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  • 1 year ago
During Wednesday’s Senate Democrats’ ‘Ask Me Anything’ Virtual Event, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) discussed the checks and balances of the U.S. Government.

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00:00I'm sorry. I'm trying here. It's just like, get back to business.
00:02Here we go. James. James's question. James says, I'm very concerned about this bill.
00:08It cannot pass the way it is. But I also want to know what is the mechanism
00:12that the government can deploy if Trump keeps on defying the courts?
00:18Well, first of all, I want to say, I love what you said. It cannot pass. It sort of reminds me
00:24of the Lord of the Rings. You shall not pass. But that's just not going to happen. We say it
00:29cannot. But it very well can. And so the biggest impediment I see, and it was numbers that
00:34shocked me, was how few Americans even realize what's being debated now, the timeline that they
00:41have, July 4th, they want to get it done before. So we're going to get to the second part of your
00:46question. But what I'm asking everyone to do is to get other folks aware of what is really happening
00:54in our country right now, that the most unpopular policy decisions, wildly unpopular with Republicans,
01:00Democrats, independents, when you talk about, ask people, do you want to cut food stamps, the biggest
01:05cut in the history of our country, over 70% of Americans say do not cut it. Don't do it.
01:10Especially if you add on to like, to give tax cuts to the wealthy, even more people against it. Do you
01:16want to cut Medicaid? Over 70% of Americans against it. Do you want to cut meals on wheels for senior
01:21citizens, the overwhelming majority of Americans? You want to cut Pell grants so that people can't
01:26afford to go to college. No, nobody wants to do that. So this is not, again, not a left or right.
01:30There is some small amounts of Americans, but the majority of Americans see this as a right or wrong
01:35moment. But the problem we have is not enough people know about it. So this could pass because
01:40not enough people are saying what you're saying, James, which this cannot pass. And if you try to pass
01:46this, I'm going to hold you, my elected leader, accountable. So take a moment to get some of this
01:51content out there that's educating people. Now, you also, your other question, though, the second
01:56part of your question was very important. What is the mechanism that government can deploy if Trump
02:02keeps on defying courts? Well, I'm going to tell you, we've seen this moment in American history
02:07before where a president wanted to defy the courts. The Constitution has really, by having three branches
02:14of government, has mechanisms to stop a president. The checks and balances of the courts, the checks
02:21and balances provided by Congress. But those checks and balances do not work if a president is not held
02:28accountable by Congress. And so this is the test of our democracy right now. How much will Republican
02:36House members and senators let a president get away with if they're defying the law, the rule of law?
02:43And that is this constitutional test we are having right now. I am so happy. You know,
02:50Margaret Chase Smith's picture hangs right out this door or nearby where we are. Let's put it this way.
02:56Independent minded Republican woman. Yes. That's right. Yes. Think about John McCain putting his thumb
03:02down along with Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Let's talk about the Red Scare. I could go through all
03:08the periods of American history where you saw people standing up and saying, I'm going to choose
03:13principle over a party. I'm going to choose patriotism over party. I'm going to choose the
03:18people over party. And that's one of these moments. And that's what we need right now. We really need
03:23Republicans in Congress to stand up. We are standing up. And I'm not even trying to be partisan here. I'm
03:28just stating the obvious that we need Republicans in Congress to stand up against against this president.
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