We Need Resistance–From Both Sides of the Aisle

Nora Stewart, Co-Editor in Chief
February 3, 2017

This past week (or, more precisely, 12 days) has been a dark one for America. The newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump has already issued a number of damaging executive orders, the most horrifying and unconstitutional of which has been his travel ban preventing individuals from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States–causing even green card-holders to be detained. This order and blatant abuse of power has sparked protests and outrage across the country, but the resistance is not only found in the streets–there are traces of it within the halls of Congress as well.

This Tuesday, January 31, congressional Democrats blocked confirmation votes for three of President’s Trump’s cabinet nominees: Representative Tom Price, Steve Mnuchin, and Senator Jeff Sessions. Many have also spoken out at against the immigration order, returning to work Monday with what appeared to be a new determination to fight against Trump’s administration. After days of what some saw as too much willingness to work with the new administration, many liberal activists have praised the Democrats’ recent actions.

This is good–we need congressional Democrats to reject Trump’s actions, intolerance, and lies. It is exactly these policies that the majority of Americans voted against on Election Day (almost three million Americans, in fact). But Democrats shouldn’t be the only ones adhering to the will of the American people and protecting civil rights and basic decency–Republicans need to as well.

A number of congressional Republicans have indeed spoken negatively about Trump’s actions, especially Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham. However, many others are criticizing the Democrats’ opposition, which Senator Patrick Toomey referred to as “an unprecedented level of obstruction,” claiming Republicans “did not inflict this kind of obstructionism on President Obama.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, “It is time to get over the fact that they lost the election,” according to The Washington Post.

First of all, that is a pretty serious case of selective amnesia they’ve got there. What some Republicans seem to forget–in addition to what their actions were for the past eight years–is that Trump’s presidency is no conventional presidency. In fact, it shows disturbing signs of not being a presidency at all. Trump has shown himself to have complete disregard for both freedom of religion and freedom of press, and has blatantly lied to the American people time and time again. He has given a white supremacist access to the Principals Committee of the National Security Council, and if anyone in the federal government dares to stand up to him, they are sure to be denounced or, in Sally Yates’ case, fired. These are all signs that Trump’s administration resembles more of a burgeoning dictatorship than a presidency.
These actions don’t have to proceed unfettered by Congress. Congress may be majority Republican, but “majority Republican” doesn’t mean the same thing as “follow the president’s agenda to the letter”–something I was under the impression Republicans had no problem with. While gridlock during the Obama presidency is a separate issue, in the case of Trump, it is a different story. A president who supports fascist values is not one Republicans, or anyone, should be working with. We need our elected officials to resist Trump full-stop, not only because it is morally right, but because it is the will of the American people–who, congressional Republicans should be reminded, are the people they work for. Trump’s significant loss of the popular vote, and his now 51% disapproval rating, only show that his administration has anything but a mandate.
Republicans have put party politics above the will of the American people again and again, but one would hope that an unconstitutional religious test for people entering the U.S. from majority-Muslim countries would at least spur them to some action. Democrats did in fact try to pass legislation rescinding Trump’s immigration order, but there wasn’t enough Republican support. This is why we need as much bipartisan pushback as possible on Trump’s actions–because without it, America continues to lose its credibility as the supposed “leader of the free world.” And the elected officials who sit in on these committees and vote strictly for what the president wants–making themselves hypocritical accessories to his asinine and dangerous administration–lose any credibility they had left.
If ERHS students and teachers want to contact their own elected officials, here are some numbers to call.
Governor Larry Hogan: (410) 974-3901
  • Notably, when Governor Hogan gave his State of the State address on February 1, he did not mention Trump, his administration, or his policies. He may not be a member of Congress, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t publicly reject Trump’s actions, especially as an elected member of the party in power. In this case, silence does indeed say something.

Senator Ben Cardin: (202) 224-4524

  • Unlike Governor Hogan, Senator Cardin has voiced his opposition to the new administration on multiple occasions, and served as a cosponsor of the aforementioned legislation that sought to rescind Trump’s immigration order. He also spoke out against Trump’s plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and his actions in support of the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, calling them “dirty moves for dirty oil.”

Senator Chris Van Hollen: (202) 224-4654

  • Like Senator Cardin, Senator Van Hollen has often criticized Trump and his policies, and sponsored the bill to rescind the immigration order. Along with other Democrats, he has also introduced a bill to safeguard the private information of DREAMers, in order to protect them from the administration. In addition, he has spoken out against a number of Trump’s cabinet nominees.

Representative Steny Hoyer: (202) 225-4131

  • Congressman Steny Hoyer, who is the Representative of Maryland’s 5th Congressional District, has also made clear his opposition to Trump and has pushed back against the travel ban, efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and Trump’s order placing a hiring freeze on federal employees.