Some held up signs, some shouted retorts and others bore their messages of dissatisfaction on their clothing. More than a dozen left the House chamber in a show of protest.
Democrats, eager to register their opposition to President Trump before a big television viewing audience, wasted no time and displayed little timidity in venting their animus for Mr. Trump during his evening address to a joint session of Congress.
What started with a showy disruption by Representative Al Green, Democrat of Texas, who was ejected from the House chamber not long after Mr. Trump began speaking for heckling him continued throughout the president’s speech with an array of shows of dissent.
“What about the eggs,” one lawmaker shouted when Mr. Trump hailed improvements to the economy.
“Stock market?” a chorus of Democrats shouted, feigning puzzled expressions as Mr. Trump lauded his own economic achievements, telling lawmakers that he inherited an “economic catastrophe” from former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Representative Jasmine Crockett, Democrat of Texas, stood and turned her back on Mr. Trump as he assigned blame to Mr. Biden for the country’s economic misfortunes. She, along with a handful of her Democratic colleagues — including Representatives Maxwell Frost of Florida, Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico and Maxine Dexter and Andrea Salinas, both of Oregon — briefly made their protests with messages on black T-shirts, some emblazoned with the word “RESIST” and exited the chamber before the sergeant-at-arms had the opportunity to remove them.
Moments earlier as Mr. Trump entered the House chamber for his speech and shook the hands of dozens of Republican lawmakers, Ms. Stansbury held up a sign reading “This is not normal.” The sign was snatched from her hands by Representative Lance Gooden, Republican of Texas, but not before being captured in a frame just above Mr. Trump by the dozens of photographers who were in the chamber for the address.
While dozens of Democratic lawmakers arrived for the address sporting pink blazers and ties, carrying on a yearslong tradition of a silent sartorial protest, other members opted for a less subtle approach.
Jill Tokuda of Hawaii scrawled phrases from the 14th Amendment — which Mr. Trump has proposed changing to deny citizenship to some U.S.-born children of immigrants — onto her pink blazer. “We the people” was written across her lapels.
Representative Delia Ramirez, Democrat of Illinois, revealed a T-shirt under her black blazer reading “NO KING. NO COUP.”
The largest coordinated display of disapproval was in the form of round auction paddle-style signs held by dozens of Democrats with phrases including “Save Medicaid” and “Musk Steals.” Many of the signs had the message “False” on the reverse side. Democrats raised them throughout the speech to register nonverbal objections to specific claims by Mr. Trump without risking removal from the chamber.
Some who participated in the varied forms of protest said that the content of Mr. Trump’s remarks was too much to bear. Representative Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts was among the more than a dozen Democrats who left the speech early.
“I could not stand one more second, tolerate one more second,” she said in a video she recorded outside the chamber after exiting, adding that Mr. Trump’s remarks were full of “lies” and “propaganda.”
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