Republicans are moving to punish the Texas Democrat who was ejected from Congress after disrupting President Donald Trump’s chamber address on Tuesday.
But as a vote to censure 77-year-old Al Green looms, his fellow Democrats are rallying around him, arguing that he carried out a legitimate act of protest when he stood, waved his walking cane and heckled the Republican president.
With Trump’s party controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, Democrats have worked to hone and strengthen their own message to counter the president’s policy blitz.
Even after he was kicked out Tuesday night, Green told reporters it was “worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up” to Trump.
Republican congressman Dan Newhouse of Washington introduced a resolution on Wednesday to censure Green, which would mean a formal reprimand for breaching chamber decorum. A vote is expected in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the behaviour of Green and other Democrats who also jeered at the president “completely disgraceful”.
But Green’s actions were greeted by many on the left as a welcome sign that Democratic lawmakers still have some fight left in them after their resounding election defeat in November.
“When security searched [Green], they found that he smuggled a spine,” anti-racism activist and author Ibram X Kendi posted on Instagram to his over one million followers.
On social media, some hailed Green as “an American hero”.
Green’s behaviour could be more than just a sign of the party’s bubbling frustrations, offering a preview of Democrats’ budding strategy to counter Trump.
Since re-entering the Oval Office, the president has signed dozens of executive orders, moved to fire thousands of federal employees, and banned diversity, equity and inclusion programmes from the government.
The frenzy of activity has dismayed many Democratic voters, 65% of whom said the party’s congressional lawmakers should oppose Trump “as much as possible”, according to a February poll by the BBC’s partner CBS News and YouGov.
Hours before Trump’s address on Tuesday, members of the Congressional Black Caucus held a packed news conference in a tiny room on Capitol Hill to discuss how to oppose the White House.
Another Texas congressman, Sylvester Turner, who died on Wednesday morning after a medical emergency, was one of those crammed inside, where sleeves were rolled up and expletives unleashed.
Though he was not present at the meeting, Green is also a CBC member.
“We recognise that this is an unprecedented moment,” Rep Sydney Kamlager-Dove of California said.
“These are not normal times, and the black caucus is not interested in being predictable or polite in this moment,” she added.
Rep Troy Carter of Louisiana said: “We will work tirelessly, and we will push back in every possible way.”
Part of the opposition effort, Carter said, includes more than 100 lawsuits filed against the administration and its new policies.
Members of the CBC also cited protests they have staged outside federal buildings, risking arrest.
“We aren’t going to let them just do whatever they want,” Carter said.
CBC members conceded that despite the caucus’ size – 60 total, representing nearly 30% of sitting House Democrats – their effectiveness is limited without a House majority.
“We can be mad, we can cuss – we’re three votes down. That’s the reality,” said Rep Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri.
Part of an evolving strategy to resist the Trump administration must come from everyday people on the ground, CBC members agreed.
It is a mandate that members said required reaching voters in new, even if eyebrow-raising, ways on social media.
“We are going to engage in the podcasts,” Rep Jasmine Crockett, of Texas said, “we are going to engage and release our own social media, trying to grow it.”
By BBC News
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