Cowardice ran rampant among Democrats during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, according to Vice President J.D. Vance.
During a Wednesday interview, Vance focused on one section of Trump’s address where he asked legislators committed to America to rise.
“One of the great things about the State of the Union is how it gives Americans the chance to see clearly what their representatives really believe,” Trump said, according to Roll Call.
“So, tonight, I’m inviting every legislator to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: ‘The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens,’” Trump added.
After Democrats refused to stand, Trump rebuked them, saying, “Isn’t that a shame? You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Vance said that the moment was “a sad commentary… on the Democratic Party.”
He noted that Democrats rejected “the idea the American government should stand for American citizens, not illegal aliens — that shouldn’t be controversial, but apparently it was to the Democrats,” he said.
“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,” Vance added.
“They didn’t want to stand up — I guess maybe they were worried about being primaried by the far left fringe of their party — ut they were all looking around,” he said.
“They weren’t actually saying, ‘You know what, I’m gonna stand and support this because it 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,” Vance noted.
The vice president added 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.”
“They lean on the person to the left and their right, rather than actually have some conviction. That is unfortunately what’s true about Democrats in Washington today,” he continued.
Former Trump adviser Tim Murtaugh told Fox News that “it was a huge moment because it forced the Democrats to self-identify as radicals who would rather defend illegal aliens over law-abiding American citizens.”
“There could be no clearer illustration that Democrats root against America when they’re not in power,” he said, adding that Democrats are “embarrassed to be Americans, whether they’re in power or not.”
“In their mind, good news for Americans is bad news for Democrats,” he said. “They aren’t going to solve any problems — they’re only going to add to them — and the American people got to see them proclaim it themselves.”
The Democrats were out-classed, out-matched, and out-played. They ran into a political buzzsaw in President Trump that showed he’s playing chess while others are playing tic tac toe.
Checkmate ✅ https://t.co/ZeDMn68Pgh
— Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) February 25, 2026
Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at the Heritage Foundation, said that Democratic lawmakers “clearly showed America they believe their number one duty is to protect illegal aliens, not American citizens.”
“Hopefully, that opened many more eyes to see that Democrats, to hang onto power, rely on illegal aliens (and other noncitizens) to illegally vote, have their ballots harvested, and for their headcount in the U.S. Census to maintain their congressional districts and the number of presidential electoral votes in their states,” she said.
“This is why Democrats refuse to vote for proof of citizenship during voter registration or proof of ID when voting.”
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