Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., told MS NOW that if more isn’t done to stop President Donald Trump’s authoritarian overreach, Americans can “kiss our republic goodbye.” Merkley issued the stark warning on Wednesday’s “The Weeknight” while discussing Senate Democrats’ latest effort to curb the president’s power, the For Our Republic Act.
Merkley said Trump’s second term has been defined by an aggressive expansion of executive authority.
“I was just astounded when Trump came into office for term two, and he didn’t talk about having a mandate and passing laws with Congress to implement it,” he said. “He talked about this executive order, that executive order.”
“Not only was it operating through edicts, if you will, like a king, but he also started to appropriate the powers that belong to Congress: the power of the purse, the power of taxation and eventually a question of war,” Merkley added.
The senator said that although many Americans believed the country’s system of checks and balances was built to withstand these kinds of power grabs, that was no longer the case.
“We thought with our norms and our laws and our court system backing it up, it could never happen here,” he said. “Yet it’s happening.”
Merkley said the United States is facing, for the first time, “an authoritarian president who’s trying to turn our democratic republic into a strongman state.”
To combat Trump’s efforts, Merkley said he and his colleagues studied authoritarian governments around the world to understand the strategies leaders have used to erode democratic norms. In the legislation, first shared with MS NOW, the Oregon Democrat — along with co-sponsors Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. — propose a playbook that includes protecting watchdogs and civil servants, reasserting congressional powers, fighting corruption, safeguarding civil liberties and ensuring the U.S. continues to hold free and fair elections.
Merkley said that last principle may be the most important.
“If we don’t save the integrity of the ballot box and the peaceful transfer of power, then we can kiss our republic goodbye,” he said.
You can watch Merkley’s full interview in the clip at the top of the page.
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