Former Kentucky Gov. Gives Democrats' Fiery Reply

Former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear took a populist tenor in Democrats' formal response to President Trump's speech to Congress on Tuesday, accusing him of planning to "rip affordable health insurance" from Americans and being "Wall Street's champion." Seated at a diner in Lexington, Beshear also assailed Trump for "ignoring serious threats to our national security from Russia, who's not our friend, while alienating our allies." "You and your Republican allies in Congress seem determined to rip affordable health insurance away from millions of Americans who most need it," Beshear said. "This isn't a game, it's life and death for people."

Beshear said that while Trump campaigned as "a champion for people struggling to make ends meet," he's taken executive action to roll back consumer protections against giant financial institutions and has stocked his Cabinet with wealthy financial executives. "That's not being our champion. That's being Wall Street's champion," he said. Giving the Democrats' response in Spanish was Astrid Silva, a DREAMer brought to the US illegally as a 4-year-old. Silva, now 28, said Trump is "criminalizing anyone who is different, pitting us against each other, and sending the wrong message to the rest of the world, helping to breed anger and hate from terrorist groups to our country." (More Steve Beshear stories.)