After fuming in silence, NJ Democrats finally react to Trump speech in Congress

✅ President Donald Trump delivered a 99-minute speech to Congress

✅ Democrats sat in silence for the most part

✅ On social media, lawmakers posted their comments

Reaction to President Donald Trump’s speech Tuesday night from New Jersey Democrats ran along party lines with Democrats attacking the speech and Republicans praising his words.

Democrats at the Capitol expressed their unhappiness with Trump with their silence and occasional shouts of protest with the only applause when he announced that Ukraine wanted to restart peace negotiations.

In a stunning breach of protocol and a measure of the fractious politics, one Democrat, Rep. Al Green of Texas, stood up and shouted at Trump, gesturing toward the president with his cane. He refused to sit when asked by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who ordered him removed.

Trump called out Democrats.

“There is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy,” he said. On that count, he is in agreement with Democratic political strategist Kevin Hagan of the Princeton Public Affairs Group.

"I think the distractor in charge last night made it very clear," Hagan told New Jersey 101.5 Morning Show host Eric Scott on Wednesday. "Instead of showing leadership to bring our country back together, he's going to drive that divide between Americans as far and as fast as he can."

ALSO READ: Trump vows to press ahead on reshaping America in speech

Nation divided

Hagan said it was "sad" that the chamber was so divided and did not look like a nation of leaders the rest of the world has sought to emulate for 249 years. Hagen would have liked Trump to have expressed an understanding of what the middle class is up against with inflation and high prices.

"You don't need a decoder ring to figure out what the secret message was from Donald Trump last night. Your cost of living is going up. The economy is going to struggle. The stock market's going down, but don't worry. I'm going to distract you along the way with Elon Musk and DOGE and fake numbers while you struggle everyday to figure out what's next."

Gov. Phil Murphy wrote that he was disappointed that Trump did not offer “an optimistic and unifying vision for renewing the American Dream” but said there is still time for his administration to “correct course.”

New Jersey's two Democratic senators were not pleased with the speech. Andy Kim said the speech was “the same old divisive politics and empty rhetoric “ while Cory Booker said he “heard no concrete plans to lower prices or better serve the people.”

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J. 5th District, whose guests were the family of Hamas hostage Edan Alexander, said Trump “failed to present a concrete plan to make life more affordable for Jersey and American families.” Rep. Donald Norcross said “Trump does not care about lowering prices for American families.”

Reaction from two of the three delegation's three Republicans was decidedly different.

U.S. Rep. Tom Kean, R-N.J. 7th District, said Trump’s speech was a “bold, optimistic vision for America’s future” while U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J. 2nd District: wrote “The Golden Age of America has only just begun. We are so back.”

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