At the very least 10 Democratic lawmakers have introduced their intent to boycott President Donald Trump’s annual State of the Union handle Tues
At the very least 10 Democratic lawmakers have introduced their intent to boycott President Donald Trump’s annual State of the Union handle Tuesday night time, citing his recent impeachment and propensity for false statements.
Although members of the Home and Senate from each events historically attend the speech, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Maxine Waters, Al Inexperienced, Bennie Thompson, Bobby Rush, Steve Cohen, Earl Blumenauer, Hank Johnson, and Frederica Wilson have all elected to skip the event this year.
In a statement on Twitter, Pressley mentioned that “The State of the Union is hurting due to the occupant of the White Home… I can’t in good conscience attend tonight’s sham #SOTU.”
Inexperienced, Cohen, Blumenauer, Johnson, and Wilson all took a cross on the speech last year too, although the others selected to attend. Waters and Thompson, who chair the Monetary Companies and Homeland Safety committees respectively, are each members of the Home Democratic management; their absence, together with that of high-profile first-term members Ocasio-Cortez and Pressley, is particularly noteworthy.
Ocasio-Cortez said that she made her choice as a result of she felt attending would normalize and legitimize “Trump’s lawless conduct & subversion of the Structure”; she additionally emphasised that the selection was “deeply private” for each member of Congress.