Washington, D.C. — (RT) President Donald Trump has said the failure of Democrats to applaud his achievements during his State of the Union address could amount to treason. Democrats reacted by accusing Trump of not knowing what treason means.

The US president lashed out against the Democratic Party during a speech in Ohio Monday, questioning why they failed to acknowledge the many notable accomplishments he outlined in his first State of the Union speech last week.

Trump explicitly pointed out that Democrats sat stony-faced through his pronouncements that the unemployment rate for Hispanic-Americans and African-Americans was at the lowest point ever. “That means that they would rather see Trump do badly, OK, than our country do well. That is what it means. It is very selfish,” Trump said at a manufacturing plant in Blue Ash, Ohio, where he was promoting the recently passed tax cuts.

“It got to a point where I really didn’t even want to look too much during the speech over to that side because honestly, it was bad energy. It was bad energy,” Trump added.

“Like death, and un-American,” is how Trump described the Democrats’ attitude to his speech, while the Republican majority loved everything and wanted to do something great for the country.

“Somebody said, ‘treasonous.’ I mean, yeah, I guess, why not? Can we call that treason? Why not! I mean they certainly didn’t seem to love our country very much,” Trump noted, playing to the crowd.

Democrats reacted quickly to Trump’s demands for applause, accusing him of following in the footsteps of his Russian counterpart and their favorite bugbear, the Russian president. “When Vladimir Putin does his yearly news conference, he generally demands applause and supplication from those in attendance, but it’s beyond bizarre for an American president to demand the same from free-thinking citizens in a democratic republic,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper, according to USA Today.

Trump “doesn’t know what ‘treason’ means,” Representative Don Beyer (D-Virginia) tweeted, referring the president to study Article III of the US Constitution. “The Founders were concerned that a despot might abuse their powers of office to attack political enemies. Smart people, the Founders,” Beyer said.

.@realDonaldTrump doesn’t know what “treason” means. He should study Article III of the United States Constitution, which he clearly hasn’t read. The Founders were concerned that a despot might abuse their powers of office to attack political enemies. Smart people, the Founders. https://t.co/dipn2faX8K — Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) February 5, 2018

“Count me as a proud traitor and honored to serve with my brave @HouseDemocrats colleagues,” tweeted Representative Eric Swalwell (D- California), a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Dear, @realDonaldTrump, I didn’t clap either for your #GOPTaxScam economics. Count me as a proud traitor and honored to serve with my brave @HouseDemocrats colleagues. pic.twitter.com/zZk2X54hr8 — Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) February 5, 2018

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said “every American should be alarmed” by how Trump “is working to make loyalty to him synonymous with loyalty to our country.”

Every American should be alarmed by how @realDonaldTrump is working to make loyalty to him synonymous with loyalty to our country. That is not how democracy works. — Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) February 5, 2018

Trump singled out Pelosi in his Ohio speech, calling her the Republican’s “secret weapon” in the 2018 midterm elections, and saying he hoped and prayed the Democrats would keep her as the leader.

He also used the opportunity to warn his supporters not to be complacent and allow the Democrats to win majorities in the House or the Senate. “If they ever got in and took over, your taxes would go way up. You’d see bad things happening. Wouldn’t be good. That, I can tell you,” Trump said.