Al Green’s removal from Trump’s Congress address highlights double standard between Democrats and Republicans
Al Green’s removal from Donald Trump’s Congress address after his interruption highlights a double standard between Democrats and Republicans, considering the many past interruptions from Marjorie Taylor Greene that failed to result in removal.
It’s practically impossible to deny that Democrats are consistently held to exceptionally high standards of decorum, professionalism, and perfection, while Republicans aren’t held to the same standards. Americans will recall how Vice President Kamala Harris was expected to be perfect during her presidential campaign. A single stumbled answer or unpopular opinion would spark criticism and ridicule nationwide, while people brushed off Trump silently dancing or talking about penises during his appearances. One will also recall how President Joe Biden, Harris, and Democratic leaders were expected to welcome the incoming administration warmly and unquestioningly accept the election results, while Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration and staged an insurrection with his followers after the 2020 election. Just months after Republican leaders relentlessly mocked Tim Walz’s minor son without consequence, the President of NYU’s Campus Republicans was forced to resign for failing to give an embellished account of Barron Trump’s college experience.
Now, Democrats are removed from Congress for interruptions, while Republicans like Greene get away with following no House rules or standards of professionalism.
Al Green removed from Donald Trump’s address for protest
Interruptions during Presidential addresses to Congress or official State of the Union addresses aren’t uncommon. What was unusual about Green’s interruption last night was that he was removed from the chamber. Several minutes into Trump’s address, Green stood up to protest Trump’s cuts to Medicaid, shouting, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!” When he continued protesting, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson ordered the sergeant at arms to remove Green from the chamber. After the meeting, Johnson suggested he wanted to “censure” Green for the protest, which seems like an extreme measure considering heckling isn’t unheard of during such addresses.
The reaction to Green’s interruption is a stark contrast to how Greene’s many disruptions have been handled. Both Greene and Rep. Lauren Boebert have heckled, interrupted, and booed Biden across multiple State of the Union addresses without being removed. In 2022, Boebert yelled at and interrupted Biden when he was talking about his late son during his State of the Union address. Just last year, Biden was forced to go off script to respond to Greene, who was decked out in MAGA merchandise, after she repeatedly interrupted his State of the Union address. She and fellow Republicans consistently interrupted, heckled, booed, and called Biden a liar over the years.
On social media, users quickly pulled up videos and pictures of Greene and Boebert paralleling Green’s protest. They can be seen standing, yelling, and gesturing while throwing decorum to the wind. The only real difference is that they weren’t removed.
It’s amusing the right would even start talking about “decorum” when they have Greene on their side, the living antithesis of decorum. She has repeatedly blatantly broken House rules by decking herself in MAGA merch on the House floor and refusing to wear a mask. House committees have devolved into chaos because of her personal insults and attacks on her fellow members. She has relentlessly heckled Biden and levied the absolute lowest insults at Democratic leaders while both on and off the clock. Even during Trump’s latest address, Republicans were hardly showing “decorum” by ripping signs out of the hands of Democrats peacefully protesting Trump.
So, let’s stop pretending Green’s removal was about decorum or that he did anything so far outside the usual heckling and disruptions. He was treated differently because he was a Democrat and was protesting a notoriously thin-skinned administration.
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