There are few stages in politics like a joint session of Congress for the president to get their message out to a wide audience, but members of Congress have increasingly attempted to wrest that stage back for themselves. Tuesdays speech was the latest in a growing trend.The House sergeant at arms removed Rep. Al Green, a Democrat from Texas, from President Donald Trumps speech after he repeatedly shouted that Trump had no mandate to cut Medicaid. Republican lawmakers have shouted in the past during addresses from former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, but those incidents did not lead to lawmakers removal.Rep. Al Green (D-TX) is removed from the chamber as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on March 04, 2025. [Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images]Its nonverbal communications, though, that most members of Congress have turned to in recent years in an attempt to co-opt presidents speeches. Democrats this year did something unique this year: they brought props.Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouts as U.S. President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress at the U.S. Capitol September 9, 2009. [Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]Some held simple, circular black signs with slogans written in white letters like, False, Save Medicaid, and Musk Steals. Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico held a handwritten sign that read This Is Not Normal that a Republican colleague ripped from her hands. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan brought a whiteboard that she used to write messages like Stop lying to the American people! and Thats a lie!Rep. Melanie Stansbury, (D-NM), holds a sign reading This is not normal as US President Donald Trump arrives to address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the US Capitol on March 4, 2025. [Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images]Trumps speech was indeed filled with false statements. He overinflated how much the U.S. has spent to defend Ukraine against Russias invasion and underestimated how much his tariffs could cost American families. Throughout his speech, Trump used Democrats as a foil and criticized them for not clapping.Lawmakers have turned to clothing to make a statement at the State of the Union, like the all-white outfits women wore to symbolize suffrage during Trumps first term. Trumps Tuesday speech was no different, with some wearing pink and others blue and yellow as a show of support for Ukraine. Last year, though, a pair of Republicans were less subtle with the message of their dress.Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) shouts during Joe Bidens State of the Union address, Thursday, March 7, 2024. [Photo: Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg/Getty Images]Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia wore a Make America Great Again hat and t-shirt with the phrase Say Her Name in reference to Laken Riley, a 22-year old nursing student who was killed by a man who was in the country illegally, to Bidens State of the Union address last year. Rep. Troy Nehls wore a shirt with Trumps mugshot and paired it with a bowtie wrapped around his collarless neck.Greens and Nehlss t-shirt messaging in 2024 portended the signs Democrats held in 2025, and suggest lawmakers no longer see the State of the Union as something to merely watch. Its political theater, but the president is no longer the only actor on the stage.