By Florida Courier Staff
(Source: Florida Courier)
Rep. Al Green, a Democrat from Texas, holds a sign that read “Black People Aren’t Apes.” during the State of the Union Address before a Joint Session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
Green was escorted out of the chamber after he held up the sign. His gesture was an apparent reference to a video President Donald Trump recently posted on social media that depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes.
“I wanted the president to see it, and he saw it, and I told him, Black people are not apes, and for him to do what he did was racist, and he knows it. But sometimes we have to let him know in the public that we know it,” Green, 78, told CNN shortly after he was escorted out.
During his speech Tuesday night, Trump spoke for nearly an hour and 48 minutes, a State of the Union address record.
The president focused much of the first hour of his speech on the economy, something Republicans had urged him to do as they head into the midterm elections.
President Donald Trump declared during a marathon State of the Union on Tuesday that “we’re winning so much” — insisting he’d sparked an economic boom at home and imposed a new world order abroad in hopes it can counter his sliding approval ratings.
The Republican president took aim at Democrats and blamed them for many of the nation’s ills.
Trump said rising health care premiums are “caused by you,” suggested Democrats “are not protecting” Social Security and blamed them for the nation’s affordability crunch. “You caused that problem. You caused that problem,” Trump said as he glared at the Democratic side of the room.
The president championed his immigration crackdowns and his push to preserve widespread tariffs that the Supreme Court just struck down. He drew applause only from Democrats while describing the high court’s decision, which he called “an unfortunate ruling.”
He seemed to get angrier as the speech progressed.
“These people are crazy, I’m telling you, they’re crazy,” he said. “Democrats are destroying this country.”
Trump didn’t dwell on efforts to lower the cost of living — despite polling showing that his handling of the economy and kitchen-table issues has increasingly become a liability.
