When President Donald Trump made his speech to a joint session of Congress last night, a number of female Democratic members of Congress wore pink to protest the Trump administration’s policies they say negatively impact women and families.
“Pink is a color of power and protest,” New Mexico Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, who chairs the Democratic Women’s Caucus, told Time prior to the speech. “It’s time to rev up the opposition and come at Trump loud and clear.”
Pink ― a color archetypically associated with femininity ― also calls to mind the “pink pussy hat” era: After Trump was elected the first time, pink, pointy-eared knit hats became the unofficial uniform of thousands of protesters during the 2017 Women’s March on Washington. (The hats became a symbol of female solidarity throughout the world, but they were plenty mocked, too; some felt that there’d never been a better symbol of performative white feminism.)
These kinds of voiceless, sartorial protests at presidential addresses have become commonplace since Trump took office. In 2018, at the height of the #MeToo movement, some chose to wear black in solidarity with victims of sexual abuse. At his 2019 State of the Union, women leaders of the House of Representatives wore white as an homage to suffragists who fought to expand the right to vote a century ago.
When played right, color coordination can be powerful. When you’re not empowered to speak, fashion can speak volumes, said Susan Scafidi, a professor, and founder and director of Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School.
“On an evening when the members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus have no microphone, their collective splash of bright fuchsia in the House Chamber at least reminds viewers of their existence every time the camera pans across the room,” Scafidi told HuffPost.
But some on social media found the “let’s wear pink to protest” scheme a little feckless ― a little too 2016 to be effective, given all the damage Trump has done osix weeks into his presidency. As video game journalist Ian Boudreau wrote on Bluesky, “This feels like the cast of ‘Parks & Rec’ suddenly finding themselves at Verdun.”
It was “clueless” and “toothless,” another commenter on Bluesky said.
Some made allusions to the time Congressional Democrats wore stoles made of Kente cloth during a moment of silence for George Floyd: Pink in 2025 felt just as forced and performative.
Others on social media suggested it would have been more effective for the members of congress to stay home, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) did. Instead of listening to Trump speak, she live posted the address on Bluesky and Instagram.
For many, the stunt was just another example of the Democratic party failing to protest Trump coherently or break through with a clear, concise counter to Trump’s claims and policies.
Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, a history professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and the author of the book “Dressed For Freedom: The Fashionable Politics of American Feminism,” understands the critics’ perspective. Fashion can be immensely powerful in message-carrying, but without concrete action from the Democrats, all that pink fell flat.
“Our current moment is not business as usual, so the reaction should not be business as usual either, and this type of protest seems a bit hollow given the gravity of the situation,” Rabinovitch-Fox said.
“It might have been more effective if the entire Democratic caucus would have boycotted the speech ― an image of empty chairs would have been a powerful message, or if the Democrats would have left the chamber once he started talking,” the professor said. (More than a dozen Democrats did leave the House chamber in a show of protest, and Democratic Rep. Al Green was escorted out of the room for heckling Trump during the speech.)
Interestingly, all that pink did get people talking, or at least searching for answers on why the women wore the shade. According to Google Trends, “why are the congress women wearing pink” was the top trending “why” during the speech, only equaled by “why is Trump doing tariffs” in search traffic.
There were other notable fashion-based or otherwise voiceless protests last night ― ones that were arguably more effective: Some in the minority party wore “no king” shirts in protest. As Trump greeted lawmakers at the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) held a sign that read “This is NOT normal” (while also wearing pink).
A number of Democrats held round auction-style paddles with phrases like “Musk steals” and “Save Medicaid.” Others held signs reading “Liar” or “False,” which they held up anytime they objected to particulars in Trump’s 100-minute speech.
The sign shtick was met with mockery, too.
“The Democrats came ready to fight back with their little paddles. That is how you save democracy: by quietly dissenting… or bidding on an antique tea set, it was hard to tell what was going on,” late-night host Stephen Colbert joked on his show Tuesday.
“In fact, I made my own sign,” Colbert deadpanned as he held up a paddle reading: “Try doing something.”