Ocasio-Cortez skipping Trump address, will live post instead

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said she will not attend President Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress Tuesday night.

She said she will be posting live about the speech on social media instead.

“I’m not going to the Joint Address. I will be live posting and chatting with you all here instead,” the New York Democrat said in a post on the social platform Bluesky.

“Then going on IG Live after,” she added, using a popular shorthand for the social media platform Instagram.

Trump will head to the Capitol for the first joint address of his second term on Tuesday night.

The president is expected to tout his sweeping efforts to reshape the government, crack down on immigration and reorient U.S. foreign policy on the heels of an Oval Office spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The president’s address to Congress is often an opportunity for the minority party to show resistance — either by wearing symbolic garb, by booing at strategic moments or by boycotting the speech altogether.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), in a “Dear Colleague” letter Monday, called for Democrats to have a “strong, determined and dignified” presence at the address, but added, “The decision to attend the Joint Session is a personal one and we understand that members will come to different conclusions.”

“However, it is important to have a strong, determined and dignified Democratic presence in the chamber,” the Democratic leader continued. “The House as an institution belongs to the American people, and as their representatives we will not be run off the block or bullied.”

Jeffries said he and other members of Democratic leadership will attend the speech “to make clear to the nation that there is a strong opposition party ready, willing and able to serve as a check and balance on the excesses of the administration.”

Still, several other Democratic lawmakers said they are planning to skip Trump’s address to Congress — including Sens. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Martin Heinrich (N.M.) and Reps. Becca Balint (Vt.), Gerry Connolly (Va.), Don Beyer (Va.) and Kweisi Mfume (Md.).