Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) said Tuesday that President Donald Trump was not too far off the mark on Monday when he called Democrats’ refrain from clapping and standing during his State of the Union speech “treasonous” and “un-American.”
“I would say it was un-American. And they don’t love our country. I don’t know if I would go as far as treasonous,” Tenney said on CNN Tuesday morning when asked about Trump’s comments about Democrats’ behavior during his speech.
Tenney defended Trump’s criticisms for Democrats, telling CNN that the President just “likes to talk in colorful language.”
“But I sat on the Democratic side, and I was frankly appalled at the behavior of the Democrats,” she added.
The congresswoman was particularly offended that Democrats were not more enthusiastic about Trump’s offer to grant a path to citizenship to the 1.8 million immigrants eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
“My first blush at it at the State of the Union was, wow, this is really generous. And I was just shocked. I had Democrats sitting behind me that sat on their hands, not seeing what the President was trying to do,” Tenney said.
Asked if Republicans were equally resistant to President Barack Obama during his State of the Union speeches, Tenney insisted they were not.
“I saw many more Republicans en masse standing up in President Obama’s State of the Union addresses,” she said.
