President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night toggled between being remarkably dull and profoundly racist. During a screed against undocumented immigrants, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) shouted at Trump, yelling, “You have killed Americans,” and “You should be ashamed.”
The confrontation began after Trump scolded Democrats for not standing and applauding during a portion of his speech during which he claimed that the “first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
“You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up,” Trump said to Democrats in the audience, as the rest of the room rose to their feet and applauded for over a minute. “That is why I’m also asking you to end deadly sanctuary cities that protect the criminals,” he continued. As he spoke, Omar could be heard shouting from the gallery, “You have killed Americans,” and “You should be ashamed,” while jabbing her finger in Trump’s direction. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), seated next to Omar wearing a pin that read “Release the Files,” a reference to still-unreleased Epstein files, also briefly yelled something in the direction of the dais.
ICE and Border Patrol agents killed two people in Minnesota, the state Omar represents: Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, both of whose executions were captured on video. Omar’s guests for the State of the Union were four constituents from Minnesota who were impacted by ICE’s brutal raid on the state. They include Aliya Rahman, a Minneapolis woman and United States citizen who was dragged from her car and violently arrested in mid-January. Thus far, at least eight people have died nationwide this year at the hands of ICE agents or in ICE custody.
I would have preferred if the Dems just held up signs in silence like “You killed Alex Pretti” and “You killed Renée Good“ and “Release the Epstein files”. Yelling at him just plays into Republican hands and makes these congresspeople look like MTG or Bobert.
Politeness and going high have already failed miserably. People want to see someone speak out for them, not hold signs and pat themselves on the back.
I disagree entirely, the entire party should be so bold as to yell.
Yes, 100%, the Democrats should have been taking turns disrupting until thrown out. Fuck respect for these institutions, it's not like the Republicans are showing them any respect for institutions, with their executive branch constantly breaking laws.
They did the signs last year and were criticized for that strategy too. Point the finger where it belongs.
Anything they do to interrupt the speech will be criticized. That should never be a metric in deciding how to protest. Effective protest must be disruptive.
Democrat Al Green Escorted Out Of State Of The Union Holding ‘Black People Are Not Apes’ Sign
It saddens me that he had to write this sign by hand. To me it just reflects how disorganized democratic leadership is — that they don’t have a plan to have signs like this one printed up and handed out to all of their members to hold up during the speech.
Should have just boycotted like AOC did.
One congressperson standing up and walking out every five minutes would have made a nice statement as well.
Maybe every 8 minutes because thats how long Renee Good was alive between being shot and when ICE finally allowed her to be seen by medical professionals.