Chris Murphy: Senate Republicans 'Outsource' Powers to Trump, Undermining Democracy

The Erosion of Democratic Institutions

• ⚠️ The speaker begins by noting the horror of events in Utah, sending thoughts to those affected.
• 💡 Democracies can die through institutions like universities and the legal profession capitulating to a regime, perverting justice, and silencing dissent.
• 📉 The press, when threatened, may silence criticism, and business leaders might accept lucrative deals for loyalty.
• 🚨 The current situation in America is described as sleepwalking into an illiberal democracy or authoritarianism.

Subjugation of the Legislative Branch

• 🏛️ A key aspect of disappearing democracies is the subjugation of the legislative branch to a corrupt executive.
• ⚖️ In healthy democracies, the legislature acts as a check on executive power; in disappearing ones, it becomes an arm of the executive, taking orders.
• 🇺🇸 This is currently happening in the United States Senate, where the legislature is effectively operating as an arm of the executive.

Undermining the Senate's Power of Consent

• 📌 The Constitution grants the Senate the power of consent for nominees to prevent unqualified or corrupt individuals from taking office.
• 🚫 Yesterday, Senate Republicans unilaterally changed Senate rules, allowing for the confirmation of numerous Trump nominees in a single vote, effectively obliterating the Senate's power of advice and consent.
• 📊 This new rule, unlike a previous bipartisan proposal, involves no consultation with Democrats and has no limit on the number or level of nominees.
• 🤔 This change makes it impossible for a senator to vote against a few problematic nominees without also voting against many qualified ones.

Republicans as 'Employees' of Trump

• 💼 Senate Republicans increasingly view themselves as employees of Donald Trump, readily granting his requests to consolidate power and looking the other way when he violates the law.
• 💰 Trump has seized the spending power from Congress, freezing or canceling billions in appropriated funds, with Senate Republicans doing little to counteract this.
• 🔍 Congressional Republicans have also shut down meaningful oversight of executive branch corruption, while enthusiastically pursuing alleged corruption in the Biden administration.
• ⚔️ Furthermore, Republicans have outsourced the power to declare war to Trump, with only one Republican senator raising concerns about a recent, allegedly illegal, air strike.

A Dangerous Assault on Democracy

• 📉 The speaker warns that this is not hyperbole but a slow-motion daily assault on democracy, citing examples of Turkey, Sri Lanka, and Russia where legislatures ceded power to executives.
• 🚫 Institutions are shuttering, the judiciary is being used to harass opponents, media outlets are making deals to silence critics, and the Senate is losing its ability to vote on individual nominees.
• 🚨 This situation is unprecedented, wildly dangerous, and potentially fatal if Republicans and Democrats do not unite to protect democracy.