Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., applaud as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Rep. George Latimer, D-N.Y., told Axios he believed the outbursts were "inappropriate."
"When a president — my president, your president — is speaking, we don't interrupt, we don't pull those stunts," he said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, escorted out of the chamber after the Democrat repeatedly jeered at Trump, waving his cane during the speech. Some Democrats had warned their colleagues against protesting Trump, with former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying they should let him "stew in his own juice."
Democrats protested nonetheless, including remaining seated as Trump celebrated his policies, and held up signs reading "false," "lies," "Musk steals," and "Save Medicaid." Some female Democratic lawmakers wore pink suits in protest of policies they claim are anti-woman, while other Democrats were heard jeering Trump throughout the speech.
A centrist, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, told Axios, "I didn't take that approach myself, so obviously I don't condone it."
"If anyone is thinking that it was an effective strategy, they're probably in an echo chamber," Golden added. "My take is that the average American thought the optics were pretty bad.
Democratic members of Congress hold up signs reading "Save Medicaid" and "Protect Veterans" as President Donald Trump speaks on March 4, 2025. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
"It would be a compliment to call it a strategy," the lawmaker added, noting the progressives' signs were edited online to read "TDS," referring to the term known as "Trump Derangement Syndrome."
Progressives, meanwhile, argued that a lack of direction from leadership forced them to develop their own approach.
"There was definitely frustration about lack of guidance [or a] plan," one progressive member of Congress told Axios.
"People are super pissed that we didn't get more direction from leadership," another progressive added.
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Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., is planning on bringing a resolution Thursday to censure Green for "breach of proper conduct," and some Democrats, including Golden and Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., have not ruled out supporting it, Axios reported.
"What [Green] did was inappropriate — and he became the story, not the price of eggs," a centrist House Democrat told Axios.
Fox News' Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on X: @danimwallace.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-turn-each-other-over-trump-address-stunts