WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed Democrats who disrupted President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night — calling it “the most shameful moment in the history of presidential addresses” and saying members of the opposition were “cheering for Ukraine, not for America.”
Leavitt tore into the anti-Trump elected liberals — who repeatedly heckled Trump and waved handheld protest signs throughout the 99-minute speech — while citing preliminary polling data from CNN and CBS News/YouGov showing that Trump’s remarks were overwhelmingly well-received by viewers.
“The behavior of Democrats last night was completely disgraceful and demonstrated how severely out of touch they are with the American public. It was the most shameful moment in the history of presidential addresses in that beautiful chamber,” Leavitt told reporters during her regular briefing.
“At what was supposed to be a unifying moment for our country, Democrat members of Congress instead screamed at the president of the United States, who was just overwhelmingly re-elected by their constituents, walked out of the chamber, and — first of all — they disrespected the American people.”
Leavitt said Democrats “couldn’t even clap for a girl who got her head smashed in by a man on the volleyball court. Democrats didn’t stand for an innocent and beautiful child who is surviving brain cancer. They opposed eliminating taxes on tips and Social Security. They didn’t stand in favor of cutting taxes for hard working Americans. They couldn’t even clap for two mothers whose daughters were killed by illegal aliens.”
“One of the only things that could get Democrats off their feet last night was cheering for Ukraine, not for America,” Leavitt went on.
“Last night was a very clarifying moment for our country. Democrats exposed themselves as the party of insanity and hate the party that wants to put America last. They’ve allowed their Trump derangement syndrome to stop them from celebrating America and our people, and we will not allow them to forget that.”
The press secretary proceeded to tear into MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace, a pro-Democratic commentator who formerly worked as Republican President George W. Bush’s White House communications director.
“It’s not just the Democrat Party. The mainstream media still doesn’t get it,” Leavitt said.
“Last night, MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace disgustingly looped in a 13-year-old boy with brain cancer into an attack on the president over January 6. And CNN’s first chyron out of the speech called it ‘divisive.’
“President Trump wasn’t divisive. The Democrats were and CNN was proven wrong by their own viewers, 69% of whom, in a post-speech poll said they had a positive reaction to the president’s speech. It’s sad and frankly pathetic that Democrats and liberals in the legacy media continue to allow their hatred for the president to override their love for our country.”
Disruptions formerly were rare during a president’s annual speech to Congress — with Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)’s shout of “you lie!” at President Barack Obama in 2009 viewed as a serious breach of decorum and Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)’s 2022 heckling of President Joe Biden also drawing controversy.
Unlike previous incidents, many Democrats took part in Tuesday night’s disruptions.
Before the president even spoke, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) photo-bombed Trump’s entrance, brandishing a sign that read “This is NOT Normal” at a TV camera tracking the commander in chief down the center aisle of the House chamber.
About five minutes into Trump’s remarks, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) shouted at the president that he had “no mandate” — despite decisively winning the Nov. 5 election.
Green, who attempted to impeach Trump in 2017 for calling NFL players who wouldn’t stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner” “sons of bitches,” waved a walking cane in the air and refused to sit down, prompting House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to order House sergeant-at-arms William McFarland to remove him.
Other Democrats heckled through the speech, often making their utterances quickly enough to obscure the speaker, including shouting “January 6!” when Trump spoke about law enforcement.
About a dozen Democrats held paddles that said “false” or bore other messages such as “[Elon] Musk Steals” — including Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.).
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) held a whiteboard on which she scrawled her thoughts and held them up to face Trump, including, “That’s a LIE!” and “Start paying your taxes.”
A large cohort of Democratic women also wore pink, with Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) telling Time magazine: “Pink is a color of power and protest. It’s time to rev up the opposition and come at Trump loud and clear.”
A further contingent — including Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) — walked out of the speech before it ended.
The demonstrators ignored advice from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who advised her fellow partisans to let Trump “stew in his own juice.”
“Any demonstration of disagreement, whether it’s visual or whatever … Don’t be any grist for the mill to say ‘this was inappropriate,’” the 84-year-old told the Washington Post last week.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) declined to address the disruptions Wednesday, telling reporters: “We’re going to keep the focus on the American people — that’s where the focus should be. Republicans are crashing the economy in real time and trying to enact the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. That’s unacceptable.”
Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), the No. 2 House Democrat, appeared to defend the outbursts, saying Trump’s remarks left her “angry”: “Let’s not talk about decorum when the plot is exposed and reiterated every single day.”
