The White House is criticizing Democrats for refusing to applaud many of the claims President Donald Trump made during his 108-minute State of the Union address.
“This was a speech of renewal and resolve — yet congressional Democrats, consumed by delusional hatred and obstruction, refused to join in celebrating these victories for the American people,” the White House said in a news release Wednesday.
In the release, the White House highlighted 26 topics mentioned by Trump that it said Democrats refused to applaud.
The first one dealt with immigration enforcement. During the address, Trump asked every lawmaker to “stand up and show your support” if they agreed that the “first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
Democrats remained in their seats.
“Isn’t that a shame?” Trump said. “You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Later, Trump criticized Democrats who did not stand and applaud after he recognized the mother of the late Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who was stabbed to death on a North Carolina train last summer.
“How do you not stand? How do you not stand?” Trump said to Democrats seated to the president’s right in the House chamber.
The White House also mentioned that incident in its news release — but lumped it in with other cases of “innocent American women and children murdered by criminal illegal aliens.” The suspect in Zarutska’s killing had a lengthy criminal record, but reports indicate he was born in Charlotte.
Some of the instances mentioned by the White House were clearly political anathema to Democrats.
But many Democrats refused to stand even for issues that weren’t politically supercharged.
“Standing for our Olympians, for our heroic service members and veterans, for the families of victims killed by illegal immigrants and criminals, these aren’t political issues. This is not about red or blue. Honoring these folks is about the red, white and blue,” U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, said in a statement.
As for Western Pennsylvania’s Democrats, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio of Fox Chapel and U.S. Sen. John Fetterman of Braddock attended the State of the Union in person, but U.S. Rep. Summer Lee was one of dozens of Democrats to boycott it.
Deluzio did not immediately respond to questions from TribLive.
Fetterman said during an appearance on Fox News that he did not support the actions of many of his Democratic colleagues.
“The constant kinds of yelling and screaming and holding up signs … I don’t care if it’s a Republican or Democrat as president, just don’t do that,” Fetterman said. “Respect the office regardless who’s in that.”
Fetterman said he stood and applauded on several occasions.
“I stood up and I clapped to recognize the family that lost their daughter, the Ukrainian girl that was stabbed to death in North Carolina. I stood up and clapped for that political prisoner from Venezuela. I also celebrated all the veterans that were in the audience as well, too,” Fetterman said.
“Even the more political things like Erika Kirk. I stood up and I clapped for her as well, too. Can’t we just be more kind to a widow?” he added.
“I’m always going to stand up and clap for things that I agree with him, like striking the Iranian sites.
“I never worry about who’s standing up or clapping. If I see it (and agree with it), I’m going to. If I don’t agree with it, I’m certainly not going to yell and scream and disrupt the whole thing.”