The day after U.S. President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025, a video of Democratic members of Congress in the audience sitting in silence during the speech while Republicans stood and applauded for a 13-year-old battling cancer circulated online.
Users shared the footage on multiple platforms, including X, Bluesky and Reddit, inciting backlash for the Democrats allegedly refusing to stand. One such video received more than 4.5 million views, as of this writing:
The video is authentic; it is available to view on the C-SPAN YouTube account. The video from the X post above starts at approximately 2:27:48:
When the camera zoomed out and spanned the room (at minute 2:28:12), it was clear that half the room – the half where the Democratic members of Congress were seated – was, in contrast to the Republican half, mostly sitting and not clapping at that point.
(YouTube account @C-SPAN)
However, in the minute prior to the circulated clip — when Trump first introduced DJ Daniel — there were clearly several Democrats clapping. At 2:26:46, the video showed U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Rep. Deborah Dingell. Several Democrats surrounding them clapped; Dingell briefly clapped as well.
A few people on the Democratic side to Trump's right clapped at 2:26:48, while others did not. Additionally, it is unclear what Democrats in the room were doing when the cameras did not show them.
At approximately 2:28:00, the room began chanting "DJ, DJ, DJ." It is impossible to know whether — or how many — Democrats joined in this chant.
At 2:28:06, some Democratic members of Congress were briefly seen clapping in the background.
It's also important to note that not everyone on the Democratic side of the room was actually a Democratic member of Congress. Members of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Joint Chiefs of Staff sat in the front rows to Trump's right, seen from the back at 2:28:12.
Members of the U.S. Supreme Court at a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025. (Getty Images)
Joint Chiefs of Staff at a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025 (Getty Images)
In sum, while the video clip that primarily circulated the internet is authentic and shows the majority of Democratic members of Congress remained seated and did not clap during Trump's mention of DJ, different angles from other moments during Trump's comments show that many did clap and/or stand, and that not everyone seated on the right side of the room was actually a Democrat.
Therefore, the blanket statement that "Democrats refused to stand or clap for a little boy fighting cancer" is not accurate, although many appeared to remain seated while their Republican counterparts stood and applauded.