Donald Trump Just Tried to Take Credit for Electing the Most Women to Congress Ever

The Democratic women wouldn’t give it to him.

Women members of Congress cheer after President Donald Trump acknowledges more women in Congress during his 2019 State of the Union address.J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

During Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night, the president took credit for a strong economy and noted that women had particularly benefited from job creation. The Democratic women of the 116th Congress—most of whom donned white in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote—used the applause line to steal the president’s spotlight and call attention to the fact that there were more women in Congress than ever before.

“You weren’t supposed to do that!” the president shouted, departing from the script.

The formal remarks did include an acknowledgment of the fact that there are more women serving in Congress than ever before—”Don’t sit yet, you’re going to like this,” Trump said. And as he did, Democrats broke out in a “USA” chant.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate