Video: Rep. Gooden rips away 'This is not normal' sign from Rep. Stansbury before Trump's address
A House Democrat holding a sign protesting President Donald Trump ahead of his Tuesday night address to Congress prompted a confrontation before the speech began.
As Trump was greeting lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-New Mexico, held a sign that read “this is not normal.” While it was unclear whether Trump saw the sign, video shows the president speaking and gesturing with Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas as Stansbury looms in the background.
The House Republican then takes action, as footage captured by CSPAN shows Gooden reaching over the aisle to rip the sign out of Stansbury's hands and throw it into the air.
Video shows confrontation over 'This is not normal' protest sign of Trump
Trump then went on to deliver his first major address since returning to power six week ago – a sharp defense of his "America First" direction for the country. In a lengthy speech surpassing 90 minutes, Trump defended the firing of tens of thousands of federal workers, offered an update after publicly scolding Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; and touted the trade war launched against China, Mexico and Canada.
Stansbury, Gooden address confrontation on social media
Stansbury and Gooden both addressed their confrontation in social media posts following Trump's address.
Stansbury recorded a video shared on Instagram while exiting the Capitol elaborating on the succinct message of her sign. Repeating her assertion that "this is not normal," Stansbury alluded to billionaire Elon Musk's efforts under the Department of Government Efficiency to cull the federal workforce, Trump's peace negotiations with Russia and pessimism about the economy.
"If you are watching what is happening in Washington right now and are seeing just complete madness, let me tell you, none of this is normal," Stansbury said. "Tonight I think what you saw, Democrats are standing with the American people, we are not going to normalize what's going on right now and we are not going to pretend everything that's happening right now is part of the American democratic process."
Gooden fired back in his own posts on social media site X.
"Putting the American people FIRST is normal. No one will disrespect President (Trump) in front of me," Gooden said in a post tagging Trump.
Democrats protest Trump's address
The incident between Stansbury and Gooden occurred early in the night and preceded other dramatic protests that Democrat lawmakers staged during Trump's speech.
Representatives were seen holding up black signs with white letters saying: "Save Medicaid," "Musk Steals" and "Protect Veterans," with "False" written on the back.
Rep. Al Green, a Texas Democrat, stood and yelled, "You don't have a mandate," before Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson ordered him removed. Green announced in February that he would file articles of impeachment against Trump over “injustice in Gaza.”
"I'll accept the punishment. It's worth it to let people know that there's some of us who are going to stand up to against this president's desire to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security," Green told a media scrum captured by CSPAN.
As Trump was complaining about Democratic support, California Democratic Rep. Gil Cisneros yelled: "But the stock market," while Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib yelled "save Medicaid."
Tlaib was holding a small dry erase board on which she wrote messages including: "no king!" and "that's a LIE!"
Democrats left the speech, turning their back on the president to reveal black T-shirts with the word "RESIST" in white letters.
Contributing: James Powel, Riley Beggin, Paste BN
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for Paste BN. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com