Trump's 'treason' remark in Blue Ash is still reverberating

President Trump Monday came to Blue Ash to tout his tax cuts.

But it was an offhand remark calling Democrats 'treasonous' for not applauding during his State of the Union speech this month that has continued to draw headlines, rebukes and analysis.

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- Former Vice President Joe Biden labeled Trump a "joke" for making such remarks. "I think he understands, and I think the people around him understand, what presidents say matters," Biden told CNN Tuesday adding, "It's just amazing the outrageously inaccurate things the President says."

- PolitiFact, the nonpartisan factchecking site, actually checked the Constitution to declare Trump's claim "pants on fire" - the worst ranking. "Declining to applaud the president doesn’t come anywhere near meeting the constitutionally defined threshold of treason, which in any case can’t occur except in wartime. Rather, legal experts agree that it is a clear case of constitutionally protected free speech," the site wrote.

- The White House has since clarified that Trump's remarks were in jest. "The president was clearly joking with his comments," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. "But what isn't a joke is that Democrats refuse to celebrate the accomplishments of last year that has helped all Americans."

- Democrats in Congress have denounced the remarks. A Connecticut Democrat said Trump was pulling the U.S. "deep into the mud of autocracy and dictatorship." And combat veteran and Wisconsin Senator Tammy Duckworth clapped back: “We don’t live in a dictatorship or a monarchy. I swore an oath — in the military and in the Senate — to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap.”

- Republicans mostly shrugged off the remarks, including Sen. Rob Portman who joined Trump at the event. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who is retiring, was one of the few GOP members to condemn the remarks. “Treason is not a punch line, Mr. President. Applause is approval of an idea, not loyalty to one’s country ... Our Democratic colleagues love this country as much as we do. To suggest otherwise is simply unconscionable.”