Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-MA. Source: Boston Globe / Getty
The fallout from Donald Trump’s first address to Congress since being elected to his second term as president was swift from select Democrats who refused to sit and entertain his 90-minute plus diatribe.
The earliest pushback came from Rep. Al Green from Texas, who stood up and repeatedly shouted back at Trump during the address to protest the newly elected president’s plans to cut Medicare and Medicaid.
“This whole budget that he has is one that is going to cause Medicaid to be cut, and when he said he had a mandate, it triggered something. It really did. Because he doesn’t have a mandate, and he doesn’t have a mandate to cut health care from poor people,” Green told NBC News after he was removed from the address.
In response to his removal, Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., who is also the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, explained why she left as Trump was spewing his rhetoric. “There’s a MAGA fest, a MAGA rally going on in the House chambers,’’ Clarke said according to USA Today. “I knew what was next in the lineup of (his) greatest hits. I didn’t need to sit there.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-MA, followed Clarke and also walked out of the address. “We cannot normalize this. This man has no respect for Congress,’’ Pressley said, per the outlet. “He does not respect us as a co-equal branch of government. He has contempt for the American people. He pardoned January sixers, who desecrated the very well that we’re in today.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-TX, took a different approach and chose to stay seated to make a statement against Trump.
“I wanted to make sure that the space that my ancestors bled and died for that I occupied that space, but I also got the privilege to walk the hell out of it,’’ Crockett said following the address. “That’s exactly what we did so that he could have those empty seats.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-TX. Source: Anna Moneymaker / Getty
Democratic Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester had similar logic for her reasoning for remaining seated. “This is our House. We’re not leaving,’’ she said per USA Today.
“You’re going to look me right in the eye and say these things. We are going to then take our power and act…Now, the real work begins,” Rochester added.
Rep. Yvette Clarke, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester did not immediately respond to MadameNoire’s request for comment.
With Trump’s second turn at the presidency already off to an extremely controversial and dangerous start, Democrats have made it clear that they are ready for a long fight against his divisive and discriminatory policies.
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