inevitable.

In a perhaps intentional nod to forward thinking, Pelosi invited children to join her at the podium after she was handed the gavel and prepared to swear in the dozens of new members – mostly Democrats.