WASHINGTON — Congressional Democratic leaders assembled on the steps of the Supreme Court Monday to protest President Donald Trump’s temporary immigration ban, but they had one big problem — their microphones didn’t work.
Hundreds of liberal protesters assembled before the Supreme Court to listen to the congressional leaders speak and chanted things such as “impeach” and “lock him up.” When House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and dozens of congressional Democrats showed up the protesters continued to have a demonstration of their own as congressional Democrats were drowned out by the chants.
Pelosi started off the event speaking for minute or so into microphones with no sound. Congressional Democrats then realized no one could hear them, and broke out into singing Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.”
WATCH:
dems’ mic broke so they are singing pic.twitter.com/tfzooU9bbt
— Alex Pfeiffer (@PfeifferDC) January 31, 2017
The singing could only last so long and Pelosi went back to speaking into the broken microphones. Standing close to the House Minority leader, one could make out her referencing the poem by Emma Lazarus emblazoned on the Statue of Liberty which states, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Pelosi was offered a megaphone by a fellow congressional Democrat, which she refused to take as chants of “no ban, no wall” from the crowd drowned out her speech. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer then took the podium and screamed his speech, eschewing the use of the broken microphones or the megaphone. He said that President Trump’s executive order on immigration makes the U.S. “unsafe” and “less American.”
The New York senator was eventually drowned out by chants as he said that the executive order was “evil.” This was a pattern repeated throughout the night, as male Democratic senators were able to have their voice heard a little before eventually being drowned out by chants, while female Democrats were almost hopeless at the microphone
When Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren took the podium she finally used the megaphone that had been offered earlier to Pelosi. However, the megaphone, like the microphones, was also broken and the potential 2020 Democratic nominee was drowned out by chants of “stand up, fight back.”
Minnesota Sen. Al Franken was one of the last Democrats to take the stage. He took advantage of the opportunity to speak into a broken megaphone by attempting to tell a nearly five long minute story, which was impossible to make out from ten yards away.
After the nearly 45 minute event, a young protester named Arianna told The Daily Caller, “There were speeches?”
President Trump tweeted Tuesday morning, “Nancy Pelosi and Fake Tears Chuck Schumer held a rally at the steps of The Supreme Court and mic did not work (a mess)-just like Dem party!”