At least five Democratic lawmakers on Sunday took issue with the party's uncoordinated response to President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress last week.
"The lack of a coordinated response in the State of the Union was a mistake," Sen. Adam Schiff of California said on ABC News' "This Week," referring to Trump's joint address.
"We instead focused too much time on disruptive behavior and the conduct of the Democrats," Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) noted on CBS News. "That was a strategic mistake."
Democrats, both moderate and progressive, expressed regrets on the Sunday news shows about how their party disjointedly handled any protest or response to Trump's speech to Congress.
"Look, that was not a good look," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) admitted to Fox News. "We should have stood for the boy with cancer. You stand for the president of the United States out of respect for the American people."
Many of these lawmakers Sunday criticized Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who protested by heckling the president and was removed from the chamber during the speech.
"There's so much frustration with the Trump administration," Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said on NBC News. "There's so much concern that what you saw was sort of the emotion and wanting to be visible. It's not personally the way I reacted."
"Let's not make the story about us," Suozzi reflected. "Let's make the story about what President Trump says and how we disagree with it. And we squandered that opportunity."
"We can't just be against something," Slotkin said of the Democratic Party. "We have to be for something."
"They're destroying the economy, and they're making it harder and harder for Americans to afford things," Schiff offered. "That's where we need to keep the focus."
