In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy accused President Donald Trump of orchestrating an “authoritarian takeover” of the federal government.
The outspoken Trump critic said the president’s recent actions — like sending the military into American cities, calling for the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel’s show, and using the justice department to go after his political enemies — must be considered part of a plan and not as individual events.
“You can't see the indictment of Comey, the cancellation of Kimmel, the troops in Chicago as different events,” Murphy said on the Senate floor. “They are all part of the same story. They are all part of a plan, a well thought out plan to try to destroy American democracy and create a new set of rules that will allow Trump and his allies to rule forever.”
Murphy has said he’s concerned the U.S. could end up like Hungary, where the country still holds elections, but the opposition party never wins.
He spoke for under 20 minutes on Tuesday night. Beside him was a poster that said “The Plan,” and outlined the five steps Murphy said Trump was taking to take over the government.
“If my Republican colleagues don't force themselves to pull back and see the totality of what is happening to the political opposition, it's hard to see because it's not happening to you,” Murphy said. “It's happening to your colleagues. You're not in jeopardy of being arrested — my colleagues are. Your allies are not being taken down off the air — ours are.”
Trump has not commented on the speech, but has previously called Murphy “very unattractive” and a “lightweight.”
Popular conservative social media sites like Libs of TikTok and TheBlaze criticized the video, calling Murphy “deranged.”
Other users thanked him for making the speech.
