Senator says Trump's 'corruption and thievery' rapidly turning off his base
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who is now shifting his attention back to Connecticut as he begins his yearly walking tour to listen to constituents' concerns, stated on Sunday that he is getting his GOP colleagues to stand up to President Donald Trump.
“If I want to protect the people that I represent, then I’ve got to be out there making trouble in Republican districts, trying to get my Republican colleagues to stand up to this president’s corruption and thievery," he said in an interview with NBC Connecticut Sunday.
The Connecticut Democrat expressed hope that a few Republicans in Congress will break ranks with the president to protect healthcare access, drawing parallels to past GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
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“I mean, listen, I hope they will,” Murphy said. “Remember, people said eight years ago that the Republicans were going to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and they didn’t, because the Senate stopped it. Three Republicans stood in the way of the passage of the repeal of Obamacare, which would have thrown hundreds of thousands of people here in Connecticut off their healthcare.”
Murphy emphasized the stakes involved, particularly for Connecticut residents.
“So no, we’re going to work every single day, every single night to try to convince a handful of Republicans to stand up to Donald Trump so that we don’t see thousands and thousands of people here in Connecticut lose their healthcare just so that a handful of billionaires can get an additional tax cut,” he said.
Murphy sharply criticized Trump’s stance on the war in Ukraine, accusing him of aligning with Russian President Vladimir Putin and endangering U.S. national security.
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“Donald Trump is siding with Vladimir Putin in this war. He has suspended all new military aid for Ukraine. He refuses to impose sanctions on Russia. He is publicly insulting on a regular basis the president of Ukraine. He wants Russia to win this war,” Murphy said.
“That's terrible for the United States, because Russia likely won't stop at Ukraine. It will invade a NATO ally; that'll be American men and women who are fighting and dying overseas. And America just, you know, we look weak. We look weak when we allow Russia to run over us like this, and that's bad for our interests all over the world,” he added.
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