Democracy has not been hijacked, but it has taken a \u201cvery frightening detour.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the country is in the midst of the longest government shutdown in history, that was Sen. Tina Smith\u2019s answer to the pointed question regarding President Donald Trump, who has been named in court documents as an unindicted co-conspirator as a result of an investigation into if Russia interfered with U.S. elections. The shutdown, which is due to Trump\u2019s insistence that Congress fund a border wall to the tune of $5-plus billion to keep people from Mexico and Central America from crossing into the U.S., has left more than 800,000 federal workers without a paycheck. Smith (D-MN) called the shutdown \u201cun-American\u201d and called on Trump and Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to end the shutdown and restore wages to federal employees and contractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen you think about the ripple effects of the shutdown, it\u2019s not just the federal workers, it\u2019s our grandparents and our children who rely on government assistance for their medicine and food, but can\u2019t get that assistance; the farmers who can\u2019t cash their checks because the Department of Agriculture is closed \u2026 and all of this because of a battle over a political symbol that is designed from the beginning to divide us,\u201d said Smith, speaking Jan. 21 to Insight News<\/em> editor-in-chief Al McFarlane and managing editor, Harry Colbert, Jr. during a Facebook Live broadcast from the offices of Insight News<\/em> in North Minneapolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith said the power to open the government lies not solely with the president, but at the feet of McConnell. She said several Senate bills that would open the government are sitting on the leader\u2019s desk waiting for him to bring to the floor for a vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese are not Democratic bills that Republicans wouldn\u2019t support, these are Republican bills that passed almost unanimously barely a month ago,\u201d said Smith, referring to funding bills approved by both the House and Senate, but Trump first agreed to, then refused to sign into law. \u201cMitch McConnell needs to realize he can\u2019t outsource the business of the Senate to the president and bring those bills up again and I suspect they\u2019d pass almost unanimously again. Then if the president decides he\u2019s going to veto those bills; then we should override him. That is our job in the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump, this past Saturday (Jan. 19), proposed what he called a compromise, saying if Congress funds the $5-plus billion southern boarder wall he wants, he will offer a temporary three-year protection to \u201cDreamers,\u201d those who are undocumented teens and young adults who were brought to the U.S. as small children by their parents. Smith said Trump\u2019s proposal was tantamount to a ransom note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat the president proposed is a little bit like a person who sets a house on fire then says, \u2018give me $5 billion and I\u2019ll put the fire out for you,\u2019\u201d said Smith. \u201cHe\u2019s the one who took protections away from Dreamers and other refugees and asylum seekers and now he\u2019s saying I\u2019ll bring those protections back for a short period of time if you allow me to build this wasteful wall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The junior senator from Minnesota said her fear is if Democrats pay what she called a \u201cpolitical ransom\u201d it will embolden him the continue to hold other legislation hostage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump, known as \u201cIndividual One\u201d in criminal court documents, is facing the prospect of impeachment in the House with recent revelations that Michael Cohen, the president\u2019s former personal attorney and self-proclaimed \u201cfixer,\u201d lied under oath during House testimony regarding his and Trump\u2019s role in trying to get a Trump Tower deal in Moscow. Smith said she wants to wait on the results of special prosecutor Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation before weighing in on calling for impeachment, but she said she is concerned by Trump\u2019s pick of William Barr for attorney general. Senate hearings as to if to confirm Barr are underway in the Judiciary Committee. Barr has previously written that he believes the Mueller probe is out of bounds legally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the day celebrating the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Smith said Americans need to have honest conversations about race and racism in this country. She said many feel they have \u201cpermission\u201d from the White House to openly express hateful views, but she pointed to this past November to demonstrate that the president\u2019s views resonate not with the many, but with the few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith this last election many people running against what the president stands for won,\u201d said Smith. \u201cHere in Minnesota, we elected Rep. Ilhan Omar (the first Somali-American legislator in our nation\u2019s history), we elected Keith Ellison as attorney general; the first time an African-American (politician) has been elected statewide. Half of the Minnesota federal delegation are women. It tells us if we use our voices in a democracy it can be powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n