A chamber divided in real time.
Trump’s State of the Union was probably always going to be a disaster, but few expected one of the more striking moments of the night to come from a handwritten sign held in the House chamber.
The sign, held by Rep. Al Green was a handwritten message aimed directly to Trump “Black People Aren’t Apes.”
The message was in response to a controversial social media post Trump had shared earlier this month. The post, which was AI generated, depicted former President Barack Obama and former First lady Michelle Obama as apes.
The video was later deleted due to a swarm of backlash, but the damage was done. It seems the video is just another escalation into overt racism from the Trump administration.
It didn’t take long for tensions to rise within the Chamber.
Many women showed up in white, the colour of suffrage in reference to the SAVE America Act, legislation critics say could make voter registration more difficult for married women, Black voters and LGBTQ+ Americans.
Others chose to wear pins that said “Release the — files”, a redaction bar covering the name before “Files.”
California Rep. Norma Torres, also displayed signs, hers’ depicting Renée Good and Alex Pretti, captioned, “Premeditated Murder.”
Even before the event started, swaths of Democrats had already boycotted the event. Some instead attended a “People’s State of the Union” Rally, which occurred at the same time as The State of the Union.
Rep. Al Green’s sign, which fellow Representative, Steve Scalise, tried to pull down, caused him to be escorted from the chamber, the sign still raised high for all to see.
Green told NBC News, “The first time it was spontaneity. This time it was with intentionality. I wanted to make sure that I got a message to him. That’s why I took the seat where I was on the aisle, so that I could give it to him personally.”
Clocking in as the longest State of the Union in history, the speech prompts a question: Was the extended runtime reflected substantive governance, or a president’s appetite for the spotlight?
