Representative Joe Kennedy III took on Donald Trump on Tuesday (30 January) night in the official Democratic rebuttal to the president's State of the Union address and slammed the administration for "turning American lives into a zero-sum game". Towards the end of an emotional speech, the 37-year-old broke into Spanish when addressing young undocumented immigrants affected by the expiring Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme or Dreamers.

"To all the Dreamers watching tonight, let me be clear: Ustedes son parte de nuestra historia. Vamos a luchar por ustedes y no nos vamos alejar," he said.

In English, he continued: "You are part of our story, we will fight for you and we will not walk away— we will not walk away."

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Kennedy, the grandnephew of the country's 35th president John F Kennedy, also touched on civil rights issues, activist movements like "Me Too" and Black Lives Matter and criticised several of Trump's policies over the past year.

"It would be easy to dismiss this past years chaos. Partisanship as politics, but it is far, far bigger than that," he said. "This administration is not just targeting the laws that protect us, they are targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection. For them, dignity is not something you are born with, but something you measure by your net worth, your celebrity, your headlines, your crowd size.

"Not to mention, the gender of your spouse, the country of your birth, the colour of your skin, the God of your prayers. Their record has rebuked our highest American ideals, the belief that we are all equal, that we all count in the eyes of our laws, our leaders, our God, and our government. That is the American promise."

Twitter, on the other hand, erupted with fervent praise for the young representative's speech, "on point" Spanish accent and show of solidarity with Dreamers.

"Wow, Kennedy speaks Spanish better than Trump speaks English," someone wrote.

"Refreshing to see and hear a real leader," another person tweeted. "It's been a while."

Joe Kennedy
Democratic Representative Joe Kennedy III spoke in Spanish and English in his rebuttal speech to US President Donald Trump's State of the Union and the internet cannot handle it Pete Marovich/Getty Images
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