Let facts get in the way of performative politics

My advice to congressional Democrats: If you’re going to embrace performative politics, be sure you give a good performance.

- Clarence Page

Instead, the Dems at President Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress looked like an angry and lonely clown car.

They looked the very portrait that they have become in Donald Trump’s second term: angry, gloomy, ripped off, and deeply offended that, having lost both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House, they have no options left but to make noise.

So, that's what they did. Some of the Dems protested by waving signs the size of ping-pong paddles bearing remarks Ike “Elon Steals.”

Stole what? Never mind. It’s the thought that counts.

And that apparently was good enough for 77-year-old Rep. Al Green, the widely respected Houston Democrat. Having heard enough of President Donald Trump's braggadocio, he rose to his feet.

“Mr. President, you don’t have a mandate,” Green shouted as he pointed his cane toward Trump. After repeated warnings, House Speaker Mike Johnson ordered the sergeant at arms to escort Green out of the chambers.

“I'll accept the punishment," Green told reporters afterward. "It’s worth it to let people know that there’s some of us who are going to stand up against this president’s desire to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.”

Indeed, just days before Trump's address to Congress, the Social Security Administration announced plans to reduce its workforce by 14%. The same day, Elon Musk, the head of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, went on Joe Rogan's podcast and opined, “Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”