Last night Trump addressed Congress and the country. He lied dangerously. He spewed hate. He showed major signs of dictatorship. One democrat, Representative Al Green, stood up to the president’s dangerous lies and actions. Speaker Johnson ordered The Sergeant at Arms to escort him out. While a few of our leaders, like Representatives Crockett and Foster, walked out of the speech with “Resist” and “No Kings Live Here” on their t-shirts, the rest held round signs, about the size of a dessert plate, with words like “Lies” on their fronts. It was a passive and embarrassing attempt to protest.
When Representative Joe Wilson yelled “You Lie” at a 2009 Obama speech it broke decorum. You could hear the crack. It breached the respect for the Office of the President. In fact, I would say it was the first sign of what was to come next. It was disrespectful and disgusting then. It is the norm now. When the GOP interrupted Obama eighty-one times during his speech, we thought it was offensive and crass, but at least we knew where they stood. Get the point? Really, the only show by the Democrats last night was their breaking out in laughter in response to Trump saying, “The time of unelected bureaucrats is over.” Aside from one loud reaction to Trump, and a few peals of laughter, the Dems appeared weak and careful instead of angry and defiant. This is not the time for etiquette.
I realize Trump has created a warped political plane. It must be emotionally excruciating for Democrats to work for us inside a world of lies and crooks. And I appreciate their work, I really do. But they need to crank it up. It is becoming evident that our Democratic leaders will not fight the fight we need. Too many are telling the media that the courts will handle it. Have they seen how easily Trump serpentines the law?
Trump is taking funding from people all over the world, leaving them without medical treatment and Americans without jobs. Our National Parks are unsupervised and families are hurting. Real people all over the world are victims of the GOP’s Robber Baron tactics. Wouldn’t it have been something if those affected by his purge of the military and Federal workers had watched opposition by our leaders to the speech as a show of support?
Trump has rescinded aid to Ukraine. He praises Putin. He is putting America at serious global security risk. He has stopped cancer research and other Federal programs. He touts a child with cancer during his speech, without mentioning he has cut funding for pediatric cancer research. Where was the outrage from our leaders? American Democrats may not listen to the news all day, but they take time to watch a presidential speech. This was the moment for the Democrat party to make a sincere statement, to show the entire world they are taking this dismantling of our government very seriously. And they absolutely blew it.
What if the Dems had made a real plan? One that was the opposite of their silence. Of crouching. We don’t need a food strike; we need Norma Rae. It was a speech full of lies. It was a self-aggrandizing sermon, a call to the uneducated, uncaring, unacceptable among us to continue their destruction. We needed rising voices then. When he said that Federal workers are not showing up for work, we heard only silence from the Democrats. A boo would have been helpful for our collective mental well-being. Waiting for our Dem leaders to explain themselves during media rounds the next day is useless and cowardly. What is happening to this country, and our world, is terrifying. We need to see action from our Democrat leaders. It is about to be too late.
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Ten Democratic Representatives voted to censure Green, proving my point. When we silence our own party against the MAGA takedown, then we will lose it all. Shame.
In a Word 