Welp Al Green decided he wanted to do what he did last year and crash out of the State of the Union. He was initially holding up the following sign
I guess with this being his last SOTU he thought this would make a mark but he’s getting the boot this election.
It’s easy to treat this like a protest moment.
He was responding to Trump calling Barack and Michelle Obama “apes.”
That was the least he could have done.
The more interesting signal is inside the speech itself.
The word distribution tells you what’s being emphasized:
• America / American — 58
• people — 44
• border — 31
• security — 25
• war — 22
And what’s not there:
• education — 0
• democracy — 0
• climate — 0
• middle (as in middle class) — 0

President Trump never called them that. Its kinda crazy you think he did.
Not to mention his words make sense when you look at the platform he ran on. Stopping endless wars, border security, immigration, and putting Americans first.
He didn’t say it in a speech. That's true. He shared a video that depicted the Obamas that way, which is why people are reacting.
That distinction matters, but so does the history: depicting Black people as apes is a long-standing racist trope, which is why amplifying it carries weight beyond “just a meme.”
Any you think he writes all of his posts on his phone? Haven't you seen the videos were that is clearly not the case? He dictates posts but he doesnt write them. The video was something that was reposted so its not rocket science to say and think that hes telling the truth when he says he didnt do it
What’s the evidence he didn’t say it vs it being attributed to him?
Literally the videos and documentaries from the last 10 years following him around showing that he doesnt post..... pretty basic.....
Plus I'd say 99.9% of Members on both sides and in both chambers don't have their official accounts on their phones they have burners on their phones and their comms staff has the device thats logged in.
I can’t find another SOTU where a president calls the opposing party ‘crazy’ in the chamber.
Dems threw decorum out the window years ago. There has never been a Speaker of the House tear up the President's speech like Pelosi did but thats not talked about.
You’d think this is about decorum.
But the speech itself shows the shift.
— in the chamber
— directed at members
That’s not comparable to tearing up a paper after the speech.
One is post-event protest.
The other is direct, in-speech targeting of the opposing party.
Different layer entirely.
I guess you could be right if we chalk up FDR to threatening his own party.... not exactly a good look though
Both sides have long gone after each other in the chambers its why Decorum is really just a dead thing.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/03/07/bad-behavior-state-of-the-union-00145473
Not on par.
FDR pressure was intra-party + policy leverage.
This week’s SOTU includes direct, in-chamber language at the opposing party:
That’s not procedural pressure or post-speech protest.
That’s explicit, on-the-floor verbal targeting.
I can’t find another SOTU with this kind of direct, in-chamber language at the opposing party. That’s not ‘decorum slipping’. It's the President using the address to demean the opposition on the floor.
Look this isn’t some crazy thing you can get mad at the words but Jackson did threaten to hang people so ya know that’s a little excessive.
Obama did it in his SOTU in 2010 albeit more so by going after the Supreme Court and then Republicans. Biden called MAGA Republicans a threat in a speech before Congress
Good comp bringing up Jackson.
Both reflect a view that civil rights expansions were a threat to white political power.
But the mechanism is different:
Jackson used power aggressively, often behind the scenes.
He didn’t use the State of the Union itself to demean people in the chamber.
That’s the distinction.