Jeffries cracks down on Trump speech disruptions
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 27, 2024. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is cracking down on plans among his members to try to disrupt or draw attention away from President Trump's speech to Congress on Tuesday evening.
Why it matters: Many Democrats are facing a torrent of pressure from their grassroots base to stage more overt acts of resistance, but a good chunk of the party feels that too rowdy a display could backfire.
- Still, despite Jeffries' admonishment, some House Democrats are considering attention-grabbing antics: "I'm going to be representing my district," one told Axios.
- That "could be a sign, it could be a shirt, it could be many things," the lawmaker said.
What we're hearing: At House Democrats' closed-door caucus meeting Tuesday morning, Jeffries and others in leadership discouraged the use of such props, according to multiple lawmakers who were present.
- Democratic lawmakers have discussed using a wide variety of potential props, including signs, pocket constitutions, red cards, eggs or egg cartons, and hand clappers, as Axios previously reported
- One House Democrat characterized leadership's message as: "[Trump's] got the microphone. He's quick on his feet. Express your resistance ... but don't become the story."
- Jeffries also stressed unity, urged members to remain calm and said to keep the focus of their protests on the American people, sources said.
What he's saying: Jeffries said in a podcast interview, "We shouldn't let him come in there and just speak to a group of sycophants who are going to applaud at every single thing he says or does like lapdogs."
- "He's got to also know that there's a significant opposition," he said.
Between the lines: Several lawmakers stood up at the meeting Tuesday and relayed the views of their constituents who say they should be putting on more of a spectacle.
- "We're going to do what [we've] got to do," one lawmaker told Axios, summing up the message to leadership.
- Still, certain forms of protest have been ruled out, several House Democrats said: Some members, for example, fear that eggs used to symbolize rising inflation could be misconstrued as potential projectiles.
Zoom in: Other members are going the boycott route, with House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) announcing in the caucus meeting that she plans to skip.
- Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), House Democrats' senior chief deputy whip, said coming out of the meeting that she, too, plans to stay away.
- "I can't be there with that man ... I want to not even show the respect of showing up," she told Axios.
The bottom line: "I think that we are just struggling with ... this is not business as usual, said a senior House Democrat, "but how you express that at an event like a State of the Union, there's no one right way."
- The lawmaker said sarcastically of the caucus meeting: "You could imagine in a room with 214 people, there are a lot of opinions. Everyone's a messaging genius."
- "Just like everyone at home and everyone on Twitter," they added.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.
