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Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI) wears a jacket with writing of the U.S. Constitution on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 04, 2025, in Washington, DC. President Trump was expected to address Congress on his early achievements of his presidency and his upcoming legislative agenda.
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Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI) holds a protest sign with fellow Democrats as U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 04, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump was expected to address Congress on his early achievements of his presidency and his upcoming legislative agenda.
Female Democratic members of Congress wore pink in a sign of solidarity tonight during President Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress, but Hawaii Rep. Jill Tokuda took her opposition to Trump’s policies a step further by marking her pink jacket with a fist of resistance on the back and references to rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution that she says Trump has stomped on.
On both sleeves, Tokuda referred to the Constitution’s guarantees of equal rights, the responsibility of the president to follow the law and the separation of powers between the three branches of government.
“Many of us wore pink as a sign of solidarity but I wanted to do more than that,” Tokuda told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser following Trump’s record-long speech before a joint session of Congress.
“I took a pen to my jacket and said, ‘We literally have to wear it on our sleeve what we believe in and what we are fighting for — and that’s the Constitution, the law, resisting and fighting for the people.’”
Tokuda interpreted Trump’s speech as “a desperate man trying to justify what ultimately will be painful cuts that will hurt senior citizens on Social Security” and other federal programs designed to provide a safety net — in order to financially benefit the rich.
“I found it shameful,” she said. “People are just looking for help and that is not at all what you heard.”
“Folks in Hawaii need relief for the high cost of living, but what the American people heard was the longest set of lies ever told by a U.S. president,” Tokuda said. “… It was lie after lie and a huge letdown for the American people.”
Hawaii Rep. Ed Case called Trump’s address “by far the most divisive, polarizing and destructive” out of 11 he’s witnessed while in Congress, including seven by Republican presidents and four by Democratic presidents.
“It could and should have been an appeal to our country and world about we and us together,” Case said in a statement. “It could and should have been about the real everyday problems facing Americans, like the rising cost of living and saving Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
“It was none of that.”
By: Dan Nakaso
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser