Copyright 2018 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 12: U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) speaks during a news briefing December 12, 2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- President Donald Trump insinuated Democrats, who didn't clap at last week's State of the Union, were treasonous on Monday during a speech in Blue Ash, Ohio, calling them "un-American" for giving off "bad energy" while he delivered positive economic news.
"They certainly didn't seem to love our country very much," Trump said, according to The Associated Press.
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (OR-D) was at Trump's first State of the Union. And on Monday, he took to Twitter to respond to Trump's "treasonous" claims, saying not clapping for something a person disagrees with is an example of freedom of speech.
.@realDonaldTrump: “Treasonous” means betraying your country – like, say, if someone colluded with Russia to influence American elections. The freedom not to clap for ideas you disagree with is called the 1st Amendment. https://t.co/0wQaifeiph — Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) February 5, 2018
Trump would later add that Democrats would rather see him do poorly than to see the country do well, according to The AP.
After last week's State of the Union, Merkley issued this statement:
“President Trump delivered a speech tonight that was virtually devoid of substance.
“There was the long-awaited infrastructure plan which, instead of truly investing in our nation’s future and its infrastructure, leaves rural America behind, puts local taxpayers on the hook, and leaves our communities hostage to highway robbery from Wall Street. If the President has his way, instead of the Eisenhower Interstate System, Americans should get ready for ‘Trump Tolls.’
“And Trump’s remarks did little to allay the concerns of our nation’s 800,000 DREAMers. Instead of recognizing the real human toll of his actions against DACA recipients, Trump has turned the lives of DREAMers into bargaining chips for a $25 billion slush fund to build his border wall, and extreme right-wing immigration ideas that would cut legal immigration in half.
“I was honored to have Leonardo Reyes, an Oregon DREAMer, as my guest in the House Chamber tonight. Leo came to America when he was ten. He grew up here, went to school here, built a life here, and now works for the state of Oregon trying to give back to the community he calls home. He is an inspiration to me and should be to all Americans. Americans support restoring legal status to our DREAMers. We have a bipartisan bill on the table. President Trump just needs to get to ‘yes.’
“America was founded as a nation for ‘We the People,’ not ‘We the Powerful.’ Under Trump, the state of our union is moving further and further from this founding vision—but each of us has the power to help our country change course, to reembrace our founding ideals of equality and opportunity, and create an economy that works for working Americans. Trump’s speech tonight made it even clearer than ever before: It’s time for ‘We the People’ grassroots America to rise up, get involved, and take our country back in 2018.”
Information obtained from The Associated Press was included in this report
Aestro17 on February 6th, 2018 at 01:31 UTC »
Friendly reminder that Trump spent the entirety of Obama's presidency spreading his birther bullshit.
Fuck Trump and any of his sycophants that pull the "respect the office" bullshit.
Tsugua354 on February 6th, 2018 at 00:43 UTC »
How is there no clips being pushed of Republicans doing exactly this sort of thing to Obama but 100x as often. I would be shocked if this wasn’t prime r/trumpcriticizestrump material
newfor2018 on February 6th, 2018 at 00:39 UTC »
We don't follow any one person. We follow the constitution. This is not a dictatorship. If Trump wants to run a dictatorship, he can do it in his own company. We follow a government that works for the people, not the other way around. All the republicans that thinks we must be loyal and respect the president for some stupid reason, is out of their minds.