Vice President JD Vance revealed what he saw from Congressional Democrats during President Trump's State of the Union address, accusing them of displaying what he called “cowardice” on the floor. While many viewers saw Democrats refusing to stand or applaud the president’s list of first-year accomplishments, Vance said something else was unfolding in the chamber: Democratic members were glancing at one another, seemingly looking for cues, or permission, before reacting to the presidents words.
🚨 BREAKING: JD Vance reveals he watched Congressional Democrats COWARDLY look around for cues about whether to stand up and clap for common sense statements like — "Americans before illegals"
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 25, 2026
"The COWARDICE. A few Democrats politely clapped, were WORRIED about being primaried!"… pic.twitter.com/a4HD1BAReh
"First of all, obviously, most Democrats didn't stand up or clap, and what a shame that is," Vance said. "What a sad commentary that is on the Democratic Party, that the idea that the American government should stand for American citizens, not illegal aliens. That shouldn't be controversial, but apparently it was to the Democrats."
But that wasn't all.
But I will say, Bill, something that I saw that probably most TV viewers didn't see was really the cowardice, because there were a few Democrats who sort of politely clapped. They didn't want to stand up. I guess maybe they were worried about being primaried by the far-left fringe of their party. But they were all looking around. They weren't actually saying, you know what, I'm going to stand and support this because this is a common-sense, obvious statement. They were all looking around for cues from their colleagues, because they didn't have the courage to stand on their own.
The pattern continued even as the president introduced his guests, many of whom were hailed as American heroes. They deserved immediate applause, yet several received only muted or delayed reactions from the Democratic side of the chamber. Whether that hesitation stemmed from, as Vice President Vance suggested, fear of a far-left primary challenge or from an entrenched refusal to celebrate anything associated with the president remains an open question.
"And that, more than anything, Bill, is the saddest commentary on the Democratic Party, that not only will they not stand for the idea that Americans should come first, they won't even have the courage of their convictions," Vance added. "They lean on the person to their left and their right rather than actually have some conviction."
We will see if that lack of conviction damages their chances in the 2026 midterms, but so far, opposition to Trump seems to be the great unifier of the left.