--- title: Donald Trump Said Democrats Who Didn't Clap Are Treasonous description: President Donald Trump said Democrats who did not clap during his first State of the Union address were "treasonous." canonical: https://time.com/5134150/donald-trump-state-union-democrats-treasonous/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-05T20:23:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2024-01-24T11:38:03.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Said Democrats Who Didn't Clap at the State of the Union Were 'Treasonous' og:description: He also called them "un-American." og:url: https://time.com/5134150/donald-trump-state-union-democrats-treasonous/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2acea6d769c199a0/6988fa9d22fb853774e249d6/gettyimages-914557868.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2139 og:image:height: 1203 og:image:alt: U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and first lady Melania Trump leave the White House February 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Said Democrats Who Didn't Clap at the State of the Union Were 'Treasonous' twitter:description: He also called them "un-American." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2acea6d769c199a0/6988fa9d22fb853774e249d6/gettyimages-914557868.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Said Democrats Who Didn't Clap at the State of the Union Were 'Treasonous' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Updated: Jan 24, 2024 11:38 AM UTCPublished: Feb 5, 2018 8:23 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and first lady Melania Trump leave the White House February 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and first lady Melania Trump leave the White House February 5, 2018 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Updated: Jan 24, 2024 11:38 AM UTCPublished: Feb 5, 2018 8:23 PM UTC President Donald Trump said Democrats who did not clap during his first State of the Union address were “treasonous.” Speaking at [a Sheffer factory in Cincinnati](https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/05/trumps-cincinnati-tax-cuts-big-business-and-melania-visiting-sick-kids/307141002/) Monday, Trump criticized Democratic lawmakers who did not stand and applaud during his State of the Union address last Tuesday, saying they gave off “bad energy” and calling them “un-American.” “Somebody said treasonous,” he said. “I mean, yeah, I guess, why not. Can we call that treason? Why not?” A White House spokesman said Tuesday that the remarks were [“tongue-in-cheek.”](https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/06/politics/treason-donald-trump-joking/index.html) Trump called for bipartisan unity [during his first State of the Union address](http://time.com/5125174/trump-state-of-the-union-address-transcript/), but many Democrats in the audience [stayed seated and avoided clapping](https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2018-state-of-the-union-address/democrats-scoff-boo-groan-glower-trump-s-state-union-n843146) even on some noncontroversial subjects that would have typically prompted applause. Some said they found the calls disingenuous. “You cannot reject bipartisan plans to improve health care and protect Dreamers or sow hate and division — and then turn around the next day and say you want to work together,” said Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California after the speech. Read his full remarks on the State of the Union below: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5134150/donald-trump-state-union-democrats-treasonous/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5134150/donald-trump-state-union-democrats-treasonous/"},"headline":"President Trump Said Democrats Who Didn't Clap at the State of the Union Were 'Treasonous'","datePublished":"2018-02-05T20:23:47.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T11:38:03.000Z","description":"He was referring to the State of the Union","url":"https://time.com/5134150/donald-trump-state-union-democrats-treasonous/","keywords":["Donald Trump","state of the union","Ohio","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2acea6d769c199a0/6988fa9d22fb853774e249d6/gettyimages-914557868.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2acea6d769c199a0/6988fa9d22fb853774e249d6/gettyimages-914557868.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and first lady Melania Trump leave the White House February 5, 2018 in Washington, DC.","caption":"U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and first lady Melania Trump leave the White House February 5, 2018 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5134150/donald-trump-state-union-democrats-treasonous/","name":"President Trump Said Democrats Who Didn't Clap at the State of the Union Were 'Treasonous'"}}]}] ```