This article was originally published to Watchdog Weekly. Read it here.
The image of a nation “bigger, better, richer, and stronger than ever” Donald Trump described in his State of the Union Address is one that a growing number of Americans hardly seem to recognize.
Yet on Tuesday night the president spent nearly two hours peddling the fantasy of an American “Golden Age.” Chock full of dubious claims of a “roaring” economy, secure borders, and orderly cities, Trump’s marathon address attempted to rewrite the past year of government erosion as a “turnaround for the ages.”
The success of Trump’s efforts to sell the fantasy of national resurgence is a matter of political survival for a president and party increasingly at odds with the public. CNN polling data released mere days before the ceremony revealed that 61% of Americans disapproved of the president’s direction for the country. Likewise, a new Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found that a majority of voters disapprove of Trump’s approach to every single one of his priority issues. In stark contrast to claims of a “turnaround of the ages” under the Trump administration, 57% of Americans reported the state of the union is “not strong,” and 60% believe the country is fundamentally worse off than it was a year ago.
Instead of meeting this false prosperity narrative head-on, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) urged his caucus to coalesce around a strategy of “silent defiance.” By sitting stone-faced, withholding applause, and conspicuously scrolling through their phones, attendees could signal their opposition with decorum-friendly disruption.
Anything more, party leaders argued, risked offering a desperate Republican Party opportunities to deflect attention. Yet the silent defiance of Democratic lawmakers didn’t prevent Trump from recasting his opponents as villains throughout the address. When the President demanded the chamber stand for American citizens over “illegal aliens,” Trump used Democratic non-participation as an excuse to brand the party as “crazy.”
Appeals toward dignified institutionalism were completely overshadowed by moments of overt confrontation from Democrats who refused to stay quiet.
Representative Al Green (D-TX) once again set the tone for such “righteous incivility” by confronting the president over his racist rhetoric. Green was removed from the chamber for holding a sign that read “Black people aren’t apes!”—a direct response to a since-deleted social media post in which Trump depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
Similarly, Representative Norma Torres (D-CA) forced the human cost of the administration’s domestic occupations into view by holding up photographs of Alex Pretti and Renee Good—whose killings went unmentioned during Trump’s speech. Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Sarah McBride (D-Del) shouted down the president multiple times before leaving early; over 50 Democrats boycotted the event entirely, opting to attend counter-demonstrations instead.
Such instances of overt resistance have come to dominate the media cycle. This shows that picking fights is good politics. Of course, RDP has always argued for Democrats to get more aggressive against corrupt governance, but voters themselves are increasingly calling “bullshit” on opposition tactics that prioritize institutional norms over populist antagonism.
What Jeffries and his ilk fail to realize and/or willfully ignore is that silence in this political moment looks more like cowardly acquiescence than stoic defiance. Sincere anger conveys more authenticity than risk averse decorum. A Democratic Party committed to earning voter support would be doing everything in its power to shake off the passivity that has largely defined their resistance to Trump 2.0–and the communications strategy of the elderly President Biden.
If the Democrats continue to whisper while Trump shouts, they will find themselves wondering why a public suffering under Republican authoritarianism remains reluctant to hand them the keys to power.
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