WASHINGTON—Right after Senate Republicans blocked voting rights legislation, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn) on Wednesday highlighted the fragility of American democracy on the U.S. Senate floor. He slammed Senate Republicans for prioritizing power over democracy and ignoring the public efforts of former President Donald Trump and Republican state legislatures to undermine future elections.

On the fragility of American democracy, Murphy said: “There have been experiments over the course of world history, but no nation has sustained this idea longer than this one. In historical context, our democracy should be perceived as a tiny, fragile port in the middle of a raging storm, and none of us should be surprised that once in a while, some Americans, drawn to the old system of control by the strong and powerful, decide that it’s time to give up and submit to the battering winds.”

On former President Trump’s public, ongoing election subversion efforts, Murphy said: “Can anybody really deny that this is the agenda? Of course that’s what he’s doing. Because it’s what he tried to do – transparently, unapologetically – in 2020. And that’s what he’s telling us he’s going to do in 2024. At some point, we just have to believe what we see and what we hear.”

Murphy continued: “For the last decade, the entire legislative agenda here when Republicans have been in charge has been about giving more power, more money, more influence to the rich and powerful. They oppose President Biden’s agenda to give tax cuts to the poor and middle class, to cut profits for the drug companies…Maybe Republicans aren’t fighting to protect democracy like Democrats are because their reversion to a world where just the rich and powerful run the country, it just isn't as scary to that side of this body as it is to this side.”

“I wish it was not only Democrats that see the miracle of our fragile democracy. Because the idea that a worker making $12 an hour gets just as much say in the future of their country as the CEO making $12 million a year, it is revolutionary. It is unnatural. And it matters more than anything – even the traditions and the rules of the Senate,” Murphy concluded.

Earlier this month, on the eve of the anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, Murphy highlighted the ongoing efforts across the country to subvert elections and sounded the alarm that the future of our democracy is at stake if the Senate does not act to protect the right to vote.

A full transcript of his remarks can be found below:

“As we head towards the final hour of debate, I want to just bring us back about 20 feet to talk about the stakes that we are laboring under tonight. I want to talk a little bit about the big picture of why this matters. I know we’ve changed the rules 160 times in the history of the Senate, but I will submit that it is still an extraordinary endeavor to ask our colleagues to change the rules and traditions of this body. And so here's what I want to say. 

“It is really important to remember that democracy – this idea that every member of our country, every member of the community gets an equal say in the rules that govern us –  it is unnatural. Why do I know this? Because I want you to think of every organization in your life that matters. Your workplace, it doesn’t give equal votes to every employee as to the direction of the company. Think about your favorite sports team. There’s not a vote from all the players about the lineups or the strategy of the team. The Sunday sermon at your church isn’t chosen by an online poll of the congregation. I love my kids, but they don’t get an equal say with me and my wife about the rules of our house.

“When you look out over the long stretch of human history, it’s no wonder that 99.99% of humans have lived under governments that were monarchies or sultanates or autocracies. Since the beginning of time, human beings have preferred, have been naturally drawn to, or maybe have been trapped in hierarchical systems where the strong and the powerful make the decisions for everyone else. The idea that humans, both the weak and the powerful, the rich and the poor, should decide together, each person having equal weight, the course of their nation, Mr. President, this idea is revolutionary.

“There have been experiments over the course of world history, but no nation has sustained this idea longer than this one. In historical context, our democracy should be perceived as a tiny, fragile port in the middle of a raging storm, and none of us should be surprised that once in a while, some Americans, drawn to the old system of control by the strong and powerful, decide that it’s time to give up and submit to the battering winds.

“That’s the moment we’re in today. Just in the last few days, former President Donald Trump, the leader of the Republican Party and their likely candidate for president in 2024, once again made clear his intent. He said last week, ‘We have to be a lot sharper the next time when it comes to counting the votes. Sometimes, the vote counter is more important than the candidate.’

“The leader of the Republican Party isn’t even trying to hide his agenda any longer. State after state is changing the rules of who counts the votes so that only the allies of Donald Trump can decide which votes count and which votes don’t.

“Now much of the focus today understandably has been on these unconscionable rules that limit the ability of poor people or people of color to vote.  And it’s heinous that a Black voter has got to wait in lines that are two times or ten times longer than a white voter. But democracy may actually collapse when Trump’s plan to rig the next count succeeds – in plain view, for everybody to see.

“He broadcasts that in the next election, the vote counting will be more important than the quality of the candidates. Why? Because the plan is to install Donald Trump as president whether or not he actually wins the election. Just like he tried to do after the 2020 election.

“Can anybody really deny that this is the agenda? Of course that’s what he’s doing. Because it’s what he tried to do – transparently, unapologetically – in 2020. And that’s what he’s telling us he’s going to do in 2024. At some point, we just have to believe what we see and what we hear.

“And I appreciate Senator Thune coming to the floor earlier today and telling us that he believes that Joe Biden won the election, and that when he faced a close election, he submitted to the will of the voters. But Senator Thune is not the mainstream of the Republican Party today. In fact, those that believe Joe Biden won the election in the Republican Party are the dead limbs of an otherwise perfectly healthy tree. The trunk of that tree is Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene and all those that believe that Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. That's what 70% of Republicans believe today. 

“If mainstream Republicans in this body came to Connecticut and held a rally, a dozen people would show up. Marjorie Taylor Greene came to my state a few months ago and 3,000 Republicans came, more than I have ever seen show up for a Republican because that's the mainstream of the Republican Party.

“Today, we are voting on a proposal to change our rules so that we can protect our democracy, and the rules that have stood for generations to assure that both parties continue to have a role in counting the votes. And while it feels astonishing that not a single Republican is going to join us today – not the Trump cheerleaders nor the sometimes critics of the former president – maybe it shouldn’t be that shocking.

“Because that natural state that billions of humans have defaulted to over the millennia – the unelected rich and powerful being in charge of everything and setting the rules for everyone else – it might square perfectly with Republicans’ agenda.

“For the last decade, the entire legislative agenda here when Republicans have been in charge has been about giving more power, more money, more influence to the rich and powerful. They oppose President Biden’s agenda to give tax cuts to the poor and middle class, to cut profits for the drug companies, because it empowers that agenda often the weak and powerless.

“Maybe Republicans aren’t fighting to protect democracy like Democrats are because their reversion to a world where just the rich and powerful run the country, it just isn't as scary to that side of this body as it is to this side.

“I wish it weren't up to us. I wish it didn't have to come to this. I wish it was not only Democrats that see the miracle of our fragile democracy. Because the idea that a worker making $12 an hour gets just as much say in the future of their country as the CEO making $12 million a year, it is revolutionary. It is unnatural. And it matters more than anything – even the traditions and the rules of the Senate. I yield the floor.”

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