I am asking questions of every nominee and pointing out to other senators and to the public where they pose a real danger to the American people.
Look at the fight over the secretary of defense [Pete Hegseth]. He is a credibly accused rapist who has been falling down drunk at work events and run two nonprofits into the ground. Nonetheless, the Republicans stood beside him. He made it through his confirmation last Friday night, but it wasn’t a freebie. Some Republicans broke ranks and everyone in the country who was paying attention got to see up close and personal just how far the Republicans were willing to go to cower in front of Donald Trump.
Those are the fights we must keep fighting. We can’t roll over and play dead.
TV: Republicans have full control of the government, so Democrats’ power is limited. But in terms of concrete actions lawmakers can take — filibustering, sit-ins, messaging to voters — what are some things Democrats can do to meet the seriousness of this moment and communicate to their voters that they understand how upset and scared they are?
EW: The number one thing people can do right now is speak out. Speak out on social media about every one of these things. Talk about the threats they pose. Speak out about what Donald Trump is doing.
In the middle of the night last Friday, Donald Trump issued a batch of executive orders turning the clock back decades on women’s reproductive rights. If people talk about that, then that’s how we begin to rebuild a movement to push against the Trump vision of America, in which billionaires are on top and everyone else is left in the dirt.
TV: The executive orders — there’s been such a flood that it’s hard to keep track. You’ve said that’s kind of part of the strategy, right?
EW: The strategy is to flood the zone, partly so we don’t see each of the horrible orders and pay attention to them, but partly to try to demoralize us. Flooding the zone doesn’t demoralize me. It just makes me furious.
I’ve only got 24 hours a day, but I plan to spend as many of them as humanly possible fighting back against Trump, Musk, and the billionaires who have taken over this country to promote themselves at the expense of everyone else.
TV: Can you speak about some of the executive orders that you are most concerned about or are top of mind for you?
EW: I want to go back to the one on Friday night because it has not received enough attention, and I very much hope that your audience will see this and pay attention. Let’s dig in for just a sec:
One of Trump’s executive orders makes it more dangerous for women in states where abortion is legal to safely walk from their cars to the front door of an abortion clinic. Think about that. So the women who are legally entitled to get the health care they need can be harassed between the car and the front door of the clinic because Donald Trump signed a piece of paper in the middle of the night on Friday.
