House Dems Condemn Fellow Rep for ‘Inappropriate’ Heckling of Trump: ‘We Should Be Treating the President With Deference’

Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP

Several House Democrats condemned Rep. Al Green (D-TX) for repeatedly heckling President Donald Trump and refusing to take his seat this week, calling the outburst “inappropriate” while refusing to rule out voting for a censure.

After Green was escorted out of the chamber for shouting at Trump and rejecting calls to stop, Rep. George Latimer (D-NY) told Axios the protest was “inappropriate.”

“When a president — my president, your president — is speaking, we don’t interrupt, we don’t pull those stunts,” he argued.

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) also called the protest “inappropriate,” telling Axios, “I think it was a big mistake… I’m an old-school traditional type guy, I think we should be treating the president with deference. So I think it was inappropriate.”

“I didn’t take that approach myself, so obviously I don’t condone it,” weighed in Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME). “If anyone is thinking that it was an effective strategy, they’re probably in an echo chamber. My take is that the average American thought the optics were pretty bad.”

Another unnamed House Democrat criticized their colleagues for refusing to stand up for a 13-year-old brain cancer survivor during the address.

“It would be a compliment to call it a strategy,” they told Axios. “Not standing for Trump would have been a fine strategy, but you need to separate him from the kid with cancer.”

House Republicans advanced a motion on Wednesday to censure Green, who doubled down on his actions and said he would “do it again.”

Several House Democrats, including Golden and Rep. Don Davis (D-NC), wouldn’t rule out voting for the censure.