GOP Senator Falsely Claims Republicans Never Disrupt SOTU Addresses After Democrats Protest Trump’s Speech

When two Democratic representatives began shouting at President Trump during the State of the Union Tuesday, it was only the latest example of a trend of lawmakers interrupting the event to voice their displeasure.

As President Trump launched a verbal fusillade on the issue of immigration, Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib took umbrage.

“You have killed Americans,” said Omar, who immigrated to America from Somalia and represents a Minnesota district. After shouting numerous times, Trump responded, “You should be ashamed.”

U.S. Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted on X that “I’ve been to 16 of these I’ve never seen Republicans behave like this during a Democrat SOTU Never Yet the MSM says nothing”.

The response on X was swift, pointing out that one State of the Union address by former President Joe Biden were interrupted multiple times my members of the Republican party.

In 2024, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene yelled “say her name,” referring to Laken Riley, who was murdered by a Venezuelan man in the country illegally.

Republican Congressional Representative Lauren Boebert heckled Biden during the 2022 State of the Union. At another point in the speech, Boebert and Greene chanted “Build the Wall.”

The recent trend of interrupting the State of the Union with shouting can be traced to Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina, during Obama’s State of the Union in 2009. Wilson yelled, “You lie!” during Obama’s speech.

At the time, the Associated Press described Wilson’s actions as “an extraordinary breach of congressional decorum.”

Wilson told the AP that he got caught up in the heat of the moment. Congressional leadership asked Wilson to contact the White House and apologize, which he did.

“I’m a big believer that we all make mistakes. He apologized quickly and without equivocation, and I’m appreciative of that,” President Obama said, according to the AP.