President Donald Trump on Wednesday unleashed an attack on a longtime Democratic lawmaker who was unseated in a primary runoff in Texas — after the president pressured state leaders to redistrict.
Rep. Al Green (D-TX) was defeated on Tuesday in a "rare incumbent-on-incumbent" Democratic runoff in Texas' 18th Congressional District, NBC News reported. Green, an outspoken critic of Trump, had challenged the president throughout this administration.
Trump wrote the following on his Truth Social platform:
"Congratulations to the Dumocrat Party! Al Green, one of the most mentally deficient Congressmen in the history of our Country, has lost, in a landslide, his seat in Congress - But I will miss that lunatic not screaming and violently waving his cane at me during my next State of the Union Speech. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!"
WASHINGTON — Rep. Al Green (D-TX) broke his silence after he was forced out of the State of the Union address Tuesday night over confronting President Donald Trump.
Just as the president entered the House Chamber, Majority Leader of the House Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) ripped a sign of Green's that said "Black people aren't apes" moments before Trump delivered his speech.
"As you know, the president has depicted the former president, the Obamas, as apes. And if we tolerate this level of racism and perpetuate it, I refuse to tolerate it," Green told Raw Story.
"I don’t want to see it normalized," he explained. "And that’s why I flashed this [sign] to the president so there would be no questions where I stand. He needs to know that there’s some people who have the courage to tell him things that he doesn’t want to hear and that nobody else will tell him. And on some issues, it’s better to stand alone than not stand at all. So I stood alone…”
Rep. Al Green speaks with @MattLaslo for Raw Story after his removal at SOTU "As you know, the president has depicted the former president, the Obamas, as apes. And if we tolerate this level of racism and perpetuate it, I refuse to tolerate it. I don’t want to see it normalized. — Nicole Charky-Chami (@NicoleCharky) February 25, 2026
Majority Leader of the House Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) ripped a sign from Rep. Al Green (D-TX) that said "Black people aren't apes" just before President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union address.
Trump was walking down the aisle of the House Chamber when Scalise stopped to pull down Green's sign, which was referring to the president's recent attack on former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) tried to regain control of the House floor Thursday as some Democrats protested the censure of Rep. Al Green (D-TX) by singing, "We Shall Overcome."
The House adopted the measure with a 224-198-2 vote. Ten Democrats voted with Republican lawmakers to censure Green for his outburst during President Donald Trump's address to Congress Tuesday night. Green was removed from the chamber at the time so Trump could continue his address.
After being ejected, Green told reporters, "I'll accept the punishment, but it's worth it to let people know that there are some of us who are going to stand up against this president's desire to cut Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security."
Green told Raw Story exclusively, "[Trump] believes he has absolute immunity in all areas. And I think that he believes that the Office of the Presidency is something that allows him to do what he chooses with agencies that report to the Executive branch."
Shortly after the vote Thursday, Johnson called for order before reading the censure adoption.
"The House will come to order! The House will come to order!" Johnson repeated, then tried shushing lawmakers who gathered on the floor.
"By its adoption of Rule 189, the House has resolved that Rep. Al Green be censured. That Rep. Al Green forthwith present himself up in the well of the House of Representatives for the pronouncement of censure," Johnson said.
Singing could be heard coming form the floor as someone screamed out, "Order!"
Johnson continued, "And that Rep. Al Green be censured with public reading of this resolution by the speaker."
As the singing grew louder, Johnson continued to bang the gavel, repeating, "The House will come to order" and "clear the well, please, the House has to continue its business."
Johnson finally declared the House in recess when it became clear that the Democrats would not stop their musical protest.
Green is now the 28th member of the House to be censured. The censure resolution called Green's protest, “a breach of proper conduct.”
The President has got a lot of attention for his apparently impromptu performance of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" at the Apollo Theater in Harlem earlier this month. But it took late night comedian Jay Leno to ask his wife what she thought.
Michelle Obama admitted that the President sings to her "all the time" and generally sticks to the "classics," including Green, Stevie Wonder (whose music they often used on the campaign trail in 2008) and Marvin Gaye -- and she said she had no idea he would break into song on stage until she saw the clip on YouTube.
As for his Republican rival's on-stage performance of "America, The Beautiful," Obama politely called it "... beautiful."
Watch the clip, which aired on MSNBC's "Way Too Early" on February 1, 2012, below.
