Dem Strategist Shreds His Own Party For Behavior During Trump Speech

A former Democratic strategist is raising concerns over the way members of his party have been conducting themselves since President Donald Trump took office.

Dan Turrentine, who still identifies as a Democrat, spoke with Fox News on Friday, criticizing party members for "embarrassing" themselves during the president’s recent address to a joint session of Congress.

“I love my party, but tonight was a new low. I get silence on this or that policy, and the raw politics of the base’s anger. But, for not a single D to stand to applaud a boy’s brave battle with cancer, or a man’s admission to West Point, was a classless disgrace,” he posted on X the day after Trump’s speech.

“And maddeningly, while overall Trump’s speech was politically good, there were political holes that could be exploited, juvenile taunts that voters hate, and comical lies. But much of that will be buried by our self-inflicted stupidity,” he added.

Speaking with Fox News host Jesse Watters, Turrentine continued his sharp critique of Democrats.

“Jesse, it’s embarrassing. I mean, I guess fake it till you make it, I mean, I think a lot of them right now have kind of lost their minds,” the strategist stated.

“They’re trying to kind of out-Trump, Trump. They’re not being who they are, right? Trump is an authentic street fighter, like it comes natural to him to do the taunts to try to get in people’s heads. We need to go back to just like the basics here,” he said.

Turrentine also ridiculed the TikTok-style videos that some Democratic members shared following the speech.

“They more sound like sophomores with a TikTok account at this point. So I think the problem is there is no leader at this point, Jesse,” he noted. “Hakeem Jeffries clearly is not Nancy Pelosi.”

The Democrats’ behavior became so erratic that longtime Representative Al Green of Texas was formally censured by the House.

Members voted to censure Green the day after he interrupted President Donald Trump’s address to Congress. This action places him among a small number of lawmakers in U.S. history to face such a reprimand.

The resolution passed with ten Democrats joining Republicans in support, while Green himself voted “present,” as did first-term Representative Shomari Figures (D-AL), according to Fox News.

“Al Green’s childish outburst exposed the chaos and dysfunction within the Democrat party since President Trump’s overwhelming win in November and his success in office thus far. It is not surprising 198 Democrats refused to support Green’s censure given their history of radical, inflammatory rhetoric fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome,” stated House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Fox News also reported that the ten Democrats who voted to censure Green were Representatives Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Ed Case (D-Hawaii), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.), Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.).

Republicans acted quickly on Wednesday to introduce multiple resolutions to censure Green, drafting three separate proposals within hours.

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), whose resolution was ultimately brought to a House vote Thursday morning, reportedly reached out to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) immediately after Trump’s speech to begin drafting the measure.

At the same time, the House Freedom Caucus sought to follow through on its prior warning that any Democrat who disrupted Trump’s address would face censure. Additionally, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) introduced his own censure resolution against Green, quickly gathering more than 30 Republican co-sponsors.

By Wednesday afternoon, Newhouse took to the House floor and designated his resolution as “privileged,” a procedural move that required House leaders to take action within two legislative days, as noted by Fox News.