Democrats Plot Boycott and Protests of Trump’s State of the Union

President Trump will be holding his State of the Union address next Tuesday evening, and some Democrats have decided to skip the event and hold a rival gathering instead. 

“The People’s State of the Union” will be held on the National Mall at the same time as the president’s speech, and several Democrats in the House and Senate have already committed to the event. Organizers say that Senators Ed Markey, Jeff Merkley, Chris Murphy, Tina Smith, and Chris Van Hollen, as well as Representatives Yassamin Ansari, Becca Balint, Greg Casar, Veronica Escobar, Pramila Jayapal, Delia Ramirez, and Bonnie Watson Coleman will be attending. 

Organizers include liberal activist group MoveOn and pro-Democrat media network MeidasTouch, and they describe the event as “counterprogramming” for “President Trump’s night full of lies and misplaced priorities for the American people.”  

“These aren’t normal times and showing up for this speech puts a veneer of legitimacy on the corruption and lawlessness that has defined his second term,” Murphy said in a statement. 

On X, Van Hollen said Wednesday, “Next week, Trump will deliver his State of the Union address. I won’t be there. Trump is marching America towards fascism, and I refuse to normalize his shredding of our Constitution & democracy. This cannot be business as usual.”

Other Democrats plan to protest during the event or walk out during the speech, including Representative Jared Huffman, who told Axios last week, “The only question for me is which of his disgusting lines prompts me to get up and leave, because at some point I will.” 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told Democrats in a closed-door meeting last week to either skip the State of the Union or attend in “silent defiance.” It will be interesting to see if any Democrats attending the event listen to him. Last year, Representative Al Green raised his cane and shouted, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!” at Trump before being removed from the chamber, and was later censured by the Republican-led House. 

This year, as Trump mismanages the economy and becomes increasingly unpopular due to violence perpetrated by federal agents carrying out his immigration policies, it’s extremely likely that he will face protests during his speech. What will they look like, and how will they be handled?

The Vatican will not be joining Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace,” announcing Tuesday that it was turning down a January invitation from the White House.

“For us, there are … some critical issues that should be resolved,” said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state. “One concern is that, at the international level, it should above all be the U.N. that manages these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted.”

Pope Leo XIV has not been afraid to criticize Trump since being named pontiff last year. He told reporters in September that “someone who says ‘I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”

He expanded upon those views in November, saying, “I think we have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have. If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts, there’s a system of justice.

“But when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least—and there’s been some violence, unfortunately—I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said,” Leo added. “I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them.”

Leo has also spoken highly of the role of the U.N., which would go against Trump’s vision for the Board of Peace.

“In a world facing complex challenges such as geopolitical tensions, inequalities, and climate crises, the U.N. should play a key role in fostering dialogue and human support, helping to build a more just future,” Leo said in his State of the World address last month. “Efforts are therefore needed to ensure that the United Nations not only reflects the situation of today’s world, rather than that of the post-war period, but that it is also more focused and efficient in pursuing policies aimed at the unity of the human family instead of ideologies.”

The Board of Peace was established to oversee a transitional government in Gaza, which has been devastated by Israel in a three-year onslaught. But the organization appears to be a way to circumvent the United Nations and possibly line Trump’s pockets, as permanent membership on the board requires a $1 billion fee. Trump has refused to say where that money goes.

So far, 19 countries have signed up, including those with leaders close to Trump, such as Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, and the United Arab Emirates. Israel and Russia, each accused of war crimes, have both been invited, although only Israel has agreed to join. The Vatican and the pope’s rejection will hurt the board’s credibility, but that isn’t likely to change Trump’s mind.

Guards at an ICE detention facility in Texas raided the dorms of immigrant families Tuesday, in order to destroy children’s letters that threatened to shed light on the horrific living conditions.

The raid at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley was in response to a recent ProPublica report that featured letters written by the children held there, according to Migrant Insider’s Pablo Manriquez. 

Univision’s Lidia Terrazas shared a video on Instagram of 15-year-old Cariexis Quintero, who has the intellectual capacity of a 7-year old, discussing the raid. 

“They threw away all of my drawings,” she said tearfully. “My mom liked them.”

“They noticed we were writing letters asking for freedom,” Quintero’s mother said as she held up a pile of colorful scraps. She described how guards had “stormed” into her room searching for drawings and letters, and had torn what they found to shreds.

Thus far, no federal court complaint, legal document, or verified video recording of the raid at Dilley has been made public, according to the International Business Times.  

This week, ICE deported 2-month-old Juan Nicolás with his mother and father to Mexico, after the baby had been hospitalized for bronchitis during his time at the detention facility in Dilley. Earlier this month, the facility was also the site of a measles outbreak. 

In the original ProPublica report, children recounted their fear and anguish, as well as the facility’s poor food, unsanitary conditions, and lack of reliable medicine.

“More than 60 days … going to the doctor and that the only thing they tell you is to drink more water and the worst thing is that it seems the water is what makes people sick here,” wrote Ender, a 12-year-old detained at Dilley, in one of the letters. 

Even Fox News hosts are making a point to correct Vice President JD Vance these days.

In an interview with Vance on Tuesday, Martha MacCallum cited a Fox poll of 1,005 voters showing Democrats leading in generic congressional vote preference, 52–46.

“We’ve got a long way to go, but obviously that number would not be good,” MacCallum said.

“That would not be good,” Vance replied. “I will say, as much as we love Fox News, we always think Fox News has the worst polling. Me and the president agree on that.”

“I could show you other ones that are very similar,” MacCallum said.

MacCallum is right that the vast majority of polls indicate the GOP’s popularity is down across the country. A Cygnal Political congressional poll conducted in early February reports a 3 percent lead for Democrats over Republicans. Silver Bulletin’s congressional polling average, which aggregates thousands of similar polls, has Democrats leading by 5.4 percent.

That Vance and Trump believe Fox News “has the worst polling” is interesting, given the network is famous for its conservative slant. However, Fox’s polling operates independently of its programming, and is considered quite reliable by major outlets. The anger toward Fox perhaps stems from the disconnect between its laudatory programming and the poor popularity numbers suggested by its polls.

Thirty-nine-year-old MAGA Representative Lauren Boebert’s 20-year-old son has been arrested after her 2-year old grandson was found wandering around alone near her Colorado home on Sunday, which lies close to a lake. Boebert’s son, who was supposed to be watching the child, is facing misdemeanor charges of child abuse without injury for the second time. 

“A kind woman quickly and safely secured him, and authorities were called as a precaution,” Boebert said, telling 9News she was “very frustrated this happened.”

Boebert’s son, Tyler, is already awaiting trial on the same charge over another event  last year, which Boebert then described as “a one-time incident.” It was not. 

Boebert’s grandson was born when Tyler, then 17, impregnated a female minor who Boebert only described as “over the age of 14.” Two years ago, Boebert went on conservative talk show The Rubin Report and bragged about how “responsible” her son and the child’s mother were. With two child abuse charges—not to mention his 24-month probation after pleading guilty to his role in an identity theft ring in 2024 and a lawsuit for an alleged nonconsensual sex tape—that couldn’t be further from the truth for Tyler. 

ICE has deported 2-month-old Juan Nicolás with his mother and father to Mexico, despite the baby suffering from bronchitis while in ICE detention.

Nicolás’s mother spoke to Univision’s Lidia Terrezas by phone Tuesday, saying that they were left at the Mexican border with no phone and only the money they had in their commissary at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, an ICE facility where they were previously detained.

Terrezas said in an Instagram post that Nicolás is still sick and that his mother was only able to contact her because someone in the street let her use their phone.

“She is in distress, she’s panicking. They were sent to the same place they fled from,” Terrezas said.

In a follow-up post, Terrezas said that the family was able to pay for a hotel with their commissary money, adding that a GoFundMe is in the works to assist them. Texas Representative Joaquin Castro, who has been advocating for Nicolás and his family, said that he spoke with the family’s attorney and that they had just $190, in a post on X.

“To unnecessarily deport a sick baby and his entire family is heinous. My staff and I are in contact with Juan’s family. We are laser-focused on tracking them down, holding ICE accountable for this monstrous action, demanding specific details on their whereabouts and wellbeing, and ensuring their safety,” Castro said.

Nicolás had been vomiting and experiencing breathing issues while detained in an ICE facility known for unsanitary conditions, which also had a measles outbreak earlier this month. While the baby was sent to a hospital late Monday night, he was guarded by armed federal agents and released after only one day. His mother had to appear before an immigration judge the same day, where she was told they would be deported. Now Nicolás and his family have to fend for themselves.

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was given special treatment and provided with a room in a luxury hotel after Donald Trump pardoned him in December, ProPublica reported Wednesday.

Hernández, a member of Honduras’s right-wing National Party, was extradited to the U.S. in 2022 and sentenced to 45 years in prison on bribery and drug-trafficking charges two years later. Prosecutors said he enabled drug traffickers to “move mountains of cocaine” into the United States and used the millions of dollars in bribes he received for his political campaigns.

He cut a Trump-like figure in Honduras, attempting to overthrow the country’s Supreme Court in 2012 alongside a handful of other congressmen, in what was labeled a “technical coup” by local press. He was elected president in 2014, then reelected in 2017 amid accusations of electoral fraud.

His nationalist beliefs and lax economic policies—which Trump-aligned billionaires Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen have benefited from—are perhaps why Trump moved to pardon Hernández.

After Hernández, a noncitizen, was released from prison, a request to hold him in place until immigration authorities could arrive was waived by federal authorities. A team of officials was then paid overtime to escort Hernández from Hazelton penitentiary in West Virginia six hours east, to the five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. Rooms at the Waldorf go for $956 a night, at minimum.

Usually, people released from Hazelton are given a “a shitty bus ride or a cheap plane ticket,” one prison official told ProPublica.

Hernández’s lavish treatment appears even more amoral when compared to how the Trump administration treats other noncitizens who are detained. Immigrants are usually deported as quickly as possible, regardless of whether they possess a criminal record.

Hernández’s current location is unknown, though he has said on social media he does not plan on returning to Honduras. Maybe he can get a Cabinet position.

Republican lawmakers pretending that the SAVE Act isn’t a huge problem for married women are either lying or haven’t actually read the bill.

Speaking to Fox News’s Larry Kudlow Tuesday, Republican Senator Mike Rounds dismissed the “inauthentic, unprincipled” concerns that the SAVE Act would prevent married women who have taken their husband’s last names from voting.

Rounds claimed that most women who’d legally changed their names after marriage had likely already updated their driver’s license with their new name. If not—“you show ’em your marriage certificate and you’re on your way once again,” the South Dakota Republican said.

But in its current form, the SAVE Act doesn’t actually mention marriage certificates. In fact, the bill makes no mention of change-of-name documentation at all.

The forms of valid identification listed in the SAVE Act are a REAL ID, a U.S. passport, a military ID card paired with a record of service stating the holder’s birthplace, and a valid ID issued by the state, federal, or tribal government stating birthplace.

If the ID does not include the applicant’s birthplace, the applicant must also provide a birth record from a U.S. hospital or Consulate Report of a Birth Abroad, a final adoption decree, a Naturalization Certificate, or an American Indian Card.

Therefore, the SAVE Act threatens to disenfranchise the estimated 69 million women (and four million men) who change their names after they get married.

Rounds claimed that the bill had been tweaked since it was passed through the House last week, but it’s unclear whether marriage certificates were added to the docket of documentation that could allow citizens to vote in a free and fair election.

Speaking of free elections: The SAVE Act should be considered an unconstitutional nonstarter, as many of the forms of identification listed cost money to procure, posing an illegal tax for voters. A U.S. passport costs roughly $165, while a Real ID costs between $30 and $129, depending on what state the applicant lives in.

MAGA Representative Tony Gonzales reportedly had an affair with an aide in 2024. When she told the rest of the office last April, Gonzales abruptly cut her off and demoted her at work. A few months later, she set herself on fire and died. Gonzales is currently running for reelection in Texas.

Regina Ann Santos-Aviles was a 35-year-old wife and mother who served as the regional director for Gonzales’s Uvalde, Texas, office. 

An anonymous former staffer who described himself as Santos-Aviles’s “best friend” told San Antonio Express News that Gonzales stayed at a staffer’s family cabin in Uvalde, and Santos-Aviles spent between one to two hours alone with the married congressman there on two separate occasions. On May 29, just one day after Gonzales’s primary victory, Santos-Aviles made her affair known to the rest of the staff.

It appears that Santos-Aviles was punished for her admission, as meetings she set were canceled and the representative stopped traveling to Uvalde, something he had done regularly. Her husband also became aware of the affair, adding to her distress. She spiraled into depression and started taking medication for it in the summer of 2025. Her friend became concerned for her well-being, even alerting District Director John Falcon—to no avail. 

“She talked about Tony every day,” he said. “She went from the number one employee in the office to nothing.” 

In August 2025, Santos-Aviles attempted suicide but survived. The next month, she self-immolated with gasoline and died a day later at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. 

Gonzales skipped the funeral and deflected blame when asked.  

“People throwing rocks at me, saying I’m doing nasty things—I totally get that. But the rumors are completely untruthful,” he said, calling Santos-Aviles’s death a “very tragic situation.”

Gonzales has mostly tried to avoid acknowledging his role in this tragedy. But now scrutiny is growing over the Trump-endorsed representative, with even MAGA sycophant Laura Loomer magnifying the situation. 

“A devastating report about GOP Representative Tony Gonzales and one of his former staffers named Regina Santos-Aviles who committed suicide by lighting herself on fire is set to drop this week,” she wrote. “Rep. Gonzales is married and has 6 children. Regina Santos-Aviles was also married and had a small child at the time of her suicide. I’m told the report is career ending!” 

San Antonio Express News has pulled its endorsement of Gonzales, signaling a tough road ahead for Gonzales’s political career. 

Stephen Colbert blasted CBS on his late-night show Tuesday night, contradicting the network’s claim that it didn’t block his interview with Texas state Representative and Senate candidate James Talarico.

On his show, Colbert displayed a printed copy of the network’s statement, which said, “THE LATE SHOW was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico.”

“The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled,” the statement continued. “THE LATE SHOW decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options.”

Colbert said that this statement was incorrect, emphasizing that “every word” of his script in the squashed Talarico interview was approved by CBS’s lawyers, as is the case with every script.

“In fact, between the monologue I did last night and before I did the second act talking about this issue, I had to go backstage,” Colbert said Tuesday. “I got called backstage to get more notes from these lawyers—something that had never ever happened before—and they told us the language they wanted me to use to describe that equal-time exception. And I used that language. So, I don’t know what this is about.”’

Colbert said that he didn’t “want an adversarial relationship with the network. I’ve never had one,” and lamented the fact that CBS’s parent corporation appears to have preemptively abided by the FCC’s new interpretation of the equal-time rule, which used to exempt talk shows that were not considered “bona fide news” until FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, appointed by Trump, issued new guidance last month.

“I’m just so surprised that this giant global corporation would not stand up to these bullies,” Colbert added. “Come on, you’re Paramount! No! You’re more than that, you’re Paramount Plus. Plus what? I guess we’re all going to find out pretty soon.”

While Monday’s interview didn’t air, it has gotten millions of views on YouTube and other platforms that it wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. Now CBS and Paramount, owned by Donald Trump ally David Ellison, are receiving negative publicity over their decision, as is the FCC, led by Trump-appointed Brendan Carr. Colbert’s contract ends in May, and the next three months are going to be interesting.