Congresswoman Dr. Maxine Dexter
Appearances
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump power grab tripped up by distinctly American resistance
Oh, no offense taken at all. I was delighted to hear you said my name. And thanks so much for having me, Rachel.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump power grab tripped up by distinctly American resistance
I didn't know what to expect. It was my first solo town hall. I'd had a couple with Senator Merkley, but I didn't know if anyone was going to show up. I was hoping. But, Rachel, I, too, was moved. There was one point in particular where... it was a groundswell of emotion and people trying to convey to me their concerns and their fears and their desire for me to do something.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump power grab tripped up by distinctly American resistance
And that is what I mentally took a note of and said, I've got to take that with me back to Washington next week.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump power grab tripped up by distinctly American resistance
Yeah, our democracy is sick. My voters understand that. Our constituents across the country—you just showed footage—clearly understand that. And I am a critical care physician, and my job for 20 years has been to look at a patient and say, sick or not sick. This is a democracy that is sick. And certainly what you don't do when someone's sick is sit back and say— They might get better.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump power grab tripped up by distinctly American resistance
They might get worse. Let's see. You intervene. You take action. You do something. So it resonates profoundly with me, what my voters are saying right now. And what we do here in Congress, or what we all should be doing in Congress, is representing our people. As Nancy Pelosi says, our title—job title and job description are one and the same—representative.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump power grab tripped up by distinctly American resistance
Yeah, you know, as you said, I've got a very blue district. It's a D plus 22. So that means, you know, I have—the preponderance of my district is going to be Democrat. And they are very clear with me at this point. They don't want us to work with Republicans who are undermining our democracy. And that was actually in this town hall, one of the areas where I got the most
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump power grab tripped up by distinctly American resistance
most pushback from my constituents was when I was talking about, we've got to work on these issues together, and there's good people in Congress who really want to do the right thing. I think we've lost trust. They are feeling so scared and so threatened. And really, it's a great betrayal. People voted for Donald Trump because they thought he was going to be the working Americans' champion.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump power grab tripped up by distinctly American resistance
And he's turned out to be quite the opposite. He's firing them left and right.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump power grab tripped up by distinctly American resistance
Thank you. I appreciate it.