House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) failed to keep his conference in check on Tuesday night during a raucous State of the Union speech that saw Donald Trump bait Democrats into repeated shouts and taunts.
In the lead-up to the address, Jeffries told his caucus to either sit in “silent defiance” or skip the speech altogether. On Tuesday, Trump had barely started talking when House Democrats began bucking Jeffries’ directive.
Rep. Al Green (D-TX) began the event by getting himself ejected from the well of the chamber for displaying a sign reading, “Black people aren’t apes!” — a reference to Trump’s widely denounced Truth Social video depicting the Obamas as monkeys.
The incident was a repeat of last year, when Green was censured for a cane-waving confrontation with Trump. Like last year, Trump ignored Green, allowing the disruption to stand as its own spectacle.
Other Democrats were just as willing to give Trump political fodder as the address stretched across nearly two hours. Reps. Lauren Underwood (D-IL), Bill Foster (D-IL), and Madeline Dean (D-PA) stood up and exited the chamber midway through Trump’s speech in protest.
Yet, Trump drew the sharpest taunts when he asked the entire chamber to stand if they thought the priority of the U.S. government was to put American citizens ahead of illegal aliens. When Democrats refused to stand, Trump quickly pounced on the moment.
“You should be ashamed of yourself for not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself,” Trump said.
The comments elicited a fiery response from Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who accused the president of killing Alex Pretti and Renee Good, two U.S. citizens who were shot in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents earlier this year.
Omar repeatedly shouted “liar” and “you have killed Americans.”
Tlaib, meanwhile, shouted, “You killed Alex!”
Ahead of the speech, Jeffries had told his conference, publicly and privately, to skip it if they wanted to register their protest. Otherwise, he said, members should sit quietly to avoid distractions that Republicans could use as political fodder. Those pleas, however, fell on deaf ears.
Democrats did periodically applaud Trump’s speech, mostly for references to the military or when he introduced bipartisan guests. But Trump also took a combative tone, helping set the stage for confrontation.
Democrats, for their part, used their clothing and guests to needle the president, in particular over disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Members wore “Release the Files” pins or brought sexual abuse survivors to revive the Epstein controversy.
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Jeffries released a statement after Trump’s address, calling the State of the Union a “complete disaster.”
“For nearly two hours tonight, Donald Trump spewed lies, propaganda, and hatred,” Jeffries said.