He said speaking up during the address was the best way “get across to a person who uses his incivility, who uses his incivility against our civility.”
Oh, how I wish that were true. I wish Republicans had the moral fortitude to throw him out. But sadly, they cheered for Trump—the literal king of inappropriate behavior—as he waved his hand to dismiss the only Democrat who had the guts to stand up to every lie he was spewing.
I thought the same thing. Then I thought about how powerful of a visual it would have been for each one of them, in turn, to cause a disruption and be escorted out. Let the cameras pan over a half filled chamber after 2 hours of meticulous protesting. That image would be in history books 100 years from now, assuming we all survive the next 4.
Trump is an old fart. He's not going to stand up there for 6 hours speaking. If, one-by-one, every Democrat made a scene and got walked out they would've been there until midnight and Trump having gotten through almost none of his speech.
However, there are some strange brew rules that come into play depending on the #of reps in attendance in the house. You dwindle the dem #s enough and you end up allowing the reps the ability to run amok with the kinds of legislation they’re salivating to pass.
I’m sure this was at top of mind for some of the folks in attendance.
Congressional rules are meaningless. They are not the constitution. If the Democrats are going to just sit idle because of "congressional rules" then they might as well start using the constitution as toilet paper
You dwindle the dem #s enough and you end up allowing the reps the ability to run amok with the kinds of legislation they’re salivating to pass.
That's why there's also quorum rules. There has to be a minimum of X% of the congresspeople present for anything to count and I'm 99.9% certain that all of the Dems leaving would bring the number present under that even if every single Republican was present.
I kept waiting for it! For a moment, I had a swell of hope that they were going to force the Sargeant at Arms to remove them one by one, or else block Al from being removed, something, anything with a little fucking Chutzpah, but nope. They all just sat down, shut up, and waved their stupid little signs. Good job guys, I can't wait to see your next fundraising text.
It reminded me, very randomly, of quote from a book about urban design and how architectural ideas are introduced and accepted by the public… or not.
From this the "principle of the second man" can be formulated: it is the second man who determines whether the creation of the first man will be carried forward or destroyed...
It was a golden chance and a room full of cowards let it slip.
The book is Design of Cities by Edmund Bacon for anyone interested.
No dumb fuck. You ever read a history book? Congress used to have literal fist fights.
Defending yourselves from being ejected from your literal work place, a place YOUR constituents elected you to be at, by someone who is by not a single ounce of the definition, your boss, is not violence. It is not "arming" yourself, IT IS LITERALLY DOING WHAT YOUR OATH OF OFFICE STATES, TO DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED FUCKING STATES
In Mr. Green’s case, he was not only challenging the president but also defying the entreaties of Democratic congressional leaders that members attend Mr. Trump’s speech and refrain from disruptions. The spectacle of a septuagenarian heckling the president while waving his cane was not ideal for Democrats, who have toiled to land on a broadly appealing message and messenger for countering Mr. Trump.
This is exactly the kind of behavior I want to see from Democrats. A deeply unserious person like Donald Trump deserves to be heckled like the bad fucking joke he is.
These fucking Democrats are watching a dude successfully lie and bully his way into the presidency (not to mention that same playbook get adopted by the GOP in general) then think the answer is to be nice?
Newsflash, the voters on the other side aren't going to be swayed by a "broadly appealing message," I'd say an insignificant number of people could even be swayed to switch voting from the GOP / MAGA bastards over to the Dem sonofabitches anyways. So galvanized the troops, motivate people to vote and stop pussyfooting around.
Adopt the playbook that keeps working for your enemy, tweak it some sure, but stop thinking a milquetoast "we're the nice guys" campaign will ever work. It's failed so many times now, maybe learn a lesson?
WHERE WERE THE REST OF THE DEMOCRATS? FUCKING SITTING. They didn't have the intestinal fortitude to be kindly escorted out like this old dude with a fucking cane; they walked Al out and their collective spine went with him. Johnson told them to shut up and they fucking did; they either sat there quietly with their stupid little signs, went to sleep, or walked out on their own. Fuck you, make me should be the order of the day! I've never been more ashamed of the democrats than this absolute display of submission with the slightest bit of bullying. Resistance my ass, resistance doesn't quietly walk itself out of the building!
When it was happening I was hoping deeply that another Democrat would pick after he was removed to filibuster the SOTU. I suppose it's naive of me but for a moment I thought the democrats had organized an actual visible protest.
Those tiny round signs on sticks were absolutely ridiculous. What are they, crossing guards? Might as well be, because crossing guards would have more guts and more principles.
Anyone watching it would have been just as angry at the horseshit coming out of Trump's mouth.
Literally everything he said was either a lie, some narcissistic ego jerk-off, a shot at Biden, or some racist rant about "most immigrants are murderers".
And the clapping and cheering. Disturbing cultism.
The Democrats seemed unorganized, nobody is leading them like Trump is leading Republicans. Here's a gimmick I'd like to see them use next time.: Every time Trump says a blatant lie - call it out - LOUD. One by one, watch how many people get thrown out throughout the speech.
22 Billion cut to HHS is a ton though. Surely that will go toward paying down the deficit? Good on Green for bringing attention to it.
It's an issue in the US that the opposition doesn't have a leader until the election is getting close, in a parliamentary system Harris would still be their leader until someone else took her place and she would dictate how the party acts in response to the Republicans.
They also need to learn a lesson from other countries and to form a shadow government.