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Stephen Colbert is knocking House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries\u2019s (D-N.Y) quiet approach to countering President Trump during his State of the Union address.<\/p>\n
In a\u00a0live episode<\/a>\u00a0of CBS\u2019s \u201cThe Late Show\u201d that aired following Trump\u2019s Tuesday speech to Congress, Colbert said that Jeffries \u201curged his members in the chamber to not make a scene.\u201d<\/p>\n It was an approach, Colbert continued, quoting news stories, that the lawmaker \u201cdubbed \u2018silent defiance.’\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhich I believe is a bold rebrand of doing jack squat,\u201d Colbert\u00a0cracked.<\/p>\n \u201cAs Martin Luther King once said: \u2018Shhh,’\u201d the late-night TV host said to laughs.<\/p>\n Ahead of the<\/a>\u00a0State of the Union, Jeffries said he\u00a0had advised<\/a>\u00a0his caucus, \u201cThe two options that are in front of us in our House [are] to either attend with silent defiance or to not attend and send a message to Donald Trump in\u00a0that fashion, which will include participation in a variety of different alternate programming that is going to take place in and around the Capitol complex.\u201d<\/p>\n But multiple Democrats made their presence known during Trump\u2019s Tuesday night address. Rep. Al Green (Texas) was escorted out after holding up a sign as Trump entered that read, \u201cBLACK PEOPLE AREN\u2019T APES,\u201d a reference to since-deleted clip<\/a>\u00a0the president had posted depicting the Obamas as apes, and Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) repeatedly heckled Trump<\/a> as he made derogatory remarks about Somali immigrants in her state.<\/p>\n At Trump\u2019s congressional address last year \u2014 the first of his second term \u2014 several Democrats also made headlines<\/a>\u00a0with their disruptive protests.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this president\u2019s unhinged tirades, I think this president\u2019s unpopular policies should be the story, not sort of gestures from our side,\u201d Rep. Sarah McBride told NOTUS in a recent interview.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think that what we saw in Congress last year was particularly helpful,\u201d the Delaware Democrat said.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n