President Donald Trump designated 13-year-old brain cancer survivor DJ Daniel an honorary Secret Service member during his joint address to Congress on Tuesday night. Republican lawmakers said it was “childish” that Democrats refused to stand for the boy.
“I think the Democrats really embarrassed themselves. I mean, they wouldn’t even stand up for DJ, who survived cancer. I mean, it’s childish,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said.
Republicans told Fox News Digital they were “disappointed” with Democrats on Tuesday night for not standing to honor DJ during his big moment.
Fox News Digital reached out to 28 Democratic lawmakers but only received two responses.
SOCIAL MEDIA EXPLODES AFTER DEMS DO NOT STAND FOR 13-YEAR-OLD CANCER SURVIVOR: ‘TRULY SICK PEOPLE’
“After the Secret Service gave him his [badge] and he sat back down, but then he reached back up and hugged the Secret Service chief, it made me cry. I had tears. I was wiping a freaking tear,” Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., told Fox News Digital over the phone.
“I clapped and was touched – not rolling my eyes,” she added.
When asked to comment on Democrats not standing for Daniel, Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., told Fox News Digital: “That was a moving story. What Trump left out, of course, is he’s cutting research for cancer, which is pretty, pretty bad.”
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., also broke his silence in a social media post ripping Democrats on Wednesday afternoon.
“A sad cavalcade of self owns and unhinged petulance. It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained. We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to – and it may not be the winning message,” Fetterman posted on X.
“I was so disappointed that my Democratic colleagues couldn’t stand and show love for so many of the Americans that were recognized tonight. That was really heartbreaking to me,” Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., said.
Britt said it was a “huge misstep by so many of my colleagues” to not honor Americans with “heartbreaking” and “challenging stories.”
“You have a little 13-year-old boy with brain cancer who has worked diligently to overcome that. And for him, when his dad lifted him up, for him to look out across that room and not to have everyone in there standing and cheering for him was heartbreaking,” Britt added.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said it was “extraordinary” that Democrats couldn’t stand for the Americans being recognized Tuesday night.
“To see my Democrat colleagues refuse to stand for a young boy who is battling cancer, who has the opportunity tonight to be recognized for that, to refuse to stand for police officers. It’s just really extraordinary,” Hawley said.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said it was “disgusting” and a “total disregard for the American people” that Democrats refused to applaud.
“It was disgusting. The behavior was completely out of line with decorum. I think the fact that you had Democrats refusing to applaud for a child with cancer, refusing to applaud for the widow of a slain police officer, refusing to applaud for the mother of a victim of a crime who was murdered by an illegal immigrant – that speaks volumes to not only their depraved inhumanity, but their total disregard for the American people,” Lawler said.
More Republicans slammed Democrats’ decorum Tuesday night as “embarrassing” and “disgraceful.”
“Honestly, the biggest thing is [it is] super embarrassing for the Democrats. I think they totally disparaged themselves today by just standing there. Couldn’t clap for a 13-year-old boy? Pretty sad,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said.
“American people [are] seeing how disgraceful they acted tonight, not even standing for a child who has survived brain cancer, not even standing for the families who have lost loved ones because of the border crisis that they created,” Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, said.
Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., said Democrats were being disrespectful to the “presidency of the United States” last night with their protest signs and chants.
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, was removed from the House chamber for protesting minutes into Trump’s address. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., used a whiteboard to write real-time reactions to Trump’s speech, including phrases like, “No king!”
Republicans said they delivered standing ovations on bipartisan issues during President Joe Biden‘s past State of the Union speeches.
“There’s a lot of times they should have stood. We did when Biden was president. Of course, we didn’t stand a whole lot, but when it was a bipartisan issue, we all stood.” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said.
“We suffered through four years of Joe Biden. When the first lady came up, we gave her a standing ovation as Joe Biden went through the people he had in the audience honoring them. We stood up and clapped for them. I mean, why wouldn’t somebody stand up and clap for a little 13-year-old boy who’s been through brain cancer, and they deputize him to the Secret Service?” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., added.
Republican lawmakers told Fox News Digital they had never seen Democrats be “deliberately disruptive” and “kicked out of the House chamber” during a joint address to Congress.
“I’ve been here 14 years. I’ve never seen anybody kicked out of the House chamber during a State of the Union address, nor have I ever seen people refuse to stand or even clap in response to pretty innocuous statements, not just innocuous statements, but statements that Americans overwhelmingly agree with,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said.
“It didn’t look very good for America,” he added in reference to Green being removed from the chamber.
“I don’t think my Democrat colleagues stood for a single portion of that speech,” Hawley said. “There was some heckling at the beginning, to put it mildly. I’ve never seen anything like that in a joint session of Congress, deliberately disruptive to the point of being, I think, dangerous.”
While many Democrats did not stand for DJ on Tuesday night, chants of “DJ!” erupted in the House chamber as Trump directed Secret Service Director Sean Curran to designate the 13-year-old an honorary Secret Service agent.
“Joining us in the gallery tonight is a young man who truly loves our police. His name is DJ Daniel. He is 13 years old. He has always dreamed of becoming a police officer himself. But in 2018, DJ was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctors gave him five months at most to live. That was more than six years ago. Since that time, DJ and his dad have been on a quest to make his dream come true, and DJ has been sworn in as an honorary law enforcement officer,” Trump said.
“Tonight, DJ, we’re going to do you the biggest honor of them all. I am asking our new Secret Service director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service,” Trump said.
His father, Theodis, held the 13-year-old over his shoulders as DJ showed off his new badge to the chamber.
