What The Hell America!

Donald Trump’s long State of the Union reached new levels of horror and mendacity. Some House Democrats protested by dressing all in pink or waving signs that said simply “False” when the president said something untrue. But eleven-term congressman Al Green, age seventy-seven, handled the situation more forcefully. When Trump bragged about his “mandate,” Green stood and interrupted the address, waving his cane and shouting, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!”

It’s hard to imagine how any Democrat could have made a more relevant, morally urgent, and politically savvy intervention during that speech. Nearly one in four Americans depend on Medicaid, including many Trump voters. As unpopular as much of the Trump/Elon Musk agenda is, the move to cut Medicaid and Social Security is by far the most widely hated. Republican elected officials are hearing about it from panicked constituents across the country. Gutting the program would cause chaos and mayhem in our health care system. People would suffer horribly. Many would die.

It would also be politically stupid of the Republicans to do this, as Michael Kinnucan has argued. According to a 2024 Kaiser Family Foundation poll, 71 percent of people think the program should continue and two-thirds support expanding it. But that doesn’t mean the GOP won’t cut it. It’s not clear the extent to which elections or popular feelings matter to this administration, and cutting Medicaid is a long-standing goal of theirs.

Speaker Mike Johnson had Green removed from the premises by the Sergeant at Arms when the congressman refused to be quiet. Green, who represents a largely black and working-class district, told reporters afterward that his constituents were poor and feared losing their health care, and that in the “richest country in the world,” everyone should have health care. Asked about the tactic of interrupting the president’s speech, he said that Trump “uses his incivility against our civility,” and that it was important to let voters know about the issue.

The Republican-majority House voted earlier today to censure Green for his protest. There are no practical consequences to a vote of censure, but it is a severe rebuke to a lawmaker by their colleagues.

Green’s action expressed a readiness to defend his constituents and to lead by example. It’s the kind of gumption that Democrats need to be projecting to the world in their opposition to Trump, a gumption that they have so far been lacking. Anyone other than a Trump supporter who is fretting about decorum or respect at this point has lost the plot. Green was standing up for a cherished welfare-state policy that millions of Americans depend on for their very survival. If more Democrats shared Green’s willingness to fight on such issues, Americans might not have so much palpable disdain for them.

Yet in their unfailing capacity to kick the ball into their own team’s net, Democrats have not united behind Green and his energetic, popular message. Even worse, some prominent Democrats went out of their way even on Wednesday to condemn Green’s action.

Senator Chris Coons of Delaware told the Hill that Green’s protest was “counterproductive” and “went beyond decorum.” Former Barack Obama operative David Axelrod went much further, calling Green’s action “despicable.” Senator John Fetterman took a swipe not only at Green but at the milder Democratic protests — the anti-DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) T-shirts and signs — calling the scene a “sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance.” Jamaal Bowman’s dismal replacement in New York’s sixteenth district, Rep. George Latimer, told Axios that Green’s disruption was “inappropriate.” Rep. Tom Suozzi of Long Island called it “boneheaded” and a “big mistake.”

Showing the voters just how much they really care about their health, well-being, and survival, ten Democrats went so far as to vote with the Republicans to censure Green: Rep. Ami Bera of California, Rep. Ed Case of Hawaii, Rep. Jim Costa of California, Rep. Laura Gillen of New York, Rep. James Himes of Connecticut, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, and Suozzi.

Any Democrat condemning Green’s protest or voting to censure him should know no peace. Their constituents should be ceaselessly demanding to know what they are doing to protect health care for the poor, working class, disabled, and elderly — and why their elected officials thought it was a good use of their time to condemn their colleague who was standing up for exactly such policies.

In his speech, Trump did not mention Medicaid once. As Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pointed out in an Instagram live stream after the event, that’s because the Republicans are planning to cut Medicaid but realize that’s unpopular. Directly addressing Trump’s supporters, she said, “MAGA: Trump is coming for your Medicaid.”

Green said that despite the censure, he would carry out his protest again, because he believed that “in the richest country in the world, people should not be without good health care.” As he told ABC News, “At some point, we’re all going to have to stand up.”

He’s right, and some of his colleagues seem to agree. After the censure vote, a group of them gathered around him singing “We Shall Overcome” in a show of solidarity, delaying Speaker Johnson from formally carrying out the censure. That protest was one of many signs that despite the extraordinary assaults on democracy and the working class of the second Trump administration, the Democratic Party’s elected officials are divided between those hampered by the arid conventions of the past, and those who are ready to fight.