Jeff Merkley of Oregon gave address to make case that president is ‘violating the law’ through authoritarianism
Oregon’s Jeff Merkley gave a marathon, nearly 23-hour speech on the Senate floor that began on Tuesday and ended late Wednesday, pressing the case that Donald Trump is acting as an authoritarian by prosecuting political enemies and deploying the military into Merkley’s home town of Portland.
The 68-year-old senator began speaking around 6.20pm on Tuesday evening and continued until just after 5pm on Wednesday. Standing continuously on the Senate floor alongside placards that read “authoritarianism is here now!” and “Trump is violating the law”, Merkley paused only to take questions from fellow Democratic senators who joined him in the chamber to make their own points about the president’s conduct.
“I’ve come to the Senate floor tonight to ring the alarm bells. We’re in the most perilous moment, the biggest threat to our republic since the civil war. President Trump is shredding our constitution,” Merkley said as he began his speech.
But most of this speech was to empty room. Nothing requires his opponents to listen to even be in the room to hear him.
Ah, did you think that the republicans would hear his speech and say “oh boy I didn’t realize we were enabling a pedo tyrant” and then move on?
If that’s your only measure of success, this would not do it.
Ask that to the person I’m replying to. They’re the one saying speaking to the people in power is what you do if you don’t have power. Which again, this did not do.