Democrats displayed their internal party divisions in the wake of President Donald Trump’s first address to Congress.
Democrats who are a part of leadership or more aligned with the establishment are clashing with progressives, many of whom heckled Trump throughout his more than 90-minute speech on Tuesday. The party is facing pressure from grassroots organizations to take a more combative approach – in lieu of decorum – to the Trump administration’s dismantling of the federal bureaucracy.
While moderate Democrats are frustrated over the progressives’ disruptions, progressives complained about a lack of direction and clear strategy ahead of Trump’s first joint session address to Congress since he began his second term.
“People are pissed at leadership too,” one senior House Democrat told Axios. “Everyone is mad at everyone.”
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Rep. George Latimer, D-N.Y., told Axios he believed the outbursts were “inappropriate.”
“When a president — my president, your president — is speaking, we don’t interrupt, we don’t pull those stunts,” he said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, escorted out of the chamber after the Democrat repeatedly jeered at Trump, waving his cane during the speech. Some Democrats had warned their colleagues against protesting Trump, with former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying they should let him “stew in his own juice.”
Democrats protested nonetheless, including remaining seated as Trump celebrated his policies, and held up signs reading “false,” “lies,” “Musk steals,” and “Save Medicaid.” Some female Democratic lawmakers wore pink suits in protest of policies they claim are anti-woman, while other Democrats were heard jeering Trump throughout the speech.
A centrist, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, told Axios, “I didn’t take that approach myself, so obviously I don’t condone it.”
“If anyone is thinking that it was an effective strategy, they’re probably in an echo chamber,” Golden added. “My take is that the average American thought the optics were pretty bad.
“I think it was a big mistake,” Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., told Axios of the disruptions. “I’m an old school traditional type guy, I think we should be treating the president with deference. So I think it was inappropriate.”
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., took to X to condemn the “sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance.”
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“It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained,” he wrote of the Democrats’ outbursts. “We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to – and it may not be the winning message.”
“I don’t think that’s the way forward,” Fetterman added to Axios.
DJ Daniel, a 13-year-old boy who survived cancer, stole the show Tuesday evening when Trump introduced him to the audience and officially swore him in as a member of the Secret Service. Daniel received a standing ovation from a majority of the crowd, although some Democrats were seen sitting at various times while Trump was speaking about the 13-year-old.
“Not standing for Trump would have been a fine strategy, but you need to separate him from the kid with cancer,” another centrist House Democrat told Axios, condemning his party’s messaging.
“It would be a compliment to call it a strategy,” the lawmaker added, noting the progressives’ signs were edited online to read “TDS,” referring to the term known as “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Progressives, meanwhile, argued that a lack of direction from leadership forced them to develop their own approach.
“There was definitely frustration about lack of guidance [or a] plan,” one progressive member of Congress told Axios.
“People are super pissed that we didn’t get more direction from leadership,” another progressive added.
Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., is planning on bringing a resolution Thursday to censure Green for “breach of proper conduct,” and some Democrats, including Golden and Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., have not ruled out supporting it, Axios reported.
“What [Green] did was inappropriate — and he became the story, not the price of eggs,” a centrist House Democrat told Axios.
Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
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