A few Democratic members of the U.S. House were planning to hijack President Donald Trump’s speech with a protest of their own, a plan that has been foiled by their party leaders.
Earlier this week, House Minority Leaker Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and his top lieutenants issued guidance to Democrats instructing them to sit silently during President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday night. Instead, they were encouraged to bring members of the public who had been “harmed” by the administration’s activities in the first six weeks, including those among the tens of thousands fired from the federal government.
Many took up the recommendation and were prepared to walk former government bureaucrats onto the floor of the House, where they would have a chance to glare at Trump. To others, that offer wasn’t enough.
A more combative anti-Trump wing of the caucus had planned to disrupt the speech, according to one source that was unhappy with Jeffries’ suggestion for a silent protest.
“The part that we all agree on is that this is not business as usual and we would like to find a way — productively — to express our outrage,” one House Democrat told Axios.
There is a chasmic difference between Jeffries’ suggestion and what some Democrats perceive to be an appropriate gesture of protest. One member suggested to the outlet that they may stand up and exit the chamber during Trump’s speech if he makes mention of particular items or issues they find objectionable. They threatened that any mention of transgender children by Trump would trigger a mass walkout.
Other members said the idea of using noisemaking devices like handclappers during the speech had been floated in recent days. Some are looking to repeat a tactic by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyau’s speech before Congress last year when she held up a handmade sign that read “war criminal.”
Still more said the use of props, such as empty egg cartons to highlight the high price Americans are paying these days, should be utilized.
In a closed-door meeting and on the floor Monday night, House members were specifically discouraged from using props during the speech, sources told Axios. But there’s been pushback by Democrats who say they are simply looking to respond in a way that satisfies angry constituents in their deep-blue districts.
“There are definitely a lot of constituents that really want Democrats to disrupt and there are … constituents who feel like that just plays into his hands,” one House Democrat told Axios.
Protests during presidential addresses were once an unthinkable prospect in Congress but have become more common in the past 15 years. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) infamously shouted “you lie” at former President Barack Obama during his 2009 State of the Union address, and Republicans heckled former President Joe Biden while at the podium during several of his addresses.
Instead, progressive Democrats may fall back on a more measured tactic used in the past: coordinating the color of their outfits in a display of rage, as many female Democrats did when they began wearing all-white ensembles to tout women’s suffrage during the first Trump term.
