Dem lawmakers plan unprecedented 'break with tradition' in response to major Trump address

[BumRushDaShow]

22. The NYT article that the OP article is referencing

alleged that when Democrats basically did that last year, it didn't go over well (which is why I didn't bother using that for the OP as some of the terms used in the characterization were insulting).

From the NYT -

Democrats Plan to Counter Trump’s Speech to Congress With Rally


Representative Al Green, Democrat of Texas, was ejected from the chamber after disrupting President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress last year.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times

By Annie Karni
Reporting from Washington

Feb. 18, 2026 Updated 8:17 a.m. ET


Democrats knew in real time last year that they had bungled their response to President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, making themselves a distraction rather than offering a cohesive message of resistance to his policies.

Representative Al Green, a liberal septuagenarian from Texas, was ejected from the chamber (and later censured) after disrupting the speech with a cane-waving tirade. The paddles that some Democrats waved with short messages on them — “Save Medicaid,” “Musk Steals” and one that just read “False” — were widely panned as a hokey and incoherent response. It was all out of step with the sober, centrist counter to Mr. Trump that party leaders had wanted to project that night.

They’re trying something different on Tuesday, when Mr. Trump is scheduled to deliver the first State of the Union address of his second term. A substantial number of Democrats are planning to boycott the speech and attend an alternative event, a rally called the “People’s State of the Union,” which will take place on the National Mall near the Capitol.

The event, which is being coordinated by the left-wing advocacy group MoveOn and MeidasTouch, a progressive media company, will feature Democratic lawmakers speaking with people who have been negatively affected by Mr. Trump’s economic and health care policies, as well as federal workers who lost their jobs and immigrants who have been targeted by the Trump administration. It will be hosted by the liberal political commentators Joy Reid and Katie Phang.

(snip)

So let's see how some alternate programming works for us to tell people what we are FOR and what we plan to DO.