President Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress got off to a fiery start when a House Republican tore a protest sign away from a Democrat congresswoman. Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico was visible behind Trump as he walked into the chamber, holding a sign that read: “This is not normal.” She stoically held the handwritten message as the president soaked up adulation from House Republicans, including Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas. When Gooden noticed Stansbury’s protest, he leaned across the aisle, ripped the sign out of her hands and threw it in the air—TV cameras captured it falling close to Trump as he carried on, seemingly oblivious. Stansbury continued to stand motionless and later repeated her protest with an X repeating the same message as her Congress protest. “We will resist,” she added. In his own X post about the incident, Gooden wrote: “Putting the American people FIRST is normal.” He went on: “No one will disrespect President [Trump] in front of me.” The interaction set the tone for a rowdy speech that later saw Democratic Rep. Al Green removed from the chamber for interrupting Trump as he spoke.
