President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.
The speech was the longest in SOTU history, lasting more than an hour and 45 minutes. Trump touched on a wide range of issues, including immigration, elections, national security, and more.
Connecticut lawmakers weren’t impressed.
More than half of the state’s delegation skipped the speech. The three members of the delegation who attended — Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-3) and Joe Courtney (D-CT-2) — mostly remained seated and silent with their Democratic colleagues during the remarks.
“Beneath all his bluster and boasting is the fact that he does not care about the struggles of the American people,” DeLauro said. “His signature achievement last year was a tax bill that gave away $4.5 trillion to the wealthy and the biggest corporations, and which gutted Medicaid in order to pay for it.”
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Representatives John Larson (D-CT-1), Jim Himes (D-CT-4) and Jahana Hayes (D-CT-5) skipped the speech.
Murphy, Larson and Himes attended an event called The People’s State of the Union, held on the National Mall.
“This union is in crisis right now,” Murphy said at the rally. “Our cities are under attack by lawless law enforcement, and our democracy is wilting under ceaseless attack from a president who wants to be a despot. Millions of Americans are losing their health care because the president has chosen corruption to pad the pockets of his billionaire friends instead of helping average Americans.”
Murphy brought Ferestheh Ganjavi, an Afghan refugee and Executive Director of Elena’s Light, a Connecticut non-profit that aids refugee families.
His remarks were briefly interrupted by an unidentified protester who rushed the stage and yelled, “Go Trump, go Trump.” In response, Murphy said, “Thanks, man.”
