Trump Delivers Longest State of the Union in History Featuring Protests, Attacks on Lawmakers and Supreme Court in Preview of Midterm Message

President Trump on Tuesday delivered the longest State of the Union address in history, featuring attacks on Democratic lawmakers, criticism of Supreme Court justices, and calls for Republicans to get behind his agenda. Dozens of Democrats boycotted the speech in anticipation that the address would feature several attacks on them. The president spoke for nearly two hours on Tuesday night, beating President Clinton’s previous State of the Union record of one hour and 24 minutes. The speech was marred by attacks on lawmakers who, in turn, tried to protest and shout down the president. It was clear from before the speech even began that he would not receive a warm welcome from Democrats. One Democratic lawmaker from Texas, Congressman Al Green — who was censured for yelling at the president during last year’s address to a joint session of Congress — held up a sign that read, “Black People Aren’t Apes.” It was clearly a reference to Mr. Trump’s recent Truth Social post, which included a brief AI-generated image of President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama with their heads on the bodies of primates. Mr. Greene was promptly escorted from the chamber by someone who appeared to be an officer with the Sergeant at Arms’ office, though not before Republicans tried to rip the sign out of his hand. Throughout the course of the speech, Mr. Trump delivered a number of lines trying to goad Democrats into either booing or not standing. When he asked lawmakers to stand if they believed that the United States government’s chief responsibility was protecting American citizens, no Democrats stood to applaud.“Isn’t that a shame? You should be ashamed of yourselves [for] not standing up,” Mr. Trump said to the Democratic side of the aisle. “You should be ashamed.” That prompted several Democratic lawmakers to yell at him. At another point, as he was talking about solving conflicts abroad, Mr. Trump called Democrats “sick people” for laughing at him. Early on in his speech, he also attacked members of the Supreme Court who were seated in the front row. Chief Justice Roberts and other members of the court — Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett — were in attendance. Despite criticizing them last week, he warmly greeted them before going after the jurists for their “unfortunate” decision to declare many of his tariffs illegal. Of those justices in attendance on Tuesday, only Justice Kavanaugh voted to uphold the tariff regime. “Everything was working well,” Mr. Trump said during his State of the Union, criticizing “an unfortunate ruling from the United States Supreme Court.” After leveling his criticism of the court, several Republicans in the chamber began clapping. Mr. Trump called on members of Congress to pass funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which was shut down more than a week ago after Senate Democrats refused to provide the votes necessary to end debate. When he talked about immigration and ICE enforcement operations, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar — who represents a district where two American citizens were killed by immigration officers in recent months — yelled at the president calling him a “liar” and a “sick f–k.”“You’re killing American citizens!” she shouted at him several times. Dozens of Democrats skipped the speech on Tuesday in what marked the largest attempt to counter-program a president’s State of the Union address in modern history. More than 30 members of Congress spoke on the western lawn of the Capitol complex at the “People’s State of the Union” organized by the liberal activist group MoveOn. “Donald Trump is making a mockery of this institution and he does not deserve an audience,” Senator Chris Murphy told supporters at the MoveOn rally just a few hundred feet from the House chamber where Mr. Trump was speaking. “Out democracy is wilting under ceaseless attacks from a president who wants to be a despot,” Mr. Murphy said. The Connecticut senator’s speech focused a great deal on ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, which are currently shut down as Senate Democrats block a funding extension for the department. He was joined on stage by Fereshteh Ganjavi, a refugee from Afghanistan and activist from Connecticut who has lived in the United States for 15 years. Ms. Ganjavi said she was attending the rally to tell the crowd about how her organization has been bombarded by calls from immigrants in Connecticut who want to know whether or not they are safe. “Fear is not abstract — it is in our classrooms, it is in our clinics, and it is in our homes,” she told the crowd. The official Democratic response to Mr. Trump’s speech was delivered by Governor Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, who won her race last November by 15 points in what many observers saw as an overwhelming rebuke of Mr. Trump. Speaking from Colonial Williamsburg — a 300-acre museum dedicated to Virginia’s anti-monarchy history — Ms. Spanberger said Mr. Trump is delivering two things: higher costs and more chaos. “The damage to us — the American people — has already been felt,” Ms. Spanberger said, referring to the president’s import taxes. She called on Americans to tap into their “abiding sense of duty to community” in standing up to Mr. Trump. “Here’s the truth … our president has endangered the long and storied history of the United States of America of being a force for good,” the Virginia governor said. “He lied, he scapegoated, and he distracted,” she added, referring to his speech. Ms. Spanberger, toward the end of her speech, offered a hopeful not for Democrats. She cited her own victory in a 2018 congressional election in which she flipped a seat to Democratic from Republican. “Those who are stepping up now to run will win in November,” she told the audience.

Trump Delivers Longest State of the Union in History Featuring Protests, Attacks on Lawmakers and Supreme Court in Preview of Midterm Message

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