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GOP congressman rips sign out of Dem congresswoman's hand and brags about it [1]
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Date: 2025-03-05
It’s already been amply established that Republicans’ attempts to claim the mantle of free speech are transparently hypocritical. Well, one of the worst moments from last night showed just how hollow it was. A Republican congressman crassly ripped a sign out of a Democratic congresswoman’s hand—then bellowed that said sign amounted to “disrespect” for Trump. Oliver Willis and Walter Einekel touched on it in their front page posts, but as outrageous as it was, it merits a deeper dive.
In case you missed it, as Trump was walking into the House chamber, Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico was seen holding up a sign saying “This is not normal.” That didn’t sit well with Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas. He yanked the sign out of Stansbury’s hand and ripped it up. Watch here.
As bad as that was, Gooden made it look even worse when he took to Twitter.
x Putting the American people FIRST is normal.
No one will disrespect President @realdonaldtrump in front of me.
https://t.co/oy4UeOeUZT — Lance Gooden (@Lancegooden) March 5, 2025
Predictably, the reaction from much of the right wing amounted to “Atta boy, Lance!” But they can’t deny they’d be up in arms if a Republican congresswoman had been holding up a sign at a Democratic president’s SOTU, and a Democratic congressman ripped it out of her hand.
Let’s be clear—what Gooden did was vile and despicable. It would be no less vile if a Democratic man did this to a Republican woman. And I’d be saying it even if the woman had been as loathsome as, say, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Elise Stefanik, Nancy Mace, or Harriet Hageman. There is virtually no scenario in which this is at all acceptable, regardless of who does it. And as much as I despise Greene, Boebert, Stefanik, Mace, Hageman and their ilk, I can count on one hand the times where I wouldn’t be demanding an apology from any Democratic man who acted the way that Gooden did.
It’s not likely that Gooden will have to answer for it. He represents a district that stretches from eastern Dallas through a swath of suburban, exurban, and rural territory east of the city. Most of his constituents back home may have seen it as putting an out-of-touch lib in her place. Most right-thinking people saw it as a disgraceful attack on free speech.
Granted, most of the attention is focused on Rep. Al Green interrupting Trump’s speech and getting hustled out of the chamber. But what Gooden did here is much, much more disturbing. Fortunately, he’s getting lit up on Facebook and Twitter for his behavior. If you live in his district, give him an earful.
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[1] Url:
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