It was a barn burner of a speech, with Trump setting a new record with a nearly 100-minute address. He surpassed Bill Clinton's previous record in 2000. But while Trump had his applause lines, Democrats came across as more out of touch than ever.

Representative Al Green got up at the beginning of the speech. Trump bragged about winning all the swing states and getting the popular vote. Green stood up and started shaking his cane at Trump, yelling about him not having a mandate.

Green was literally the "old man with a cane yells at cloud meme" in the middle of the State of the Union. At a moment when Democrats had picked newly elected Senator Elissa Slotkin to deliver a response from Michigan, she was overshadowed by a 77-year-old Democrat who had been in some elected office since 1977.

I'd understand if he chose to make a scene in the middle of one of Trump's policy points, but Green was belligerent at the outset—attacking the very notion of Trump's election. He forced Speaker Johnson to throw him out.

This is who Democrats are right now. It's Al Green shaking his cane, Chuck Schumer and Maxine Waters chanting "We Will Win" outside government buildings, and Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the old Democratic guard looking at the remaining party dumbfounded.

It's an old party with no leadership. I have no doubt this will change over time. Political pendulums swing fast in American politics. Barack Obama was on top of the world in 2008 and was licking his wounds after devastating midterm losses two years later.

Americans are fickle and like keeping both parties in check—which is to the country's credit. For all the weeping and gnashing of teeth in political parties regarding the mindset of the average American, we fulfill the Founders' notions of checking the political class well.

CBS News ran a snap poll of people who watched Trump's address. 76% of respondants approved of the speech, and 76% of the people polled approved of Speaker Johnson removing Green from the chamber.

Ironically, Democrats telegraphed that they were going to try disruptions, not applaud, and other things, and Trump goaded them on that point. The White House speechwriters built Democratic outbursts and refusal to clap into the speech. Democrats played right into the optics trap.

Trump's best line of the night came on immigration when he pointed out that border crossings and arrests needed have plummeted since he returned to office. He noted that Biden and Democrats claimed legislation was required, but it turns out we just needed a new president. Democrats booed and hissed at that, and every other point or person brought up.

It was a killer line; Republicans cheered, and Democrats had nothing in response. Most of them sat stone-faced as Trump trotted out Laken Riley's family, Mark Fogel, D.J. Daniel—a child cancer survivor who was made an honorary Secret Service Agent—and Jason Hartley, who Trump announced had made it into West Point. 

While watching Democrats refuse to acknowledge a single good thing in the speech or even the country, you're left in bewildering disbelief. It makes sense why Democrats lost in 2024. They have no connection to the country or what makes it great.

This year's speech stood in stark contrast to last year's with Biden. At the time, Biden was facing serious pressure to bow out of the race in March. He was able to get one good speech out of himself to push back against criticism, but that all crumbled after the debate.

Trump's State of the Union was an actual speech by an active president. Many questions remain about how the Biden White House ran and who was pulling levers. Democrats can viably boo Trump because he's an active president. We have a president again, and that's a shock after the previous four bizarre years. 

Trump's speech was long, but it was a return to normalcy. And that's what made the Democratic response bizarre. This was a standard-issue  State of the Union speech with good for both parties in it, and Democrats couldn't even stand up and acknowledge a child cancer survivor. 

The midterms will bring new leadership, and after that, the presidential primaries will sharpen the selection of the next national party leader. But until then, Democrats are in the political wilderness with no answers, plans, or connection to the country. 

The Democratic Party is Al Green, old and decrepit, shaking their cane and yelling angrily at everyone. Even Elissa Slotkin's speech picked up on this thread when she begged the Democratic base to get engaged.

Why would Democratic voters get engaged in politics? An old Al Green shaking his cane at election results and shouting incoherently is the face of the Democratic Party. Who wants to engage with that? 

America rejected it in 2024 - which is why Trump does have a mandate. The country heard Trump's vision, and now he has to execute it. That will determine the electoral fates of Republicans. 

But for Democrats, their only hope is for Republican mistakes to get them back in the game. Because right now, they've got nothing.