(Adnkronos) – Congressional Democrats are preparing for demonstrations of protest and defiance against Donald Trump during the State of the Union address that the president will deliver this evening. A group of Democrats will completely boycott the traditional joint session of Congress, which will begin at 9 PM Washington time, to participate in the counter-demonstration, the “People’s State of Union” organized by progressive groups on the National Mall in Washington to give a voice “to Americans who suffer most from Trump’s dangerous agenda”.
A counter-event, the “State of Swamp,” referring to the state of the swamp, was also organized at the National Press Club, wielding against Trump the term he has so often used to indicate Washington’s corruption. This event, however, will begin before the president’s speech, and some Democrats are considering attending this first and then moving to the chamber to listen to Trump. The number of Democrats who will still boycott the speech is substantial, and among them is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the congresswoman and leader of the progressive wing of the Democratic party who is considered a possible candidate for the White House in 2028.
“After watching President Trump trample the Constitution, openly disrespect Congress, and commit acts of corruption while he and his family use his office to enrich themselves and stain the country I love, I will not honor him with my presence at the State of the Union,” declared Ami Bera, a California congresswoman who will boycott the speech.
The Democratic leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, has recommended that members who choose to attend the speech in the chamber maintain a “defiant silence,” without verbal protests. But many have decided to express their protest by choosing guests that each member of Congress can invite. This choice fell on women who survived the abuses of Jeffrey Epstein and his sex trafficking network, such as Haley Robson, who was invited by Ro Khanna, the Democrat who first championed the approval of the law for the publication of the Epstein files. The Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, also invited an Epstein violence survivor, Dani Bensky.
Among the Democratic guests this evening will also be George Retes, a 26-year-old American citizen who was arrested and detained for three days by ICE, whose story “shows the abuse of power and cruelty of the Trump administration which carries out raids against innocent men, women, and children in a desperate attempt to meet deportation quotas,” said Representative Mark Takano.
Finally, as they also did during Trump’s first term, many Democratic women will be dressed in white this evening, in a nod to the suffragette movement to remind how this president and this administration are attacking women’s rights, including the right to vote. There are also Democrats who are announcing more dramatic protest gestures, such as leaving the chamber during the speech: “the only question is what disgusting phrase will make me get up and leave, because I will,” said Representative Jared Huffman.
