Source: Tom Williams / Getty
It is pathetic, but not at all surprising to see that so many members of Congress have more smoke for Congressman Al Green than the rich men targeting the oldest and poorest among us.
I did not bother watching President Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday, but I was happy to learn that Green, who represents the district in Houston where I was born and raised, did not sit silent as the 47th American president lied and babbled his way through a historically lengthy speech.
“You have no mandate to cut Medicaid,” Green shouted at Trump from the chamber, waving his cane in anger.
Green was then swiftly removed by security – a move some historians have shared is anomalous in the modern political era.
When asked about his heckling, Green explained that he was “following the wishes of conscience.”
“There are times when it is better to stand alone than not stand at all,” Green told reporters after being escorted out.
In a separate interview, when pressed about any potential consequences for his disruption, he said: “I’ll accept the punishment. It’s worth it to let people know that there’s some of us who are going to stand up against this president’s desire to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.”
That punishment has resulted in a formal censure by the House that was predictably supported by the entire Republican caucus, but unfortunately, also was boosted by the votes of 10 Democrats.
One of those Democrats, Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut, told CNN: “I don’t mind being one of 10 Democrats who said, no, there’s a deeper principle at stake here, which is reverence for this institution.”
Let Himes tell it, lawmakers need to act “with the decorum and with the civility that says to the world that we are a serious country.”
If Himes were concerned about civility, he might have mentioned that Trump hailed a slur at a sitting senator during his address. Likewise, Trump being the 45th and 47th president of the United States of America already negates the idea of America being a “serious country.” As does Himes being more pressed about “decorum” and “civility” than the reality that if Trump and his benefactor, Elon Musk, have their way, a lot of people are going to suffer, starve, and die as a result of their Social Security and Medicaid being cut.
I suppose Himes, a child of privilege who before becoming a member of Congress, worked as a banker at Goldman Sachs, might not understand the urgency behind Green’s act.
Moreover, for nearly two years, over and over again the Democratic Party writ large claim that Trump was a threat to democracy. His current illegal dismantling of the federal government by way of the Musk-led DOGE agency as a means of advancing a more authoritarian-esque government structure confirms such threats, and yet, it was only the 77-year-old man from Texas’ 9th congressional district making a big fuss on Tuesday.
Democrats shouldn’t have even bothered to go given the executive branch trying to supplant congressional authority, but if they were going to go, why not make a scene?
Republicans do it all the time – and it tends to work in their favor.
But, as some political reporters like Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman noted after Green’s ejection, “That right there is exactly what Democratic leadership wanted to avoid.”
Someone should tell Himes and Democratic leadership that Democrats responding to threats of fascism with color coordination and bingo battles looks incredibly stupid and spineless by comparison.
It should also be made clear to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that he should have whipped votes and taken a more united front on Al Green.
Then again, Jeffries was groomed by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as her successor, so it tracks that once again Green has been let down by leadership.
Green presented the first articles of impeachment against Trump in 2017, citing the firing of FBI Director James Comey. Two years later he repeated the call for Trump’s impeachment again, but the House voted to table Green’s resolution, which killed the measure. Pelosi garners a lot of fanfare as a great resistor of Trump, but some of us remember that she was reluctant to pursue Trump’s first impeachment.
And last month, Green said he intends to again file articles of impeachment against Trump over Trump’s push for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip.
That same month, Green, who had undergone intestinal surgery, temporarily left his hospital bed in a wheelchair to vote against the Republican-led impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas, then Secretary of Homeland Security in the Biden/Harris administration, over his handling of a crisis at the southern border.
Say what you will about Green, but this is a man who truly leads with his conscience.
There are plenty of reasons why turnout for Democrats last year failed, but chief among them is the fact that by and large, much of the Democratic leadership consists of a band of punks who don’t know how to wield their power when it counts.
On Thursday, speaking with Fox News Digital, Trump said that Green “should be forced to pass an IQ test because he is a low IQ individual, and we don’t need low IQ individuals in Congress.”
Yes, it is a mighty racist thing of him to say, but even as he blasts Green as “a fool and a clown,” his senility needs greater scrutiny given his recent rant about “transgender mice” that don’t exist.
Even so, it frustrates me that while Trump’s assertion “Nobody takes him seriously” is untrue, when it comes to the upper echelons of the Democratic Party, they don’t take him seriously enough.
Some political hacks like David Axelrod, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, might think of what Green did as “despicable,” but the truth is what’s despicable is not more Democrats following his lead and defending him with vigor.
Democrats need to stop following the thinking of delusional white moderates in denial about this country and its electorate (along with their nonwhite BFFs in Congress) and be more like Al Green: loud and strong against the taking of the poor to give to the wealthy.
His actions oughta be celebrated, not condemned, and if the Party leadership can’t see that, it must be replaced.
Michael Arceneaux is a New York Times bestselling author whose most recent book, “I Finally Bought Some Jordans,” was published last March.
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US Rep. Al Green Kicked Out Of Trump’s Joint Address To Congress
