At 3:30 a.m. Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy warned from the Senate floor that Americaâs democracy is on the brink of collapse.
The Senate Democrat ranted about Elon Musk taking a wrecking ball to the administrative state and openly mused that President Donald Trumpâs cabinet picks were going to hasten the death of Americaâs democracy. Though Trump has been in the Oval Office for less than three weeks, his administration is racing ahead to slash the federal bureaucracy by dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development and offering incentives to the federal workforce to voluntarily resign, among dozens of other initiatives.
Murphyâs three hour overnight screed was just one speech during a 30-hour long stretch in which Senate Democrats are continuously speaking on the Senate floor in order to delay Trumpâs cabinet nominees from securing confirmation. The target of Murphy and other Senate Democratsâ ire is White House Office and Management and Budget Director-designate Russell Vought, who they view as a unique threat largely due to his prior history of effectively working to dismantle the administrative state bureaucracy during the first Trump administration.
âDarkness has descendedâ on America with Voughtâs imminent confirmation, Murphy warned without evidence.
âYou can say that Democrats are crying wolf,â Murphy said on the Senate floor between the hours of 2 and 5 a.m. âOf course, America is always going to be a democracy. Every democracy dies. It does. Every democracy has an expiration date. Just like every civilization has an expiration date, there is an end, and there are a series of events that lead to that end.â
âMaybe this isnât it,â Murphy continued. âBut boy, when you package the list that I will give you together, it looks suspiciously like the road maps that caused other democracies to fall and it looks suspiciously like the set of things that our founding fathers were clear about protecting against.â
Murphyâs comments come just two weeks after the United States witnessed a peaceful transition of power and Trump won the so-called popular vote by more than 2 million voters.
As Democrats are divided on how to respond to Trump moving with striking speed to shrink the federal bureaucracy, Murphy advocated for his fellow Senate Democrats to take a swing-at-every-pitch approach that furiously opposes every action from the Trump administration.
âWe need to act like a real opposition party in the middle of a constitutional and democracy crisis,â Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said on MSNBC Wednesday. âThat means we should not be moving forward nominees or legislation in the United States Senate. Democrats should not be giving votes to nominees or legislation in the United States Senate until Republicans get serious about this crisis.â
Senate Republicans have said Vought has the votes to be confirmed and that Democratsâ filibuster is a pointless exercise.
At times, Murphy appeared to acknowledge his claims on Musk and the Department of Government Efficiencyâs cost-cutting activities were devolving into outright conspiracy theories on the Senate floor.
âElon Musk got access today to the entire Medicare and Medicaid payment system. Why? We do not know, but it is certainly plausible to believe that there are nefarious purposes afoot that his access to that system is part of a design to harm our democracy or enhance his economic interest.â
âI donât know what the hell heâs doing inside that payment system,â Murphy continued. âAnd you can say, âwell, you shouldnât believe the worst,â or âyou shouldnât just hypothesize.â âYou shouldnât guess,â but we havenât been given a good explanation for something that looks like a fundamental perversion of precedent and the law.â
âIâm not a conspiracy theorist,â Murphy assured the empty Senate chamber.
Senators are scheduled to vote on Voughtâs confirmation Thursday evening.
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