During a tele-town hall on Wednesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was asked about Senate Democrats not putting up enough opposition to the Trump Administration.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Congresswoman Omar, for all that you're doing and for your good discussion
00:06this evening.
00:07I'd like to know, in your opinion, why you think the Democratic Senators, or so many
00:13of them, are not standing strongly in opposition to executive orders and to all the unqualified
00:21and dangerous nominees that were confirmed.
00:27Linda, that's a really good question.
00:31I ask myself that same question every single time.
00:34It would have been truly a remarkable thing if our senators did not co-sign on the dismantling
00:51of our norms, institutions, and our Constitution.
00:58I think for many of them, because they have been in an environment where that hope and
01:09that expectation, that they have few friends that they can work with, have not truly woken
01:19up to the reality that regardless of who was bipartisan in the Senate or who was bipartisan
01:27in the House, in this moment, Trump is demanding full loyalty.
01:35And that full loyalty means that he is going to put enormous pressure on Republican senators
01:41where they are not, and House members where they do not have any room to move away from
01:51anything that he wants to do, regardless of how detrimental it is to the survival of our
01:57nation, of our norms, of our institutions, of our Constitution.
02:04We did see a little wisening up and a stiffening of the backbone two weeks ago, or a week ago,
02:19but we didn't see it enough.
02:21And my hope is that that continued resolution vote was a wake-up call, because we know that
02:32in a couple of months when we have to stop the government shutdown again, they are going
02:37to get emboldened, and what they will attach to that continued resolution will be worse.
02:44And I'm fearful that some of them might not learn the lesson and things will get worse,
02:52but also hopeful that there are so many people across the country that are saying,
02:58what are you guys doing? This has to stop.
03:01And we need people to hold the line and behaving as if everything is normal,
03:08and counting on your friends who you're in the gym with or you're drinking beers with
03:14are not going to be your friends when it comes to protecting this nation and everything we hold dear.