Protests of the Trump administration took place inside and outside the capitol as several Congressional Democrats participated in a counter-event to Tuesday’s State of the Union Address at the National Mall.
The event, opened by Executive Director of Moveon, Katie Bethell began an hour before the State of the Union Address and continued late into the evening with various members of Congress and their invited guests. Bethell described it as the largest counter protest in history for a State of the Union.
The former MSNBC hosts, Joy Reid and Katie Phang, were the selected hosts of what was being called the ‘People’s State of the Union.’ After short opening remarks, Reid invited the President and CEO of the Interfaith Alliance up to pray, in what Reid described as a reclaiming of Christianity from the White Nationalists.
Subsequent speakers repeated a message of an America under “crisis” and the diminishing of democracy taking place during the Trump Administration. Among them was Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut who spoke about no funding for DHS “until they follow the law”. His remarks solicited cheers from the crowd before a brief interruption by a pro-Trump individual who climbed on stage shouting “go Trump”.
Joy Reid returned to the stage and offered an “item of housekeeping”, addressing the “MAGA trolls” to say “your bulls**t is not welcome here” and “f*** yall”.
Reid then welcomed Democrat Rep. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania to the stage who spoke about attacks on unions, working people and immigrants. Rep. Lee was met with loud cheers when she announced she would be introducing articles of impeachment against Attorney General Pam Bondi for her handling of the Epstein files and failing to release the full unredacted files.
Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona addressed the crowd focused on affordability issues facing his constituents. Gallego cited cuts to Medicare and Medicaid by the Trump administration including aspects of the One Big Beautiful Bill which removed subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. (RELATED: Trump Highlights Immigration, Economy in State of the Union Address)
The event included multiple expletives from the hosts alongside common themes of healthcare affordability, immigration, and tax cuts for the rich. Meanwhile, Congressional Democrats who chose to attend the State of the Union showed their protest in other ways. Within minutes of President Trump’s opening remarks, vocal opponent of the president, Democrat Rep. Al Green of Texas, exited the room which prompted Republicans to chant “U-S-A.”
Democrats were unresponsive and remained seated for much of the evening although some stood in celebration of the Men’s Olympic Hockey Team who sported their gold medals, and chanted “U-S-A”. Other Democrats including Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib were seen wearing pins featuring the words “F*** ICE” and “Release the Files”.
In his final remarks of the evening, the president took the opportunity to discuss the conclusion of several wars. His remarks regarding the war in Gaza and the complete return of living and dead hostages, to their families, were met with celebration by the Democrats in attendance. (RELATED: DCCC Adds Rebecca Cooke to ‘Red to Blue’ List After Out-raising Van Orden)
