U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy says he’s concerned about the future of democracy in the country.
And the Connecticut Democrat is calling on fellow Democratic lawmakers and others across the country to do everything they can to combat the policies of President Trump’s administration.
“This country looks ... less and less like a democracy every single day,” Murphy said Monday afternoon in Hartford in an interview with Connecticut Public. “As we speak, there are federal troops on the streets of Washington, D.C. You have a president who is on a regular basis violating the law in order to try to compel loyalty to him, from the business community, from the higher education community, from the legal community, from governors and from Congress.”
Murphy says he wants his colleagues “to act a little bit more boldly” — especially as Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to pass a spending bill in order to avoid a government shutdown.
“For instance, we're going to have a debate coming up in September, about the coming federal budget,” Murphy said. “I don't know how Democrats sign on, vote for, a budget that doesn't roll back Trump's corruption and his lawlessness. We're really going to give him the votes to fund the DOJ [U.S. Department of Justice] and then he's going to take that money and use it to take over police departments, potentially in our state?”
Murphy continued: “Democrats at some point have to decide that we're not going to be complicit in this creeping totalitarianism. That's a hard thing for Democrats to do, but at some point we have to see the writing on the wall. This democracy is just not healthy, and I'm not sure that we can give him votes to create a kind of bipartisan endorsement for what he's doing.”
Interview highlights
Here are highlights of the senator’s comments:
On President Trump’s critics using words like authoritarian or fascist to describe his administration:
“This country looks ... less and less like a democracy every single day. As we speak, there are federal troops on the streets of Washington, D.C. You have a president who is on a regular basis violating the law in order to try to compel loyalty to him, from the business community, from the higher education community, from the legal community, from governors and from Congress.
We are a nation of laws, and the fact of the matter is, if we don't stand up to this president's corruption and his lawlessness, we may not be a democracy much longer. Now, listen, I'm not saying we're not going to have an election next November; we will. But look at what Trump is trying to do, threatening to lock up his political opponents, trying to bully college presidents into not allowing protests on campuses.
This ultimately could have the impact of really, really drying up the resources that the opposition party has to litigate an election, and he might be at 33% approval next November, and we still don't have a true, free and fair election.”
On how Murphy and others are pushing back against the Trump administration and his thoughts on what others should do:
“I've essentially stopped raising political money for myself and for my own re-election, which is still a long way away, and I'm raising money instead to support protest and mobilization all around the country. I created something called the American Mobilization Project. We've raised about $1.5 million. ...
I'm also trying to argue for my colleagues to act a little bit more boldly. For instance, we're going to have a debate coming up in September, about the coming federal budget. I don't know how Democrats sign on, vote for, a budget that doesn't roll back Trump's corruption and his lawlessness. We're really going to give him the votes to fund the DOJ [Department of Justice] and then he's going to take that money and use it to take over police departments, potentially in our state?
Democrats at some point have to decide that we're not going to be complicit in this creeping totalitarianism. That's a hard thing for Democrats to do, but at some point we have to see the writing on the wall. This democracy is just not healthy, and I'm not sure that we can give him votes to create a kind of bipartisan endorsement for what he's doing.”
On California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s efforts to challenge the Trump administration, including pushing for re-districting and his office’s social media tactics:
“I support everything that Governor Newsom is doing, both from a policy perspective and a rhetorical perspective. From day one, I've said: You have to be contesting this president every single day, every time he does something illegal, every time he does something corrupt, you have to push back. You don't sort of hold back your power. You don't hold back your fire. He floods the zone; we flood the zone. And then we have to fight fire with fire. Listen, I wish that we weren't talking about redistricting in the middle of the 10-year cycle. But if Republicans are going to do it, then Democrats have to do it.
Democracies die when the regime, the party in power, operates outside of the box is violating norms and traditions, and the opposition party decides to just stay comfortably inside the box. So, yes, what California is doing is necessary. I think Connecticut probably is going to have to take a look at what we can do as well. Now we have five Democratic members of the House right now, but we don't have a nimble redistricting law, and every Democratic state may have to be in a position to have a nimble way to redraw districts, if this is the road that Republicans are dragging us down.
We could certainly draw our lines differently in Connecticut to have even more secure Democratic districts. I wish that didn't have to be a conversation we engaged in. But I think every democracy-loving state is going to have to start thinking of the things that we can do to try to contest the Trump regime's lawlessness.”
On federal immigration agents arresting 65 people in a recent four-day operation in Connecticut and whether the state is safer because of it:
“No, it's absolutely not safe. It’s not a safe country when you have masked men picking up people without any due process. We absolutely know that there are cases of American citizens being picked up by these masked men, people who have a legal right to stay in this country. Many of the people that they are picking up are in this country actively applying for asylum. And what we also know is that this whole narrative that you have something to fear from immigrants to this country has zero basis in fact.
What is true, in fact, whether Republicans want to believe it or not, is that immigrants to this country commit crimes at a rate lower than natural born citizens. And so the safest neighborhoods in this country — this is what the statistics tell you — are the neighborhoods that have the highest number of immigrants.
This is just a set of racist tropes designed to try to make Americans scared of each other, scared of their neighbors, in order to distract the country from the real thievery and corruption that is happening.”
Learn more
Murphy also spoke with Connecticut Public's Colin McEnroe on "The Colin McEnroe Show." Listen to that conversation here.
