March 05, 2025 11:12 AM UTC

What A Difference A New Regime Makes

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• by: Colorado Pols

As AP’s Lisa Mascaro reports via 9NEWS, an outburst last night from a Democratic member of Congress during President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress could lead to further punishment by the GOP-controlled House against Rep. Al Green of Texas:

As Green rose to speak, shaking his walking cane at the president, the Republicans drowned him out with muscular chants of “USA! USA!”

Johnson eyed the situation from his perch on the dais behind Trump, appearing hesitant to interrupt the president’s address. But the speaker was shaking his head and clearly desiring decorum in the chamber. Vice President JD Vance motioned with his thumb to throw Green out.

The speaker issued a warning for order, banging the gavel. “Take your seat, sir!” But the long-serving congressman remained standing. And then Johnson ordered the Sergeant at Arms to restore order by removing Green from the chamber.

After Green was escorted out of the House, Speaker Mike Johnson demanded further penalty and repentance for Rep. Green’s unconscionable violation of decorum and the disruption of the Dear Leader’s address:

“He’s made history in a terrible way,” Johnson told reporters afterward. [Pols emphasis]

“If they want to make a 77-year-old heckling congressman the face of their resistance, if that’s the Democrat Party, so be it,” Johnson said. “But we will not tolerate it on the House floor.”

But it was only three years ago that Republicans were entirely content to let a “heckling congressman” become “the face of their resistance” to former President Joe Biden, after Colorado’s frenetic fireball of discourtesy Rep. Lauren Boebert teamed up with her frenemy and chief rival for the far-right limelight Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to heckle their way through Biden’s entire 2022 State of the Union address. Although then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly told Boebert to “shut up” and her behavior was widely ridiculed even by many fellow Republicans, Boebert was never asked to leave Biden’s address, let alone formally disciplined by the House for her repeated outbursts that evening.

But the House Freedom Caucus, which counts Boebert as a member, is vowing to throw the parliamentary book at Al Green:

Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus are planning to introduce a resolution to censure Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), who was booted from President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress Tuesday night.

What’s the difference, you ask, other than Boebert isn’t 77 years old? That would be Republicans unwilling to tolerate dissent like Biden and Pelosi did.

Maybe Boebert should have been censured in 2022 for engaging in similar behavior. But she wasn’t. And that means the standards have conveniently changed under the new Republican trifecta in Washington. The rowdy public disagreement elected Republican officials engaged in against Biden won’t be tolerated with Donald Trump in the White House.

So much for Trump’s “new birth of freedom.” And for that matter, the so-called Freedom Caucus.