Donald Trump accuses Democrats of 'treason' for not clapping economic gains during State of the Union - Telegraph

Donald Trump accuses Democrats of 'treason' for not clapping economic gains during State of the Union

Donald Trump delivers his divisive comments at a manufacturing plant in Blue Ash, Ohio

Donald Trump delivers his divisive comments at a manufacturing plant in Blue Ash, Ohio

Our Foreign Staff

6 FEBRUARY 2018 • 4:32AM

President Donald Trump accused Democrats of treason on Monday, accusing them of “un-American” behaviour for failing to applaud economic gains during his State of the Union address.

His extraordinary outburst takes the country’s polarised politics to a new low.

He levelled the allegations at his political opponents as he addressed an audience in Ohio during a day when the year’s stock market gains were being wiped out by steep losses on Wall Street.

He said Republicans applauded throughout the speech in contrast to the silent Democrats, even as he celebrated historically low levels of unemployment among African-Americans.

"They were like death and un-American," he said . "Somebody said 'treasonous'. I mean, eh. I guess, why not? Can we call that treason, why not? I mean they certainly didn't seem to love our country very much.”

Treason is a capital offense and punishable by death in the United States.

Democrats gave Trump a decidedly cool reaction during the State of the Union. While falling unemployment has begun to lift wages, business executives are mixed on how much to credit Mr Trump and how much of the success is down to Barack Obama, his predecessor.

Jeff Merkley, a Democratic senator for Oregon, was unimpressed with the criticism.

@SenJeffMerkley

.@realDonaldTrump: “Treasonous” means betraying your country – like, say, if someone colluded with Russia to influence American elections. The freedom not to clap for ideas you disagree with is called the 1st Amendment. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-tags-democrats-treasonous-un-american-muted-sotu-reaction-n844851 …

9:43 AM - Feb 6, 2018

Over the past four years, the US economy has added 10 million jobs and the overall unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since 2000. Wage growth, however, has been sluggish, although it has shown signs of picking up recently.

During last Tuesday's address, the president touted his tax cuts and regulation rollbacks as the reason Americans are finally seeing more wages after "years and years" of stagnation.

"Every American should be alarmed by how @realDonaldTrump is working to make loyalty to him synonymous with loyalty to our country," Representative Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, said in a tweet. "That is not how democracy works."