It was supposed to be a patriotic moment.
The chamber erupted in chants of “USA! USA! USA!” as President Trump addressed the nation.
And then the camera cut to Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
What happened next has people replaying the clip over and over.
Because while most of the room appeared to be chanting “USA,” Tlaib appeared to mouth something very different: “KKK.”
The Michigan Democrat, who had already lashed out multiple times during President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, was caught on camera during the exchange. Republicans quickly seized on the clip.
The National Republican Congressional Committee blasted Tlaib, stating: “Everything you need to know about today’s Democrats. They cannot stand this country, they cannot stand its comeback, & they cannot hide their contempt anymore.”
Here’s the clip in question:
Tlaib, a Muslim whose district includes the highly-populated Muslim city of Dearborn, Michigan, made her political messaging clear throughout the night. She wore a pin that read “F*CK ICE,” along with watermelon earrings that apparently signify solidarity with the “Palestinian cause,” and another pin that read “Stand with survivors, release the Epstein Files.”
She wasn’t quiet, either.
The Michigan congresswoman stood up alongside Minnesota leftist Rep. Ilhan Omar on other occasions during the speech to shout and wave fingers at Trump. Neither Omar nor Tlaib stood when Trump asked members of Congress to rise if they supported prioritizing Americans over illegal immigrants. They also did not stand when Trump highlighted the dozens of Israeli hostages rescued from Hamas captivity.
Tlaib largely ignored Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who had advised Democrats to either attend in “silent defiance” or skip the event altogether.
Jeffries said: “The two options that are in front of us in our House [are] to either attend with silent defiance or to not attend and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion, which will include participation in a variety of different alternate programming that is going to take place in and around the Capitol complex.”
Dozens of Democrats chose to boycott and attend “alternate programming” events focused on attacking Trump’s immigration policies and tariffs. Tlaib opted for something more visible.
President Trump, for his part, criticized Democrats during the speech, calling them “crazy” for refusing to stand in support of protecting children from life-altering gender procedures.
“Who can believe that we’re even speaking about things like this?” Trump asked. “But surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents, well, who would believe that were even talking about? We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately.”
Now the internet is debating one question.
Did Rashida Tlaib actually chant “KKK” while others chanted “USA”? Or is this a mistaken lip read?
Watch the clip and leave a comment below — what do you think happened?