Stephen Colbert mocks Jeffries' 'silent defiance' SOTU strategy: 'Bold rebrand of doing jack squat'

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Late-night host Stephen Colbert devoted a sharp segment of his Tuesday, February 24 monologue to what he saw as a branding problem inside the Democratic Party- specifically House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ handling of the protest strategy during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.

Rather than focusing primarily on Trump’s speech itself, Colbert zeroed in on Jeffries’ reported guidance to Democratic lawmakers: If they attended the address, they were urged not to stage disruptive demonstrations.

“For Democrats who did attend, Hakeem Jeffries urged members not to make a scene,” Colbert told viewers on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'.

He then delivered the punchline that quickly began circulating online, “An approach he dubbed ‘silent defiance’, which I believe is a bold rebrand of doing jack squat.” The studio audience erupted.

Stephen Colbert satirizes Hakeem Jeffries' 'silent defiance' approach

Colbert leaned into the phrasing, treating “silent defiance” less as a political tactic and more as a marketing slogan in need of a reality check.

He also displayed a mock inspirational quote on screen and added, “As Martin Luther King once said, 'Shhh.'”

The joke highlighted what Colbert implied was the tension within the Democratic Party- How to protest effectively without appearing performative, yet without appearing passive.

While some Democratic lawmakers boycotted the address entirely, others attended and staged more visible signs of dissent, including walkouts and symbolic gestures.

Jeffries’ approach, however, emphasized composure over confrontation inside the chamber.

Democrats stage protests as Stephen Colbert questions 'rebrand'

Throughout the evening, demonstrations unfolded both inside and outside the Capitol.

Several Democrats who skipped the address participated in an alternative gathering on the National Mall billed as the 'People’s State of the Union', addressing supporters and outlining policy concerns separate from the president’s speech

Rep Al Green was removed from Trump's joint address for the second time after he held up a sign reading “Black people aren’t apes.”

Green's slogan referenced a video posted earlier by President Trump depicting Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes.

Rep Ilhan Omar was also seen at the event yelling, "You have killed Americans,” at the president.

But in Colbert’s telling, the real story wasn’t the protests themselves; it was the branding of non-protest as protest.

By framing Jeffries’ directive as a “rebrand,” Colbert suggested the language was doing more work than the action for Dems.