Dems Announce Boycott Of Trump’s State Of The Union

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This Tuesday, shortly before the Republican majority in the Senate formally votes to acquit him in his ongoing impeachment trial, President Donald Trump will be delivering his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress gathered in the U.S. House chamber. Seven Congressional Democrats and counting have announced ahead of the event that they’ll be skipping the speech as a protest measure against his ongoing volatile and belligerent behavior, which Congressional Republicans have largely refused to work to rein in.

As of early Tuesday afternoon, those who’ve announced boycotts of Trump’s State of the Union address include Reps. Maxine Waters (Calif.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Al Green (Texas), Steve Cohen (Tenn.), Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), Hank Johnson (Ga.) and Frederica Wilson (Fla.), all of whom have also boycotted Trump’s speeches in the past. Some of them, like Ocasio-Cortez and Wilson, have also themselves been targeted by the president and his supporters with angry public rants. For example, in 2017, Trump whined that the Florida Rep. was “wacky” after she criticized his behavior towards Gold Star families.

Wilson referenced the incident in her explanation for skipping Trump’s speech, insisting that the president is “too disrespectful toward women, immigrant children, Gold Star families and poor people.”

Meanwhile, on Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez added:

‘None of this is normal, and I will not legitimize it.’

Green — who was one of the very first members of Congress to come out in support of impeaching Trump — got even more direct. On Twitter, he commented:

‘Because of an impeached, reckless, ruthless, lawless, shameless, corrupt, & unapologetically bigoted president – who is still engaging in a coverup, the state of the House, the state of the Senate, and the #StateOfTheUnion are divided.’

Rep. Johnson observed:

‘During normal times, I would consider it my duty to attend and hear the President’s agenda for the upcoming year. Unfortunately, these are not normal times.’

Back in 2018, a full 14 Democrats ended up skipping Trump’s State of the Union speech as controversy raged about his reported dismissal of countries in Africa as “shithole countries.” This time around, as of early Tuesday, it’s unclear what references that Trump might include to the impeachment process in his speech. White House press secretary and committed Trump shill Hogan Gidley told reporters:

‘I’ve read through the speech and I’ve not seen the word impeachment. As he likes to say, we’ll see what happens, but I haven’t seen it.’

In other words — it appears as though his advisers may have wanted Trump to stay away from impeachment during his remarks, but anyone who’s observed the president for any significant amount of time is likely very familiar with his penchant for veering wildly off script with egomaniacal, campaign rally-style rants.

He has previously used the opportunity of the State of the Union speech to rail against his opponents who have dared to investigate his behavior. In 2019, shortly after Democrats became the majority in the House, he railed:

‘If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn’t work that way! We must be united at home to defeat our adversaries abroad.’

Democrats did not exactly heed his call.