Many Democrats skipped President Donald Trump’s State of the Union, saying they were opting not to give it any dignity.
“Got to put my kids to bed, got to hang out with them, got to hang out with my wife, and wasn't part of the brouhaha,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) told The Independent. Gallego attended a rally outside in Washington held by Meidas Touch Network and MoveOn.org.
Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota said she was not surprised that Trump would use the State of the Union to demean Somali-Americans in her state.
“ This is his great you know, his racist strategy to try to convince white America that they should be fearful of Somali people,” she told The Independent. “But I can tell you that in Minnesota, it doesn't work.”
But some Democrats, ranging from moderate to progressive, opted to go to show their opposition to Trump and challenge him amid all the pomp and spectacle that came with awarding medals to servicemembers and bringing out the U.S. men’s hockey team. Here’s a list of Democrats who decided to come to the Capitol to defy Trump.
Rep. Al Green (D-Texas)
A sequel is rarely as compelling as the original. Last year, Rep. Al Green of Texas interrupted Trump’s joint address to Congress as he raised his cane to defy Trump. That led to his removal and being censured by all Republicans and even some Democrats in the House. On Tuesday, Green sat near the front of the chamber once again. But this time, he held up a sign saying “Black People Aren’t Apes,” a reference to Trump posting a cartoon on his Truth Social depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. A former president of the Houston NAACP branch, Green loves interrupting congressional proceedings to call out Republicans for what he sees as racist behavior. But Green’s move isn’t entirely altruistic. Thanks to Republicans’ redrawing the congressional map, Green, 78, now faces a primary against newly-elected Rep. Christian Menefee, 37, next week.
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Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)
A member of the Squad–a coterie of progressive Democratic members of Congress who arrived in 2018–Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan never hides how she feels at any moment. Shortly after she won, she landed in hot water for saying about Trump, “we’re going to impeach the motherf***er.” She also vocally criticized President Joe Biden and Trump’s support for Israel amid its war in Gaza. Despite her opposition, she decided to show up to Trump’s State of the Union. Tlaib sat next to her fellow Squad member Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and vocally called out Trump, at times mentioning files related to Jeffrey Epstein, and specifically said “You're killing Americans. You're shooting them” in reference to the killing of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. That leads to the next voice.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)
For Omar, Trump’s words about Minneapolis were personal. She represents the state where Trump dispatched Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Specifically, she said she wanted to call out Trump’s racist remarks about Somali-Americans, including calling them pirates.
“I had the opportunity to actually be in a room with him, and you know damn well I was going to respond to that,” she told The Independent. Of course, Trump would respond in kind on Truth Social on Wednesday, calling Tlaib and Omar “Low IQ” and “they had the bulging, bloodshot eyes of crazy people, LUNATICS, mentally deranged and sick who, frankly, look like they should be institutionalized.”
Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.)
For the past few months, the Trump administration has put a target on the back of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.). It all goes back to when he and a handful of Democratic lawmakers who served in the military or worked in national security released a video saying U.S. servicemembers can refuse illegal orders. In response, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth sought to reduce Kelly’s retirement rank in the U.S. Navy and pay. But a U.S. district court judge wrote that the Pentagon had no such jurisdiction. A grand jury also refused to indict him and the other Democrats. Nonetheless, Kelly showed up and sat right in the view of Trump and just a few feet away from Hegseth. Kelly sat next to Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who also took part in the video.
“Three weeks ago, he tried to send me to jail,” he told The Independent. “I wanted to show him not only did he not send me to jail, I'm still gonna do my job, and I'm gonna be there to see what he has to say.”
