Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) on Tuesday issued a blistering response to President Donald Trump's claims that Democrats were being "treasonous" because they didn't stand and applaud for him at this year's State of the Union address.
When asked by CNN's John Berman about the president's remarks, Himes said that president was behaving more like a dictator than a president.
"It's the latest installment of this president taking our democracy and our country into the gutter," he said. "There are... dictators who would be embarrassed to call their political opponents, because they happen to disagree with them politically, 'treasonous' or 'un-American.' It's quite frankly pathetic."
Himes pointed out that, during a speech delivered by former President Barack Obama in 2009, a Republican congressman interrupted it by yelling, "You lie!" Given that Obama didn't attack this interruption as "treasonous," Himes said it was wildly inappropriate for Trump to call lawmakers traitors simply because they refused to applaud him.
"This president... in that moment dragged this country deep into the mud of autocracy and dictatorship," he said.
Watch the video below.
