‘Not Business As Usual’: Growing List of Democratic Lawmakers Say They’re Boycotting Trump’s State Of The Union

The list of Democratic lawmakers who say they will not attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night is growing.

Fox News’s Harris Faulkner reported Monday, “More than one dozen Democrats plan to ditch the address altogether, and they will head to the National Mall for a counter-rally instead.”

Many of the lawmakers took to X to explain their decision to boycott the speech.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) posted a video clip saying, “Donald Trump is violating the law and Constitution. He is ignoring court orders, he is weaponizing the Justice Department to go after his enemies, he is letting loose ICE troops in our streets that are getting people killed.”

“I will not be attending the State of the Union,” Schiff continued. “I’ve never missed one. I have always gone, both to inaugurations and to States of the Union, but we cannot treat this as normal. This is not business as usual. I will not give him the audience he craves for the lies that he tells. I’ll be outside the Capitol with MeidasTouch and MoveOn for The People’s State of the Union.”

Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) said Trump uses his speeches “to pillory his political enemies and spread lies – not to mention they’re long and boring.”

Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH) echoed Schiff’s sentiment, writing, “We cannot continue with business as usual while our democracy is under attack by a President who thinks he is above the law.”

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-TX) said, “There are more productive things I can do with my time then just sitting there for two hours and just clapping on cue. Right now, this country is hurting..there’s a lot of work to be done, and it’s not gonna happen in two hours when the president’s just gonna be using that bully pulpit as a way to just push further and further his agenda.”

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) wrote, “I’m not attending his State of the Union to listen to him ramble and lie.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told reporters Wednesday that members of his caucus “could either attend the address in ‘silent defiance’ or participate in ‘alternate programming’ around the Capitol complex.”

Jeffries told The New York Times that he will attend the speech, saying, “You never let anyone run you off your block.”

Fox News spoke to Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) over the weekend who said he hopes “all the other Democrats that choose to come, that we don’t do the same kinds of things that happened at the last year. I mean, it was really undignified, and just the thing — I don’t care who the president is, don’t yell and disrupt that. It’s like you really should respect the office.”

Others said they plan to bring special guests to get under Trump’s skin.

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) told Fox News he’ll be bringing survivors of sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein.

“I want the president to look the victims and their families in the eyes and say that this investigation is over and there’s nothing more to see, because that’s what he has been saying. He has yet to issue an apology to them,” Subramanyan said, while Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said she’ll be bringing two of her constituents who were detained by ICE.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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