Al Green’s Censure Vote Exposes the Democrats’ Disarray

After Texas Representative Al Green was ejected from President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday night, House Republicans voted on Thursday to censure him for disrupting the proceedings—and ten Democrats joined them.

The split among House Democrats exposed a growing rift over the right way to respond to a president who delights in breaking norms—and laws, according to a few courts. Do you maintain reverence for the presidency and double down on those norms in hopes of curtailing the chaos and preserving institutions? Or do you noisily toss those norms out the window because nothing about what this White House is doing is normal, and you can’t protect institutions that have been stripped down to their studs?

On Tuesday, Rep. Green took the noisy route, waving his cane in the air and shouting at President Trump that he had “no mandate.” According to CNN, leading House Democrats encouraged their colleagues in advance to show restraint while the president spoke, and with the exception of some animated sign-waving, for the most part they did. Both approaches drew scorn, with top Democratic operative David Axelrod calling Green’s outburst “despicable” and pretty much everyone else dismissing the party’s rinky-dink sign displays as lame.

The Democratic members who voted to censure Green on Thursday spanned a range of districts, from tightly contested territory in Nassau County, New York, to a bright-blue district in Hawaii. As the vote was called on Thursday, Green’s Democratic supporters launched a shaky attempt at a united front by breaking into a rendition of “We Shall Overcome.” Just how do they plan to do that? Well, that’s a song for another day.

One person who doesn’t seem conflicted about the best approach to Trump is Rep. Green, who told reporters on Wednesday that despite the consequences, given the chance, he would do it all over again.

“I didn’t do it to get anybody else to join me,” he said, according to The New York Times. “I believe that on some issues, it’s better to stand alone than not stand at all.”