House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is giving his Democratic members two options: Attend President Donald Trump‘s State of the Union silently or do not attend at all.
“The two options that are in front of us, in our house, is either attend with silent defiance, or to not attend, and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion, which will include participation in a variety of different alternate programming,” Jeffries said during a press conference on Wednesday.
His comments come as a handful of Democrats from both chambers of Congress have announced they will not attend Trump’s address. They will instead hold a counter-rally on the National Mall. Those members include Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Congressional Progressive Caucus chairman Greg Casar (D-TX), former Progressive Caucus chairwoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and other progressive colleagues.
The alternate programming and orders of “silent defiance” come after the behavior from Democrats during Trump’s joint address before Congress last year. Rep. Al Green (D-TX) stood up and interrupted Trump’s speech by yelling at him, which led to the congressman being escorted out and eventually censured by the House. Other Democrats walked out during the middle of Trump’s speech, wore intentional colors, or held up signage protesting the president.
SENATE DEMOCRATS WEIGH SKIPPING TRUMP STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
Jeffries said he will personally attend the president’s address.
“We’re not going to Donald Trump’s house. He’s coming to our house. It’s my view that you don’t let anyone ever run you off of your block,” Jeffries said.