President Donald Trump will address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday for the first time in five years. Democrats are determined not to make their response all about him.<\/p>\n

That might come as a surprise for those who remember what ensued during Trump\u2019s first term. His congressional addresses became a prominent stage for the Democratic resistance, with lawmakers booing, chanting and walking out at times. Many chose outfits and invited guests to make a point. Most famously, in 2020, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up a copy of Trump\u2019s speech while seated directly behind him on the dais.<\/p>\n

This time, many Democrats are signaling they\u2019ll take a less pugilistic stance \u2014 the latest sign that the party is still coming to terms with how to confront the president, even as the party base grows increasingly restless<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2017, a lot of us felt like Donald Trump was an anomaly. In 2025, he won the election. Everybody knows who he is. He said what he was going to do, and the country still voted for him, so I think we have to be very strategic as Democrats,\u201d said Rep. Ami Bera<\/a> (D-Calif.).<\/p>\n

That strategy, 10 Democratic lawmakers said in interviews, is to use the speech to focus on the impacts of Trump\u2019s second-term policies. Some are bringing guests to highlight the Trump administration\u2019s radical overhaul of the federal bureaucracy, including union leaders, laid-off government workers and others affected by the federal funding freeze.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a protest isn’t going to win us the next election,\u201d Bera said. \u201cInstead, we should say, \u2018Look, that’s what he’s doing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Several Democrats said they were just as interested in highlighting the cuts implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency, run by billionaire hatchet man Elon Musk, as they were in shining a light on Trump himself.<\/p>\n

In fact, private guidance sent to Democratic lawmakers and obtained by Blue Light News urged them to coalesce around a message that \u201cDemocrats are on the side of the American people while Trump and Republicans in Congress stand with Elon Musk and billionaire donors.\u201d They are also being urged to \u201cbring a guest who has been harmed by the Trump administration\u2019s early actions or will be hurt by the House Republican budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably, there does not appear to be a mass Democratic boycott of Trump\u2019s speech in the works, as there was in past years<\/a>. Rather than skip the speech, some Democrats said they wanted to show that Trump faces opposition \u2014 the image of seated, stern-faced Democrats while Republicans stand and cheer. Rep. Pramila Jayapal<\/a> (D-Wash.) said it was important that the viewing public \u201csees a significant presence of us there.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a universal sentiment. Rep. Don Beyer<\/a> (D-Va.), who represents a substantial population of federal employees in his suburban district just outside Washington, said he\u2019ll skip the speech after attending addresses during Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe notion of half my colleagues rising and standing and enormous clapping for \u2026 things that I think are terrible for the American people every couple minutes will not be funny,\u201d he said. \u201cI don’t see that I’ll contribute anything to the event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s speech is not technically a State of the Union, but it will go off with much of the same pomp and circumstance. Trump is widely expected to use the speech as a theatrical spectacle not only to show off his overhaul of the federal government and his dismantling of Democratic priorities but to create viral moments that will delight his MAGA base. (In 2020, for instance, he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to talk show host Rush Limbaugh live from the rostrum.)<\/p>\n

Democratic leaders are indicating they will not take the bait as they try to keep the focus on Trump\u2019s policies and the cost of living. They chose Sen. Elissa Slotkin<\/a> of Michigan to deliver the party\u2019s official response \u2014 a lawmaker who ran a disciplined campaign last year focusing on economic issues and won a state where Trump also prevailed.<\/p>\n

Rep. Adriano Espaillat<\/a> (D-N.Y.) has been tapped to give a Spanish-language response, with party leaders signaling that he, too, could be discussing economic issues. The progressive Working Families Party has Rep. Lateefah Simon<\/a> (D-Calif.) delivering a separate left-flank rebuttal.<\/p>\n

Asked about the speech, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> said Thursday that Trump needed to answer the questions: \u201cWhy has he failed to do anything to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America, and why has the Trump administration unleashed far-right extremism on the American people in a way that represents an assault on the American way of life?\u201d<\/p>\n

Large-scale disruption is still unlikely. Some lawmakers have privately discussed walking out as an entire caucus during the speech or wearing pink hats in protest, but there\u2019s less enthusiasm for such demonstrations than in past years.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say lawmakers aren\u2019t upset. Many Democrats are still figuring out how to channel their anger with Trump over lingering memories of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection and fresher emotions over his pardons of the rioters, along with the president’s continued dismantling of cherished federal programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s so much more abusive, but my job is to be there,\u201d said Rep. Norma Torres<\/a> (D-Calif.), who is bringing as her guest a fire chief from her southern California district to highlight planned FEMA cuts.<\/p>\n

One more conspicuous gesture of protest will come from members of the Democratic Women\u2019s Caucus, which will be making a statement with their choice of clothing, according to Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez<\/a> (D-N.M.), the group\u2019s chair. It\u2019s a reprise of a gesture they employed during the first Trump term, when they wore white to honor suffragettes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen across this country are furious,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so I think we’re going to bring that fury to the State of the Union in creative ways, and we’re going to make sure that Trump knows and that Americans who are watching understand Trump’s America.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least one prominent Trump antagonist could be among them: Pelosi plans to attend, according to a spokesperson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"