Democrats Should’ve Caused a Scene at Trump’s Congressional Circle Jerk
If they really felt they had to attend, they could have at least tried something more impactful than wearing pink or holding up little signs.
Photo: Getty Images Politics
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that most meetings could be an email. But in the case of Donald Trump’s first joint Congressional address Tuesday night, it was a meeting that felt more like the sort of junk mail your email filter sends straight to spam—like the early 2000s, racist, conspiracy theory-laden chain emails old people forwarded each other before Facebook existed.
During his nearly 100-minute-long speech, Trump rambled about everything that struck his fancy, including a head-scratching claim that DOGE caught the Biden administration spending $8 million on “transgender mice.” As the cost of quite literally everything surges, he dedicated a large portion of his speech to what his base regards as the most pressing national concern: division III high school volleyball—and further demonizing trans kids who just want to play sports. He joked about defunding African nations that he couldn’t name, some of which will see HIV/AIDS and consequent deaths soar—to enthusiastic laughter from JD Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson, behind him. He railed against immigrants for supposedly endangering American women, even as Trump himself has been accused of sexual misconduct by over two dozen women. He thanked Elon Musk for destroying the federal government. He doubled down on his fantasy of annexing Greenland, “one way or another.” And he pledged to build the “most dominant civilization” the world has ever seen. “Our country will be woke no longer,” the 78-year-old declared. But then later declared that wokeness is already “gone.” “And we feel so much better for it, don’t we?” he added. “Don’t we feel better?” Not really!
All of it was vile, but none of it was surprising. What I did find surprising was how many Democrats filled the chamber. At the very least, everyone in attendance should have followed the example of Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who was physically removed within minutes of the speech for protesting Trump over his administration’s threats to cut hundreds of millions from Medicaid and Social Security. “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!” he yelled as he was removed. (Shortly after that kerfuffle, Trump boasted about restoring free speech to the nation.) It was quite the sight to watch Green exit alone, when every Democrat should have walked out in solidarity with him.
At different points, a handful of other Democratic members led by Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Maxwell Frost of Florida did end up walking out together. Some removed jackets to reveal shirts that said “RESIST” as they did. A handful of other Democratic members sat in the audience wearing some shade of pink—ostensibly in protest of Trump’s regime of toxic and violent masculinity. And they held up small signs, all with different phrases, like “MUSK STEALS,” “SAVE MEDICAID,” or “SAVE OUR VETERANS,” in a display that only underscored their disjointedness and lack of unity.