In the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s nearly two-hour State of the Union address, Republican and Democrat members of Congress went running to the media to start the messaging war.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., told The Daily Signal that Trump’s speech Tuesday was, “one of the best State of the Union speeches ever.”
“It was really well done,” Johnson added. “Great content, great delivery.”
Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., told The Daily Signal that the speech was “powerful” and “professional.”
“It was powerful, professional and touched on all the points that I think I was looking to hear,” Harris stated. “He described the situation that he inherited, all the way to all of the things he has done in his first year.”
The president’s nearly two-hour address covered his administration’s successes on immigration, the economy, and foreign policy. But the president also called on Congress to act on several key issues, such as health care, tech policy, and election integrity.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told The Daily Signal that “we need lower health care costs. The fact that the president is focused on it gives it hope we can accomplish it.”
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said that the president “was absolutely right” in mentioning his plans in things like AI and data centers.
“If we can’t figure out how to build data centers and not increase electricity costs, then all the other problems we got are going to be much harder, so I think the President was absolutely right,” Donalds stated.
Democrats, on the other hand, claimed Trump’s speech was performative and sought to divide the country.
Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., told The Daily Signal the speech was “typical, terrible, horrible, divisive, racist.” and “immigrant vilifying.”
During the speech, Democrats defied Trump’s address by shouting at the president, sitting down during standing ovations, and refusing to commemorate American athletes, victims of violent crime and war heroes.
At one point, Democrats refused to stand in agreement with the president on the American government being for the benefit of American citizens, rather than illegal aliens.
“We are in pretty tough shape,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Dela., told The Daily Signal. “I was hoping for a unifying speech. The recognition of the Olympic gold medal team was positive, the recognition of our decorated veterans was positive. Other than that, there was a lot of disagreement.”
Johnson and Donalds condemned the Democrat disruptors and did not rule out administering consequences to them.
“It’s shameful what the Democrats did tonight, that should be beneath under any member of Congress,” Johnson stated.
In response to whether they will be punished for their defiance, Johnson said “we’ll find out.”
“Democrats crazily have decided to take the 20% side of 80-20 issues,” Donalds said on the SAVE America Act and Republicans’ election integrity push.
“The SAVE America Act, actually requiring voter ID so you prove you are who you say you are before you cast your ballot, everyone supports it except Democrats on capitol hill,” Donalds said. “Insanity.”
“The Democrats have decided they want to be on the wrong side of history,” Donalds concluded.
