After Donald Trump’s first address to Congress, Democrats showed their party differences.
Democrats in leadership positions or those who align themselves with the establishment clash with progressives. Many of them heckled Trump during his 90-minute address on Tuesday. Party leaders are under pressure to adopt a combative tone instead of displaying decorum in response to Trump’s deconstruction of federal bureaucracy.
Progressives are not happy with the disruptions of moderate Democrats, but they also complain about Trump’s lack of strategy and direction. This was his first address in a joint session with Congress after he started his second term.
A senior House Democrat said to Axios that “people are also pissed off at the leadership.” Everyone is angry at each other.
Rep. George Latimer (D-NY) told Axios that he thought the outbursts were “inappropriate”.
He said: “When the president is talking, whether it’s my president or yours, we do not interrupt. We don’t perform these stunts.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) escorted from the chamber after he repeatedly booed Trump and waved his cane throughout the speech. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that Democrats should not protest Trump.
Democrats did protest, however, by remaining seated while Trump announced his policies and holding signs that read “false”, “lies,” Musk steals, and “Save Medicaid.” Some Democratic female lawmakers wore pink suits to protest policies that they claimed were anti-women. Other Democrats jeered Trump during the entire speech.
Axios quoted Jared Golden (D-Maine), a centrist who told the publication, “I don’t endorse it because I didn’t do that myself.”
Golden continued, “Anyone who thinks that this was a good strategy is probably in an echo chamber.” I think that most Americans thought it was a bad idea.
Tom Suozzi (D-NY) told Axios that the interruptions were a mistake. I’m a traditional, old-school guy. I believe we should treat the president with respect. “I thought it was insensitive.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) took to X to denounce the “sad avalanche of self-righteousness and unhinged petulance.”
He wrote that the Democrats’ outbursts only made Trump appear more presidential and reserved. We’re turning into metaphorical car alarms, which nobody listens to. It may not be a winning message.
Fetterman told Axios, “I do not think this is the right way to go.”
The 13-year-old boy DJ Daniel, who has survived cancer, stole the show when Trump officially inducted him as a Secret Service agent. Daniel was given a standing ovation by the majority of attendees, though some Democrats sat at different times when Trump spoke about the 13-year-old.
Another centrist House Democrat, criticizing his party’s message, told Axios: “Rejecting Trump was a good strategy. But you have to distinguish him from that kid with cancer.”
The lawmaker said, “It’s a compliment to refer to it as a strategy.” He noted that the signs of the progressives were altered online so they read “TDS,” which is the acronym for “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
The progressives, however, claimed that the lack of leadership direction forced them to create their strategy.
Axios quoted a progressive congressman as saying, “There was frustration over lack of direction [or plan].”
Another progressive said, “People are very angry that they didn’t receive more guidance from the leadership.”
Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., is planning on bringing a resolution Thursday to censure Green for “breach of proper conduct,” and some Democrats, including Golden and Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., have not ruled out supporting it, Axios reported.
“What [Green] did was inappropriate — and he became the story, not the price of eggs,” a centrist House Democrat told Axios.