Will President Trump Beat Down the House Doors? Worst Moments in Congressional History

I believe Speaker Nancy Pelosi is wrong to block the State of the Union Address. But I also believe that President Trump has a penchant for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

What if President Trump appears with locksmiths or construction workers and beats down the doors of the House with force?

If something like this happens, it might top two truly awful moments in Congressional history.

One was Sen. Strom Thurmond’s 24 hour marathon filibuster of the 1957 Civil Rights Act. That law was intended to end segregation. Sen. Thurmond had a “piss bucket” (see photo) just off the floor. While talking and keeping one foot on the floor of the Senate—thereby holding the floor—he relieved himself with the help of an intern. (Thankfully, there is no record of a poop pail.)

(Pause for squeamish readers to compose themselves.)

Perhaps worse, the House of Representatives erupted into a brawl as members debated the Kansas Territory’s pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution late into the night of February 5-6.

Around 2 a.m., Pennsylvania Republican Galusha Grow and South Carolina Democrat Laurence Keitt exchanged insults, then fists. “In an instant the House was in the greatest possible confusion,” the Congressional Globe reported. More than 30 Members joined the melee.

The event may hold a precedent for next week’s Address. 

Speaker James Orr, a South Carolina Democrat, gaveled furiously for order and then instructed Sergeant-at-Arms Adam J. Glossbrenner to arrest noncompliant Members.

House Archives report as follows:

“Wading into the combatants, Glossbrenner held the House Mace high to restore order. Wisconsin Republicans John “Bowie Knife” Potter and Cadwallader Washburn ripped the hairpiece from the head of William Barksdale, a Democrat from Mississippi. The melee dissolved into a chorus of laughs and jeers, but the sectional nature of the fight powerfully symbolized the nation’s divisions. When the House reconvened two days later, a coalition of Northern Republicans and Free Soilers narrowly blocked referral of the Lecompton Constitution to the House Territories Committee. Kansas entered the Union in 1861 as a free state.”