Saying that Trump Administration policies are hurting the nation and the state of Connecticut, top state Democrats gathered at the state Capitol Tuesday to emphatically pan the president’s first 100 days in office.
Gov. Ned Lamont says what he considers the hateful actions of the president on LGBTQ rights and racial issues have led to fear among transgender and Latin-American children who are simply trying to attend school. Lamont partially quoted Bob Marley:
“It’s time for all of us to stand together, locking arms and say it’s time to stand up for our rights: ‘Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights.’”
Attorney General William Tong, who is leading Connecticut in several lawsuits against the White House, says the nation is absolutely in a constitutional crisis—with Trump disregarding constitutional amendments, laws and major court rulings.
“When people are getting kidnapped off the streets by the U.S.
government, when they’re tearing up state budgets,” says Tong, describing what he calls the crisis, “when they’re tearing up the federal government when an unelected billionaire gets to go in there are do whatever he wants… can you imagine?”
Democrats in Congress say the Trump administration has frozen, stalled or otherwise disrupted some $430 billion in federal funds since the president took office — from federal disease research to Head Start for children to disaster aid.
State Treasurer Erick Russell calls Trump a “con artist,” saying his primary interest is enriching himself and his friends, as shown in activities such as “Dinners for whoever invests most in his latest meme coin, or… tipping off his billionaire friends before he pauses tariffs and watches the market jump. Meanwhile, working people are struggling to figure out how they are going to make ends meet.”
And state Comptroller Sean Scanlon says Trump’s tariffs are hurting the economy and, as a result, Connecticut residents:
“He has raised costs, put us in a trade war with some of our best allies… across the world, started a meltdown of the global stock market and is driving us increasingly towards a global turndown and slowdown of the economy.”
Earlier, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) offered this summary of Trump’s first 100 days:
“I think it reflects a meanness and cruelty, and, frankly, a stupidity in a lot of what has been done. We’re under grave threat right now that Medicaid and Social Security will be put on the chopping block simply because that money is needed to finance tax cuts—not for everyday Americans, but for the ultra-wealthy, the billionaires and millionaires.”
Blumenthal added, “Our national security is under threat, partly because the protections have been dismantled in the State Department, in the Department of Defense, in the Department of Homeland Security. And Americans get it. They see this administration as cruel and dumb.”
Republicans have repeatedly accused Democrats of overreacting to Trump’s actions, and House Minority Leader Vin Candelora essentially did the same on Tuesday, writing “If they want to talk about 'con artists,' they’d better start by looking in the mirror. There, they’ll see the architects of failed energy policies, the destroyers of our critical fiscal guardrails, and a group that never stops looking for new ways to take more from taxpayers.”
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
