Whatever the Democrats are paying their political strategists, well, they need to get their money back.

That was my initial thought after watching the behavior of the left during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address last Tuesday night.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s very common for members of the party who don’t have the White House to remain seated as the president lists what he considers his accomplishments since he took office and/or his last State of the Union address.

Par for the course, honestly, and both sides of the aisle are guilty of doing it. It’s become the typical way members of Congress show they do not support the current president’s agenda, and they want to show they are united as a party, and by extension with their constituents, in that disdain.

Folks, that’s not what happened Tuesday night.

What happened wasn’t a protest of the current administration by the minority party. It wasn’t a show of solidarity against a leader they can’t stand (pun intended).

It was, frankly, un-American. Plain and simple.

How else can you accurately describe every Democrat in the chamber not standing when the president asks if you believe the first job of the United States government is to protect its citizens over illegal aliens?

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” President Trump said to those on the left staring stone-faced from their seats.

Or when he gets seated, crickets from the left after he proposes stopping the ability of the state to take children away from their parents and transitioning them without their parents’ consent or knowledge?

“You people are crazy!”  President Trump told the same seated Democrats.

There were so many opportunities during the State of the Union for the Democrats to do the right thing, the American thing, but they just don’t have it in them.

Like when he has members of the men’s USA hockey team enter the chamber fresh off winning Olympic gold, for the first time since the “Miracle On Ice” in 1980, I mean, you can’t get up and congratulate them on how well they represented our country on the world stage?

Or when he recognizes military heroes who are barely able to stand themselves as they receive the country’s highest military decoration, the Congressional Medal of Honor, you can’t get stand up and applaud what they did on behalf of a grateful nation? 

Or when he tried to comfort a mother whose daughter was killed just because she sat in front of the wrong person on public transportation in our country, I mean, that’s a bridge too far for you?

There were plenty of other opportunities to stand for America and Americans during the longest State of the Union address a president has ever given, don’t even get me started on the ridiculous response to the war on fraud announcement, but the Democrats didn’t take advantage of any of them.

Again, these aren’t policy issues. These aren’t the 80 percent issues you hear about Democrats being on the wrong side of. These are American issues. These are 100 percent issues, or at least they should be, but the Democrats’ Trump Derangement Syndrome is so bad they can’t see the political forest for the trees.

To paraphrase an old saying, when someone shows you who they are, or in this case where they stand, believe them. With their behavior during the State of the Union address, the Democrats just showed very plainly where they stand, or more accurately, don’t.

Believe them.  

Patrick Graham is proprietor and publisher of The Covington News. He can be reached at patrick.graham@waltontribune.com.