It’s that time of year again. What time of year, you ask? The time of year when President Racist von WallBuilder reads his prepared speech from a teleprompter, and a roomful of fat, rich white guys and affluent white women applaud as if the world were crafted from his tiny hands. This is also the time when people of color throw glorious amounts of side eye, teeth-sucking sneers and reluctant golf claps as the president presents his State of the Union—or Uniom, as it were, on some tickets.
But this year, unlike years past, the Democrats are piping mad! Oh, they are super mad, son. In fact, many of them have planned silent protests just to show how mad they are. I mean, it’s the Democrats, so what did you expect? Did you really think someone was planning to show a true level of disgust toward a president so evil and vile that he’s started to make George W. Bush look palatable?
Below is a listing of planned protests that might even be effective if the president actually cared about the rest of the 99 percent.
Off the top, Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) and Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.) aren’t attending the president’s address. Everyone knows that Auntie Maxine is not here to play nice with this president. Wilson and the president have never been on good terms, but that rift grew wider when the president reportedly told the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson that “he knew what he’d signed up for.” Wilson took offense at the heartless comment, and Trump, as he’s been known to do, began attacking the congresswoman on Twitter. So when it came to this year’s State of the Union, Wilson knew that the president didn’t deserve her presence or her sweet cowboy hat!
“To go would be to honor the president and I don’t think he deserves to be honored at this time, after being so hateful towards black people and then black countries,” she told CNN.
Meeks had this to say about this year’s State of the Union address, the New York Post reports: “I cannot give this man, who does not respect me, the respect to be in that audience. I will not be there.”
Other Democrats who have noted that they won’t be attending include Reps. Barbara Lee (Calif.) and John Lewis (Ga.); Illinois Reps. Danny Davis, Jan Schakowsky and Bobby Rush; and Reps. Albio Sires (N.J.), Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) and Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), who had this to say earlier this month on why she wouldn’t be attending:
Expect this list of nonattendees to grow before the president hits the podium and spits out his first lie.
Because the president is a sexual predator who was captured on audio boasting that his financial success allows him to kiss and grab women he doesn’t know by their “pussy,” some members of the Congressional Black Caucus plan to wear all black to the event in support of the #MeToo movement and will wear pins that honor the memory and legacy of Recy Taylor, a black woman who, in 1944, was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by a group of white men.
According to CNN, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), a co-chairwoman of the Congressional Caucus on Black Women & Girls, plans to bring Taylor’s niece as her guest to Tuesday night’s remarks. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) will be bringing Erin Walton, the executive director of Rape Victim Advocates, as his plus one; Fatima Goss Graves, the president of the National Women’s Law Center, will be a guest of Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.); and Danielle McGuire, an author and historian who has researched and written about Taylor, will be a guest of Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.).
San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who went toe-to-toe with the president for his lack of concern after Hurricane Maria ravaged parts of Puerto Rico, will accompany Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).
Several Congress members are using their invitations to bring faces of the immigration debate, specially those affected by the current stalemate over DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, affecting young people brought illegally to the U.S. as children.
Some of the more prominent faces of the debate who will be in attendance: Cindy Garcia, the wife of Jorge Garcia, who was deported to Mexico earlier this month after living in the U.S. for 30 years. The Garcia family’s emotional goodbye inside the airport was captured on video and went viral. Cindy will be the guest of Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).
Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) has invited Viviana Andazola Marquez, whose father, Melecio Andazola Morales, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after going in for a scheduled appointment to get his green card, Roll Call reports.
Last but not least, Melania Trump is expected to make an appearance. I know that, on the surface, her presence wouldn’t be seen as a protest, and truthfully, it isn’t, but ever since reports surfaced that the president paid off porn actress Stormy Daniels, the first lady has been noticeably absent.
According to the New York Times: “Melania Trump, a notoriously private first lady, made three very public decisions: She canceled a trip abroad with the president, made an impromptu visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum and flew to Mar-a-Lago, where she spent part of her short trip relaxing at the spa.”
Her presence is a reminder that she’s willing to save her marriage, and my hope is that the camera continues to pan across her face to show how truly dead she is inside. I hope that these two continue to stay together for as long as they both shall live and she continues to haunt his waking life. Not divorcing him feels like a protest against his happiness, and I think this could be the best silent protest of them all.