President Donald Trump’s triumphant address before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night won the widespread approval of the American people. A CNN poll reported 69% positive responses among viewers. A CBS study measured 76% support.
Congressional Democrats, not so much.
Soon after Trump began his buoyant recap of his momentous first 43 days back in office, he eyed his scowling detractors. “I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud. Nothing I can do.”
Once again, Democrats validated Trump’s prediction. They continuously sat on their duffs and frowned as Trump delivered good news, and Republican lawmakers leaped up and cheered.
- “I have stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in America,” Trump said.
Democrats sat still.
- “ISIS terrorists killed 13 American service members and countless others in the Abbey Gate bombing during the disastrous and incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan,” Trump remarked. “Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity. And he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice.” (Sure enough, Mohammad Sharifullah, handcuffed and flanked by camouflaged FBI agents, landed at Washington Dulles International Airport on Wednesday morning.)
Democrats stayed put.
- President Joe Biden barely lifted a finger while Russia held American history teacher Marc Fogel hostage for three-and-a-half years. “I promised his 95-year-old mother, Malphine, that we would bring her boy safely back home. After 22 days in office, I did just that. And they are here tonight,” Trump said, welcoming Fogel and his near-centenarian mom, who sat in the House Visitors Gallery.
Democrats waved paddles that read “False” and “Musk steals.”
- Trump discussed Jason Hartley, a high school senior, also in the gallery. “Jason tragically lost his dad, who was also a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, when he was just a boy,” Trump explained. The varsity athlete with a 4.46 GPA—“that’s good”—itches to attend West Point. “That’s a hard one to get into,” Trump said. “But I’m pleased to inform you that your application has been accepted. You’ll soon be joining the Corps of Cadets.” Hartley beamed at this pleasant surprise.
Democrats fiddled with their smartphones.
- Devarjaye “D.J.” Daniel, 13, was diagnosed with Stage 3 brain cancer in 2018 and given five months to live. Six years later, he wants to become a police officer, and 908 law enforcement agencies have made him an honorary cop. In Tuesday’s most emotional moment, Trump said: “Tonight, D.J., we’re going to do you the biggest honor of them all. I am asking our new Secret Service director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service.” The young man’s eyes grew as wide as coasters as Curran handed him Secret Service credentials. D.J. gave a smiling Curran a hug—something seldom seen among those intrepid federal agents. Americans from coast to coast cried, not least yours truly.
Sedentary, heartless Democrats did not give a damn about a teenage cancer survivor who aspires to public service.
- Also in the gallery: the mother and sister of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student beaten and killed by an illegal alien, and Alexis Nungaray, whose 12-year-old daughter, Jocelyn, was kidnapped, assaulted for two hours, and killed, reportedly by two Venezuelan illegal immigrants.
“One thing I have learned about Jocelyn is that she loved animals so much. She loved nature,” Trump said. “Across Galveston Bay, from where Jocelyn lived in Houston, you will find a magnificent national wildlife refuge, a pristine, peaceful, 34,000-acre sanctuary for all of God’s creatures, on the edge of the Gulf of America. Alexis, moments ago, I formally renamed that refuge in loving memory of your beautiful daughter, Jocelyn.”
Laken’s and Jocelyn’s survivors wept, and so did the nation.
Democrats were their most morally repugnant when they neither stood nor applauded the mothers and sisters of two young women killed in cold blood by the illegal aliens, who Democrats cherish so dearly.
“They don’t stand for anything humane,” Alexis Nungaray said. “They don’t stand for us as citizens. They don’t stand for our security.”
To be fair, not every Democrat sat and pouted through these opportunities for national unity.
Rep. Al Green of Texas stood up early on. The 77-year-old interrupted Trump’s speech, berated him, and shook his cane at the president. After Green ignored House Speaker Mike Johnson’s command to sit down, the sergeant-at-arms booted Green from the House floor.
“You have no mandate!” Green hollered at Trump, who won 312 electoral votes, the popular vote, and all seven swing states. (The House voted Thursday morning 224-198 to censure Green. Ten Democrats joined all 214 Republicans present to punish Green for his outburst.)
Other Democrats walked out on Trump and posted on social media as they did so. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., brought a wheelchair-bound constituent as her guest. Pressley grew enraged with Trump, fled the House chamber, and left the disabled woman behind.
Democrats relentlessly accuse Trump of being mean and divisive. And yet they rejected multiple occasions to join him in applauding news that every American should relish and embracing those who are enduring unthinkable tragedies. Instead, Democrats wallowed in their anger, marinated in their bitterness, and stewed in their hatred of Trump and his 77 million voters.
All of this disappointed nonpsychotic Democrat John Fetterman. Pennsylvania’s senior U.S. senator called these protests “A sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance.” He added via X: “It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained. We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to—and it may not be the winning message.”
And how!
A Feb. 19 Quinnipiac survey of 1,039 registered voters found that 40% approve of congressional Republicans, a record-high, while 52% disapprove. A record-low 21% approve of congressional Democrats, while 68% disapprove. This week’s antics will plunge Democrats’ dismal numbers even deeper.
Democrats did not display leadership Tuesday night. They exhibited yet another spastic gasp in the death rattle of a dying political party.
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