'Squad' members decline to clap with Dems for Biden SOTU entrance

WASHINGTON (TND) — Members of the ultra-progressive congressional group “The Squad” on Thursday did not clap or join chants of “four more years” for President Joe Biden upon his entrance to the House chamber for his State of the Union address.

Though the chamber was full of thundering applause during the president's stroll down the center aisle to the House dais, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., did not participate. Rep. Tlaib chose to remain seated while most of the House chamber stood to greet Biden.

The icy greeting comes amid “The Squad’s” open dissatisfaction with Biden over his response to the Israel-Hamas war. Though the president said in his speech Thursday he supports a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, members of “The Squad” have consistently demanded a ceasefire.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., became visibly emotional in February when she demanded Biden call for a ceasefire. The representative called attention to infant casualties before choking up and pausing for several seconds.

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Rep. Tlaib last month sided with a grassroots Michigan movement to vote “uncommitted” in the state’s Democratic primary, designed to send a message to Biden regarding his actions amid the Israel-Hamas war.

“I was proud today to walk in and pull a Democratic ballot and vote uncommitted,” the representative saidat the time. “When 74% of Democrats in Michigan support a ceasefire, yet President Biden is not hearing us, this is the way we can use our democracy to say ‘Listen. Listen to Michigan.’”

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., however, didn't go as far as some of her "Squad” colleagues Thursday. AOC did not join members of “The Squad” who raised signs reading “stop sending bombs” and “lasting ceasefire now" while Biden discussed bringing home Israeli hostages.

The tepid showing from one of Congress’s most outspoken members comes as she faces mounting pressure from Democratic hardliners to become more aggressive toward Israel in its war with Hamas terrorists. On Monday, AOC appeared to lose her cool after a group of pro-Palestinian hecklers in New York City demanded she accuse Israel of causing a genocide in Gaza.

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