‘Partisan and divisive’: House leadership disagrees on reception of Trump’s joint address

As Washington sought on Wednesday to make sense of President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress, House Republicans saw the speech as going “overwhelmingly well,” while Democrats called it “partisan and divisive.”

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Wednesday, presenting their parties’ differing views of Trump’s Tuesday speech.

“That was one of the most partisan and divisive speeches every delivered by an American president,” Jeffries told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.

Trump spoke to thundering applause from Republican majorities in the House and Senate, but faced heckles from some raucous Democrats.

“The speech last night went overwhelmingly well,” Johnson said on Wednesday on “GMA.” “It was not a speech for the mainstream media — it was a speech for the American people.”

During the speech, Rep. Al Green, an 11-term Democrat representing the Houston area, stood up and pointed his cane at the dais and shouted, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.” He was escorted from the chamber.

Democrats resorted to “pettiness,” and their protests during the speech amounted to a “a sad affair,” Johnson said on Wednesday. He pointed to Green “trying to interrupt the whole proceeding”

“If the Democrats want a 77-year-old congressman to be the face of their resistance, heckling the president, then bring it on,” Johnson said. “But we couldn’t allow that on the House floor.”

Jeffries responded, saying the “vast majority” of Democrats “showed restraint, listened to what the president had to say.” He said he “strongly” disagreed with Johnson’s characterization.

“The biggest problem I had with the speech, there was nothing said, nothing laid out, nothing articulated by Donald Trump to meet the needs of the American people, particularly as it relates to the economy,” he said.

The president heaped praise on Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul, and his Department of Government Efficiency, which has been busy slashing the federal government.

Johnson shrugged off concern that Musk appeared to some to be an “unelected bureaucrat,” saying he amounted to a “patriotic American.”

“He’s doing a great service for the country and he ought to be applauded,” he said.

Trump defended the tariffs he put in place on Tuesday on goods from Mexico and China, along with the increased duties in Chinese goods.

“Tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs they’re about protecting the soul of our country. Tariffs are about making America rich again,” Trump said during the speech.

But Jeffries pointed to kitchen-table issues that, he said, the president hasn’t focused enough on.

“Donald Trump promised to lower costs. In fact, he promised to lower costs on day one,” he said. “We know that grocery prices are not going down, they are going up, inflation is going up, and the stock market is going down, which is hurting the retirement security of everyday Americans.”

As March 14 approaches and a potential federal government shutdown looms, both Jeffries and Johnson were asked about what the Democrats are doing to keep the federal government funded and open.

“We want to make surety government remains open and that we can agree upon a spending bill that meets the needs of the American people, in terms of their health and safety, our national security, and their economic well-being,” Jeffries said. “When congress appropriates the money, the administration — Democratic or Republican — it needs to spend that money consistent with improving the lives of American people, that’s not unreasonable. That’s entirely reasonable.”

Johnson, however, appeared confident that a resolution to keep the government open would pass, in spite of what he called “unreasonable and unprecedented demands” by Democrats.

“We will have a resolution, and pass it to the House and send it on the. Senate,” said Johnson. “I hope reasonably-minded people will negotiate this in good faith. We are working for a top line everyone can agree with.”