Sen. Chris Murphy said Democrats would most likely need to start planning for mass demonstrations in order to oppose President Donald Trump. Murphy made the remarks during a town hall at Westhill High School in Stamford on Friday.
“I think the threat to our democracy is real,” Murphy said. “It is acute. I think it is very likely you are going to need hundreds of thousands of people engaged in mass-scale mobilization.”
Several Democratic voters and audience members complained about the response from Murphy’s Democratic Senate colleagues to Trump’s executive orders and actions since he took office.
Several of Trump’s orders on immigration to mass firings of federal employees have either been challenged in federal court over their legality, or will soon be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Murphy said Democrats are planning a response, but said it will almost assuredly require mass participation from all segments of civil society.
However, some voters remain unconvinced, disheartened by what they say is a lack of direction from the Democratic Party toward themselves.
Erin Shaw, an independent voter from New Canaan, said a mass protest movement appears to be the only way to oppose Trump, but does not think Democrats are prepared to lead those efforts.
“I don’t think they know what to do, and they are in effect, powerless, and I think it’s going to come down to how many people can get out there and try to precipitate change,” Shaw said.
The town hall event, which lasted nearly two hours, was filled with Democrats broadly supportive of Murphy, whose outspokenness has raised his national profile in recent months.
But many attendees like Shaw, shared those feelings of frustration, anger and fear at the senior Democratic leadership and at what many say is a rapidly accelerating descent into authoritarianism.
Some, like Celeste Cobb from Redding, were blunt.
“I hear that you hear us. What I don't hear is how you lead us.”
One speaker brought up the idea of rethinking Democratic positions on the Second Amendment, and the right to bear arms, saying Democrats and Republicans could find common cause in seeing firearms ownership as a defense against tyranny. The question, unlike others, drew muted applause from the audience.
Murphy said no.
“I don't think there's any coming together between Republicans and Democrats in the Second Amendment in the short term,” Murphy said.
Maya Spruill, a Stamford resident, said she planned on asking Murphy how he would be able to help address the root causes of gun violence such as poverty.
Spruill, who advocates for the city’s Black community, agreed that politicians could do more, but said people needing direction need to look within to find it.
“It's really going to fall on us, because at the end of the day, this is our city, this is our town, this is where we live, and we have to do the necessary steps,” Spruill said. “These politicians are sort of just our spokespersons.”
