As part of a postmortem of Donald Trump's State of the Union-style speech that Brit Hume of Fox News called the most "partisan" of his long career, ex-Republican Tom Nichols singled out the moment that Democrats should have stood up en masse and walked out.
Hours after Trump concluded his 99-minute speech –– reportedly the longest speech of its kind ever –– The Atlantic analyst Nichols claimed the response from Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) was good but not enough to push back at what he called Trump's "carnival of lies and stunts."
As Nichols, a former professor at the Naval War College, wrote, "The president’s address was so extreme, so full of bizarre claims and ideas, exaggerations and distortions and lies, that it should have called his fitness to serve into question. He preened about a cabinet that includes some of the strangest, and least qualified, members in American history. Although his speech went exceptionally long, he said almost nothing of substance, and the few plans he put forward were mostly applause bait for his Republican sycophants in the room and his base at home."
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Noting Democrats who booed and hissed as Trump spoke and made personal attacks at his foes in Congress, Nichols wrote that the president gave them the perfect opportunity to steal his thunder with a mass walk-out when he smeared Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
"I’m not a fan of performative protest, and initially I thought the Democrats who chose to attend the address made the right call," he admitted. "But when Trump referred to Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts as 'Pocahontas,' they could have left en bloc, declaring once they were outside that they would take no part in any further demeaning of the House chamber—or, for that matter, of American democracy. Instead, they sat there and took it, their opposition to Trump a kind of hodgepodge of rage, bemusement, boredom, and irritation."
He then added, "America does not need a 'resistance,' or stale slogans, or people putting those slogans on little paddles. It needs an opposition party that boldly defends the nation’s virtues, the rule of law, and the rights of its people."
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You can watch Trump use the smear in the video below or click the link right here.