Donald Trump used his State of the Union address to demand Congress pass the STOP Insider Trading Act, calling for a ban on lawmakers, their spouses, and dependent children from purchasing individual stocks. Then he twisted the knife.
After laying out his case for the legislation, the president paused to take a jab at his longtime political enemy Nancy Pelosi, who was sitting in the House Chamber.
"As we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market, let's also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit using inside information. Pass the STOP Insider Trading Act WITHOUT DELAY."
Then came the line of the night. Trump grinned and asked the chamber, "Did Nancy Pelosi stand up? Doubt it."
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson could be seen chuckling. And here's the thing worth noting: some Democrats stood and applauded. Among them is Elizabeth Warren.
Pelosi has long faced insider trading allegations over the remarkable success of her stock portfolio. Critics allege she has used sensitive information gained through her position in Congress to make trades that consistently outperform the market, the Daily Mail reported. The allegations have dogged her for years, and the issue has become one of the rare points of genuine bipartisan frustration.
That frustration was on full display Tuesday night. When Democrats applaud a Republican president calling out one of their own party's most powerful figures, the issue has moved well past partisan posturing. The American public has watched lawmakers on both sides of the aisle accumulate wealth at rates that defy any reasonable explanation, and the patience has run out.
Pelosi, for her part, was present in the chamber. She wore a pin calling on Trump to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. No statement from her on the insider trading moment has been reported.
The State of the Union was contentious before Trump even reached the podium. At least 70 Democrats boycotted the address entirely. Others staged disruptions inside the chamber itself.
Democratic congressman Al Green held up a sign as the president walked by. Majority Leader Steven Scalise ripped the sign from his hands. Green was shortly escorted out of the room.
The sign read: "Black people aren't apes."
Whatever point Green intended to make, the theatrics overshadowed it. A congressman being physically removed from the State of the Union is not a show of principle. It's a show. And it stood in sharp contrast to the actual policy substance Trump was delivering from the lectern.
Trump warned the audience early that it would be a long night. "It's going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about," he said, before covering a wide range of policy territory that included the U.S. economy, global trade, tax cuts, and the insider trading ban.
He argued that the country is entering its 250th year as a nation that is "strong, prosperous and respected." The tone was confident and forward-looking, the kind of address built around an agenda rather than grievance.
The STOP Insider Trading Act would do something that polls have shown Americans overwhelmingly support: prevent the people who write the laws governing industries from personally profiting off the stocks of those same industries. The concept is so straightforward that the only mystery is why it hasn't been law for decades.
The answer, of course, is that the people who would have to pass the law are the same people who benefit from the status quo. That's what made the moment in the chamber so striking. Trump forced every lawmaker in that room to either stand up for the ban or sit there and explain why not. The camera doesn't lie, and neither does an empty chair.
When Elizabeth Warren is applauding a Trump proposal, the political logic is undeniable. This isn't a left-right issue anymore. It's an inside-outside issue. The political class has enriched itself while telling ordinary Americans to trust the system. The system, it turns out, was rigged to benefit the people running it.
Seventy Democrats boycotted the speech. One got himself escorted out. And the ones who stayed couldn't help but clap when the president called out what everyone already knows.
Pelosi sat there. That was the whole story.
