Congressman Robert Garcia
Appearances
IHIP News
WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
They're viewing us saying what happened to the United States of America where they can't even stand by an ally, stand against Putin. It is insanity. And we've got to continue to call it out.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
We've got to push back. This is a moment for us to, I think, be really tough and aggressive.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
That's right. Thank you so much. I agree 100%. Thank you.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
I think you're absolutely correct. I mean, let's be crystal clear about this moment. What we essentially have is the Department of Justice threatening members of Congress to essentially be prosecuted for being in opposition to what the administration is trying to do.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
And what I think is really important is we know that right now, Elon Musk is working to dismantle what we know as the social safety net, social security. Medicare, the Department of Education that provides so much support for families, climate policies. And at this moment, Democrats need to be in this fight for democracy.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
We actually need to be aggressive in the way we take on this dismantling of our federal institutions. And now what Donald Trump and Elon Musk are saying is actually, Democrats, you shouldn't say anything. And in fact, you should police your language. And in fact, you can't even use figures of speech to actually say things like we should be fighting with everything that we've got.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
I'm doing okay. Thanks. Thanks for having me on.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
And so I think that this is all incredibly concerning, but I wanna also be clear we're not going to stand down. We've got to continue to push back and to move forward. And I think that it's really, I think what you said is really quite shameful that this person who has defended January Sixers, he has defended the insurrection, is now targeting members of Congress.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
I think first, it's completely crazy what is happening right now. And I think what's really important is Democrats in Congress, we need to match the energy that's on the ground, right? We need to match the anger that people feel out across this country. And we are starting to see that. The protests that we're seeing that people are out there saying, hell no.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
The actions that are being taking place in front of our federal agencies trying to stop folks from coming in and disrupt and stop our programs. These are actually having an impact. The court cases, we're now winning more cases in court in stopping some of these federal funding freezes. All of this matters.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
What also matters is that members of Congress speak out forcefully in committees, on the floor, in hearings, at rallies. And the efforts that are happening right now is simply trying to silence that. And so we've got to double down on being tough, on being aggressive, and on matching the energy on the ground. And remember, Republicans traditionally, especially in the Trump era,
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
They fight with everything that they've got. They're aggressive and they're tough. We've got to match that toughness to ensure that we don't destroy what we love so much about this country.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
Absolutely right. I mean, this is really just incredibly disturbing. Should be disturbing for any American. Obviously, we as members of Congress should have the right to oppose an administration that we disagree with. Earlier that day, I had been in the very first Doge subcommittee meeting with calling it like it is. It's important for folks to be able to know that Democrats need to be in a fight.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
Yeah, I mean, look, I think Project 2025 is here, right? Everything they said that they wanted to do, that Project 2025 said they wanted to do, we thought it was so extreme and so crazy. They are doing it. They are implementing that handbook to essentially turn us away from being an actual democracy. Now, look, there's going to be a lot of debate about the right approach.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
I'll tell you what I think is the right approach. I think there's a growing consensus that this is a way to move forward. I think one is we cannot assume or expect this to be an era of bipartisanship. We're going to hold hands with Republicans and work to make the country better.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
that is not going to work that they will steamroll over us every single chance they can what we have to do in every single opportunity and moment that we have is to fight like hell and push back on these terrible policies we've got to call it out in congress we call it call out in the media we've got to be in all sorts
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
of different online spaces and let folks know that what they're trying to do is going to harm their families. It's going to redistribute working class, middle class wealth back to the richest people in this country, billionaires and large corporations. Then we've got to, besides just being opposing the bills that are in Congress, we also have to take action. I'll give you one example.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
when the federal funding freeze proposal came in to basically fund grants across the country what happened people rose up there were millions of people in this country that flooded the congressional air airwaves that went on a media program that talked about the impacts of those non-profits and what happens the trump administration then has to essentially they revoke their decision
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
And they said, okay, fine, we're not gonna do this at this moment because they heard actual public pressure. And that public pressure came also to Republican senators and Republican members of Congress. And so the public has actually stopped some really horrific things from happening, but they've gotta be vocal out there and engage with members of Congress and representatives.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
And I also think that peaceful demonstrations, protests, when people are out there, marches, that actually does make an impact. The actual demonstrations, the actions that have taken place in Washington, DC in front of federal agencies have literally stopped meetings of the Doge Committee that were going to happen inside some of these federal agencies.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
And so those things matter and they're gonna continue to grow. And I'll say right now, our biggest tool is also through the courts. What's happening in the courts and what democratic attorney generals are doing is making a huge impact. We're winning more cases right now than we're actually losing. And so that is actually stopping some of the chaos that is happening.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
And finally, I'll say this, the single most important thing that we as a collective country that we need to do is to fight fire with fire, and that Republicans are going to try everything they can as aggressively as they can to ram, rot, and basically destroy institutions. Members of Congress, governors, the
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
public, grassroots organizers, folks in the media, we also have to mask that energy and be aggressive. We can't just sit back and allow them to roll over us. And so all of that is going to matter in the weeks ahead. And I think every week that goes by, the American public gets more upset as they should. And we should continue to communicate that to members of Congress.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
This is a fight that we are in for a very democracy. And the fact that the Trump Department's DOJ now wants to silence members of Congress because we actually are willing to take on Elon Musk is quite dangerous.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
I mean, unfortunately, I don't have a high level of confidence. Democrats voted unanimously to bring Elon Musk in front of our oversight committee. The Republicans voted unanimously to oppose it. They have the majority. And so Elon Musk, he has no desire to come and answer questions. He has no desire to actually be accountable for what he's doing. We have the richest man on the planet.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
who's only getting richer by the day, who's only gotten more wealthy since Donald Trump got elected, essentially serving as co-president alongside Donald Trump. And I agree that he's creating and trying to reform and change our government in his image, the way he wants it to be, so that he can continue to get big tax cuts and tax breaks and win more contracts for himself
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
and for his companies and so elon musk and his and his doge team are not accountable to the public because the house majority has no interest in actually taking him on or taking on donald trump and so that's why we've got to continue to be loud and do what we can we we have a reality we face we don't have the white house we don't control the senate we don't control the house of representatives that's just the facts but we do have his governorships we have courageous members of congress
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
And we're organizing on the ground that's happening to try to take some of these issues on. We've got to continue to be loud.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
And I think that's something that we're really, really concerned about that the Department of Justice now has essentially said that we cannot use metaphors, that we cannot use figures of speech, that we cannot talk about actually fighting the policies of the Trump administration. And if we do so, we're going to face prosecution. So incredibly disturbing. But we're not going to be silenced.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
I mean, I wish we knew, and I think we all have our suspicions, but look, Putin is a dictator. He has caused enormous, enormous harm, as you all know, to his own country, to his own people. He has and should be taken incredibly seriously as a national threat to the United States.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
And the fact that Donald Trump is cozying up to him and the fact that he's turned language support against Ukraine, calling essentially Ukraine somehow saying that they started when they were actually attacked by Putin. This conflict is crazy. And yet no national security Republicans are actually standing up and pushing back on Elon Musk and Donald Trump. So it's very concerning.
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WTF?! Trump/Elon's DOJ is TARGETING Dem. Congressman
We're very concerned about what JD Vance is doing. And we have to stand up for Ukraine. And Europe understands this. And I hope that the American public and all the folks that are watching and listening to this understand that our reputation around the world is diminishing every single day. We are a laughingstock. People are concerned.