My question was NOT why they skipped The Demented One's speech of lies and garbage, but why in hell did ANY of the others actually attend? Or why didn't they go at the start and then leave one-by-one to show their disgust?
Why did anybody attend? Well, Hakim Jeffries spoke for many when he said "this is our house, not his, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let anybody drive me out of my house."
There are many ways to express dissent. You can show up at the Mall, you could attend and wear white, or simply sit and watch (because it is, after all, YOUR and OUR House, not his, staying silent, or you could hold up a sign saying "Black People Are Not Apes" then leave, you could simply refuse to participate in the humbuggery and North-Korean style shitshow that he so loves.
What counts is the work you do behind the scenes to change hearts and minds, throw monkey wrenches in their plans, use whatever leverage you have in your minority status to make it as hard as possible for them to get through the next day without a lawsuit, a stop or stay order, a ruling against them, and organize like hell in preparation for November. By most accounts, we're doing better than expected in off-year elections and special vacancies. I look forward to doing more as the year progresses....
They performed a public service by attending and staying seated while Trump's sycophants stood and clapped and cheered. There's more than one way to make a point.
That would have been my point exactly. In fact, I think every Democrat who did attend should be ashamed. It would have made a terrific statement if not one single Democrat had attended and that entire side had been empty.
Here's my take, from someone who refused to watch it: The State of the Union event has become a State of the Administration event, spun into gold and vitriol. It is beneath the dignity of even the people who voted for Trump and should be discontinued.
What little I was able to stomach looked like a poorly scripted floor show. Trump has even lost the ability to entertain, and using the U.S. Men's Hockey Team for a stunt-like appearance was disgusting. He used them.
And they let themselves be used, whereas, gee, the women's team did not. You don't hand out "awards" at an address to Congress. You don't remark on how many people in this country you hate in an address to Congress. You don't mention how many people in Congress you hate in an address to Congress. I hope you had a bucket, Steve.
He used a lot of people and seemed to take joy in telling of gory horrific suffering people had and forced them to relive the trauma and be filmed as he did so. How cruel, and he did it to blame immigrants and his predecessor, wrongly. While trying to indicate that immigrants are all bad, he failed to give percentages of offenders in that group compared to percentages in the group of American citizens. If he had used those percentages, he would have proven himself wrong, based on what I have read in the past.
In addition to the “People’s State of the Union”, the “State of the Swamp”, and Gov. Spanberger's official response, Sen. Alex Padilla of California gave the official Spanish language response:
Those Democrats who attended this spectacle of lies should have walked out immediately after Rep. Al Green's ouster from the chamber. The president mischaracterized acts of Democratic members of Congress as 'disgraceful.' The real disgrace was their total lack of sensitivity to that unwarranted demeaning treatment of Rep. Green.
That any of the Democrats stayed to listen to the Trump diatribe begs the question: What were they thinking? In a show of unity with democratic voters across the country, it would have been better had they all been at the State of the Union for the People.
Watching Trump's Lion King video and then his State of the Union address called to mind some common sense from Thomas Paine's Common Sense: "One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of" the concept of "kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn [kings] into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion."
I have to thank Gordon Wood for reminding us of that in his powerfully insightful, concise and fairly new summary book, "Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution," which he previewed in different ways in multiple enlightening videos:
Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution, mandates that the President shall "from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." I for one consider it to be an official responsibility of a Representative or Senator to attend, despite their loathing of the sitting President. In a few years, the Republicans will boycott for exactly the same reason. Break the cycle, people!
My question was NOT why they skipped The Demented One's speech of lies and garbage, but why in hell did ANY of the others actually attend? Or why didn't they go at the start and then leave one-by-one to show their disgust?
Here come the circular firing squads again....
Why did anybody attend? Well, Hakim Jeffries spoke for many when he said "this is our house, not his, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let anybody drive me out of my house."
There are many ways to express dissent. You can show up at the Mall, you could attend and wear white, or simply sit and watch (because it is, after all, YOUR and OUR House, not his, staying silent, or you could hold up a sign saying "Black People Are Not Apes" then leave, you could simply refuse to participate in the humbuggery and North-Korean style shitshow that he so loves.
What counts is the work you do behind the scenes to change hearts and minds, throw monkey wrenches in their plans, use whatever leverage you have in your minority status to make it as hard as possible for them to get through the next day without a lawsuit, a stop or stay order, a ruling against them, and organize like hell in preparation for November. By most accounts, we're doing better than expected in off-year elections and special vacancies. I look forward to doing more as the year progresses....
They performed a public service by attending and staying seated while Trump's sycophants stood and clapped and cheered. There's more than one way to make a point.
That would have been my point exactly. In fact, I think every Democrat who did attend should be ashamed. It would have made a terrific statement if not one single Democrat had attended and that entire side had been empty.
Only takes a few Congressional Republicans to stand up against pedophelia.
Here's my take, from someone who refused to watch it: The State of the Union event has become a State of the Administration event, spun into gold and vitriol. It is beneath the dignity of even the people who voted for Trump and should be discontinued.
What little I was able to stomach looked like a poorly scripted floor show. Trump has even lost the ability to entertain, and using the U.S. Men's Hockey Team for a stunt-like appearance was disgusting. He used them.
And they let themselves be used, whereas, gee, the women's team did not. You don't hand out "awards" at an address to Congress. You don't remark on how many people in this country you hate in an address to Congress. You don't mention how many people in Congress you hate in an address to Congress. I hope you had a bucket, Steve.
Thank you. Pepto-Dismal and Abigail Spanberger's rebuttal settled my stomach.
He used a lot of people and seemed to take joy in telling of gory horrific suffering people had and forced them to relive the trauma and be filmed as he did so. How cruel, and he did it to blame immigrants and his predecessor, wrongly. While trying to indicate that immigrants are all bad, he failed to give percentages of offenders in that group compared to percentages in the group of American citizens. If he had used those percentages, he would have proven himself wrong, based on what I have read in the past.
You got that right. At last report, over 70% of those taken into custody by ICE/CBP had NO criminal history at all.
Vox had two short articles on El Presidente's blathering:
The most important line from El Presidente's speech:
https://www.vox.com/politics/480388/trump-state-of-the-union-2026-transcript-democracy
“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵,” 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. “𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘪𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘪𝘵.”
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥.
𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
Vox also summarized the Dems' opposition, and mentioned one that we ALL missed:
https://www.vox.com/politics/480385/democrat-response-trump-state-of-the-union-sotu-affordability-alternative-media-resistance
In addition to the “People’s State of the Union”, the “State of the Swamp”, and Gov. Spanberger's official response, Sen. Alex Padilla of California gave the official Spanish language response:
“𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘤𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘰𝘴 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘶𝘱…𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.”
Heartfelt thanks to the congressional leaders who boycotted the SOTU.
Meidas and Move On created the opportunity, and you showed up.
Yay!
I didn’t watch, but it sounded like a trump “Ain’t I great” show including parading our Olympic Men’s Hockey Team like it’s was trump’s gold medal.
I'm surprised he didn't make Kash Patel an honorary member of the team.
Those Democrats who attended this spectacle of lies should have walked out immediately after Rep. Al Green's ouster from the chamber. The president mischaracterized acts of Democratic members of Congress as 'disgraceful.' The real disgrace was their total lack of sensitivity to that unwarranted demeaning treatment of Rep. Green.
That any of the Democrats stayed to listen to the Trump diatribe begs the question: What were they thinking? In a show of unity with democratic voters across the country, it would have been better had they all been at the State of the Union for the People.
Watching Trump's Lion King video and then his State of the Union address called to mind some common sense from Thomas Paine's Common Sense: "One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of" the concept of "kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn [kings] into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion."
I have to thank Gordon Wood for reminding us of that in his powerfully insightful, concise and fairly new summary book, "Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution," which he previewed in different ways in multiple enlightening videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY3dYnks5GI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v57quJolSvs
I applaud the Democratic Congressional members for boycotting Trump's speech.
Good for you all! Keep it going. He craves attention. Let’s deny him as much as we can.
Vermont Rep. Becca Balint was absolutely a delight. So powerful! With her was Mohsen Mahdawi. He was so eloquent and expressive. A must listen!
Rep Jim Hines D-CT was great with guest Madalyn Beckett. Listen to her statement. So good. Shes one of is who our government should be protecting!
Rep. Delia Ramirez IL-03 was outstanding. A must watch.
Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution, mandates that the President shall "from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." I for one consider it to be an official responsibility of a Representative or Senator to attend, despite their loathing of the sitting President. In a few years, the Republicans will boycott for exactly the same reason. Break the cycle, people!