Top Democrat blocks HUNDREDS of Trump nominees in effort to FIGHT BACK

I'm joined now by the US senator from. Hawaii, Brian Shots. Thanks so much for. taking the time. Thank you, Brian. So, we have some new news in terms of what. you yourself are doing to push back. against this administration. And I was. really looking forward to talking you. talking to you about this today because. we have been looking for Democrats to to. wield what tools we do have at our. disposal from the minority. And you're. doing exactly that. So, can you explain. what you're doing? Well, we've now got. 300 holds of individual Trump. administration nominees. Obviously, the. Senate has to confirm uh every nominee.

that comes down that's subject to advice. and consent. And a lot of these, frankly, go uh by unanimous consent. A. lot of them go like in an evening. Um. and there's no vote taken. And that's a. normal thing to do. And it's something. that I've agreed to many many times. because that's kind of the way you have. to govern um in in a normal world. In a. normal world um and that's the point. here. Um, and what I'm doing is holding. all of them and requiring a roll call. vote for all 300 of these nominees. Some.

of them in the State Department. jurisdiction, some of them in health, education, labor, and pensions um across. the United States government. I just. don't think we can make anything uh easy. for them. I also um would like to point. out Ruben Ggo, Adam Schiff, um Dick. Blumenthal are also escalating their. holds in their committees of. jurisdiction. So there's a broad. recognition that you know not. everybody's going to give a 25 hour. speech uh like my very dear friend Corey. Booker. Um but everybody can do.

something and so um this is the. something that I could do today. Uh of. course I had 250 holds and I just added. another 50 but Ruben and others are also. stepping up. There's a a broader. recognition that we should not give. anything away for free even if frankly. some of these things are not. objectionable on their face. It may be. a, you know, a deputy administrator for. a a tech research agency that we have no. particular objections to, but our point. of view is, hey, everything takes time.

and um the one thing we can do to the. majority party is make things take a. little bit longer and so we're going to. do that. Well, first of all, hell yeah. Like I I I I have been a huge proponent. of using what levers we have at our. disposal at like in the same way that Cy. Booker went out there and spoke for 25. hours. what can everybody else do in. their respective areas? So, for you to. be able to hold up 300 people. unilaterally um to push back against an. administration that is steeped in. corruption and lawlessness, thank you. And and I know I speak for my audience. in saying that. What does the fact that.

the Senate is going to be bogged down in. in advancing these nominations on an. individualized basis? What does that do. to the broader effort of the Republicans. to be able to push legislation forward, for example, uh in the Senate? I mean, I. want to be careful here, right? Because. I can't unilaterally block them forever. I can only make them consume time. Um, so if they consider a particular nominee. important, they'll put them on the floor. and have basically four hours consumed.

But that means, you know, 300 times. four, they can't do them all. Um, and. so, um, it it does slow them down. It. does complicate their efforts. I will. say that as it relates specifically to. their efforts to cut Medicaid and. provide a big tax cut for billionaire. corporations, like they're going to make. time for that, right? That is their. abiding priority and we have to fight. like hell against that. But we have to, you know, have no illusions about this. is basically their reason for being is. to cut Medicaid, potentially cut the.

Affordable Care Act and use those. revenues in addition to the tariff. revenue that everybody's paying out of. pocket right now to provide a big tax. cut for corporations. We're not, you. know, there's no magic wand to stop. these guys. But I think one of the. things that Corey reminded us of is that. we can all do something and whatever it. is that we're all in a position to do, that's the thing you're supposed to be. doing. And the other thing I mean I. talked uh at length before Corey took. the floor and you know it was not part. of some grand strategy that's been.

mapped out for the next six months. And. I think that's one of the problems with. Democrats is we want everything to be. tight and organized and a grand. strategic plan. And we're in a fight. right now. And so we have to pick up. whatever this is rhetorical now. This is. not physical. We have to pick up. whatever rock we can find and start. whipping it at the opposition and try to. sort this sort of strategic and tactical. questions as we go along. But in the. meantime, one premise should be our. abiding uh approach to the Senate, which.

is nothing for free and nothing easy. Perfectly put. you know, I I have been. thinking a lot about the fact that that, you know, you're doing this uh Cy stood. up on the floor for 25 hours and and. used his power that way. And so has. there been a broader recognition from. from Senate Democrats that everybody. needs to be doing not the bare minimum. but actually the maximum that when you. guys put forward these strategies to try. and and either draw attention or.

eyeballs to what you're doing to slow. down um the the processes of the. Republican conference. it can't be the. minimum that it has to be the that what. what you all are doing has to be the. maximum that it has to that what you're. doing has to be the bar that your. colleagues are then going to say okay. how can I break through in this media. environment how can I most effectively. fight back um how can I use my platform. in in the biggest way possible has that. been a discussion among you and and the. rest of the Democratic uh caucus yes.

it's been a discussion but I'd also say. it's a little bit of soularching because. part of the part of the problem here is. we're 47 different people with different. constituencies and different strengths. and weaknesses. And so like not. everybody can do 25 hours on the floor. Not everybody has the kind of procedural. background that I have in terms of. blocking nominees, but you know, we have. a lot of shadow hearings which have been. very compelling. Some people are going. into uh House districts of of Republican. members who refuse to have a town hall.

So I think one of the things we want to. do is to say everybody should be doing. something, but we don't want to be too. prescriptive about what it is. Just like. every citizen may be in a position to do. something. Some people may want to march. physically. Some people may want to. post. Some people may want to influence. their families or or do some other kind. of organizing. And I think one of the. things that is that needs to be fixed in. the Democratic coalition is we're a. little fussy with each other about which. tactic is supposed to work and who's. doing the best in their form of. resistance. Like we should just sort of.

say anybody who's helping in any way, think of it like a potluck. Someone. comes in and they got a macaroni salad, thank you very much. Someone's got Colby. ribs, thank you very much. Someone. brought napkins, thank you very much. Right? Like, everybody contributes. something. And if everybody's kind of. got a forward momentum and a belief in. each other, then we're going to build. this pluralistic, multicultural, peoplepowered movement to stop this all. And one of the things that Corey said. that I thought was really right is that,

you know, and Barack Obama said that I. thought was very compelling is the most. important office right now is the office. of citizen. The challenge is that when. you're an elected official in power and. you're sort of like turning it back on. citizens, it can ring a little hollow. It can sound like you're doing excuse. making. And so we also have to lead by. example and demonstrate we understand. this has to be uncomfortable. This has. to be politically uncomfortable. This. has to be in some instances physically. uncomfortable but um no business as.

usual. Now do do you find that maybe you. have a little bit more political capital. to expend given the given you know the. ways in which Donald Trump has taken a. hatchet to the US economy and and does. that extend even over to your Republican. colleagues? Um, I mean, look, I don't know how much. political capital I do or don't have uh. uh to expend, but I would just say that. one of the things that we've seen is. that the frustration with Republicans. for allowing this to happen and with.

Democrats for looking flatfooted in the. first couple of months is sort of the. same group of people. And they are not. like I'm left-wing, but they're not all. left-wing people. There's a lot of. moderates that think that Republicans. have gone off a cliff and Democrats are. being too quiet. And so we don't want to. characterize the desire for a ferocity. of resistance as some uh uniquely. progressive priority. It's also regular. people watching their retirement savings. um get incinerated. People are pissed.

and they want us to reflect that level. of alarm. Can I have your reaction more. broadly to the fact that even in light. of the fact that, you know, we're we're. going on several days now of the stock. market plummeting? Uh we're we're seeing. foreign countries who I think Donald. Trump thought would just capitulate, probably because he's gotten so used to. being surrounded by graveling, obsequious yesmen um that he thought. everybody in the world was as weak as. the people he surrounds himself with. And yet we're watching the EU enact.

retaliatory tariffs. we're watching um. the Asian block um negotiate along with. China at a time when we're supposed to. be um protecting American supremacy in. the world. Instead, we're driving other. countries into the arms of the exact. country that we're trying to that we're. that we're competing with. And so, um. can I just get your your reaction to the. fact that in light of all of this, we're. seeing Trump not restructure his his. strategy moving forward, but instead. double, triple, quadruple down on this. idea that tariffs are perfect.

everything that he's doing is is, you. know, A+ and and don't change anything. I mean, they're in a bubble, right? I. mean, and I mean the White House in. particular, there, you know, there were. pretty valid criticisms of Democrats. over the last, say, six years about. being in a bubble, but I've never seen a. bubble quite like this. And it goes to. like White House staff, the whole Doge. team, this group of young ideologues. doing damage to various agencies. Like, they don't they literally don't. understand how anything works. They. don't understand the importance of. cancer research. They don't understand.

the importance of preventing a a baby. from getting HIV AIDS uh from her mom. And they are in a bubble being. reinforced. Eventually those political. bubbles burst. And I think our project. collectively is to do two things. first. to try to make sure that we puncture. that bubble as quickly as pos uh. possible to uh minimize the damage to. regular people and to the country and to. the institutions that hold up this.

country. But the other part of this is. to make sure that voters know exactly. how bad these outcomes are. And I was. thinking about Friday night as we were I. think we finished at like 3:00 a.m. I. got um asleep by like 4:30 a.m. And you. know the truth is nobody was really. paying attention to all of our votes on. the House floor, excuse me, the Senate. floor because their retirement savings, their college savings, their life. savings were being incinerated. There's. not much for us to say. There's no like. phrasing that's going to make this worse.

or better for our party. Um what's. happening is we have kind of moved from. the phase of the Trump presidency where. people were they were pissed and worried. but they were mostly observing stuff on. their screens about what was happening. And this week and last week were the. first week where people were like okay. this is no longer like the way you kind. of watch fantasy football and have a. rooting interest in your side. This is. more like now you're talking about my. money. This is my This is my kids. college. um this is my personal.

retirement. This is my mom's retirement. This is my mom's job. Um things are. getting very very real and there's. nothing you can do uh when you are. living in an information bubble to. prevent people from actually feeling the. impact. So I think the politics are. going to turn. The question is whether. they turn quickly enough um for us to. minimize the damage. What do you make of. the fact that you've got all these. Republicans who were so quick to um to. back Donald Trump during the campaign or.

over the last few years? People like. Megan McCain, for example, who who came. out and tweeted inject every policy into. my veins who are now coming out and. Megan McCain is one of them. Dave Porto. is another one. Now coming out and. basically, you know, recognizing that. they themselves are being impacted and. so suddenly have an impetus to to speak. out. My view is welcome. Uh, and I mean. that I I mean that with zero sarcasm, with zero resentment. You know, people a. good buddy of mine used to say, "People. vote for you for their reasons, not.

yours." Yeah. The purpose of politics is. not to winnow down your political. coalition to a purer and purer group, but rather politics is addition, not. subtraction. Dave Portoi is a big deal. I still follow him exclusively for the. pizza reviews. Yeah. And the Boston. Celtics takes. I'm in I'm in the same. boat. I I watch I watch the pizza. reviews and like you know so I I get it. I I and I understand if if I'm watching. him even with all the biases I have on. the political side. Imagine what people. who don't give a about politics are.

thinking. Yeah. And so like my view is. like there's a little bit of a tendency. in the Democratic coalition in the. progressive coalition to go like now. you're here and why did you say this. earlier? Who cares? We have to not be. such a scolding coalition. We have to. basically say hey they with your. money and you're welcome, right? come on. in and either you were mistaken, but. also by the way the other thing we've. seen from polling and this is not the. recent polling is people start to. misremember who they voted for because.

it's been a minute and they may not. remember that they voted for Donald. Trump because they were torn in that. moment. And so my view is we need to. welcome as many of those types into our. coalition as possible. There were a. bunch of people who tolerated the um you. know kind of authoritarian tendencies. and tolerated the kind of um um overly. conservative um social views because. they thought he was going to be good for. the money. Right now he's not good for. the money. And there are other people. who tolerated this kind of like overly. friendly with Wall Street stuff because.

they thought he was going to be, you. know, sort of cruel to the people that. they hated. Those people I don't think. we're ever going to get back. And um but. I do think like the reason we lost and. we lost decisively on one level but. still by one and a half%. So the reason. we lost is some tiny little percentage. of people said I don't like prices. I. don't like Biden because he's old. I. don't like what I've been paying. And. when I remember the Trump administration. from the first time, I remember money in. my pocket. Right? And maybe they're.

misremembering or maybe they're. remembering correctly because during. COVID we did have a bunch of cash. payments out to people. So there were a. bunch of people who were very low. income, low asset um you know uh levels. and but they had seven grand in the. bank. They were out of credit card debt. if only for six or 12 months and they. wanted to go back to that time. So once. you start messing with people's money, I. think we should not assume that there. are any permanent um realignments and. the those alignments only go against us,

right? There was a bit of a realignment. in the last election. It's a very real. thing. But now we need to think about. the veterans that have been laid off, the people who uh depend on social. security, the parks workers, the FAA. folks, the current and former military. people, civilian and military. Um, and. then anybody of the 60% of the Americans. who've got money in the stock market, either individual stocks or mutual. funds, 401ks, 403bs, everybody's welcome. in our coalition. If you hate all this.

um, you're part of the team, right? I think that's the the perfect. point is that this isn't the time for a. victory lap. This is a time where we. have an opportunity to capitalize on on. a lot of folks who who are for whatever, you know, for whatever reason, it's not. important to relitigate the 2024. election. it's over. But we have the. opportunity to get them back. And. usually we aren't handed these. opportunities on such a silver platter. as we have now in the sense that, you. know, Trump has crashed the stock. market. He's destroyed people's 401ks. He's gutting healthcare, firing. veterans. I mean, again, if if you know,

if your goal is to just go around and. and fingerpoint at people and lecture. them and beat your chest, that's that's. one thing. But the goal really should be. uh the the work of persuasion. and we. have an opportunity to get a lot of. these people back and uh and think about. how much time and energy we put toward. persuading people as we head up head. toward an election. If we have the. chance to to use some of those tools. right now and bring those people back. into the fold, we should use it. So, to. that point, I appreciate your. perspective here and appreciate uh the. work you're doing and fighting back.

against this administration. Senator. Shots, thank you. Brian, one final point. if you don't mind. Sure. Um the word. welcome is such a powerful word, right? You come into someone's house, to use. that um uh potluck analogy, you come. into someone's house, if they open the. door and you've got something in your. hand and they don't say the word. welcome, you're kind of like, "Oh, this. is a little awkward." You're still going. to walk in, you're still going to put. your plate down, and you're still going. to enjoy the party best you can. The. word welcome is so powerful in life, but. in particular in politics. So, all of us.

have to get into the habit. Even if it's. just a tactical approach, even if you. don't feel that in your heart of hearts, you should just welcome anyone into the. coalition who wants to join you. And do. not inquire as to do not be too probing. as to whether or not they're pure on. every single issue or how they voted. last year. If they want to join us, they. are welcome because politics is. addition, not subtraction. Perfectly. put, Senator Shots, appreciate your. time. Thank you, Brian.

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