The Democratic rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s speech earlier than Congress got here from Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a first-term senator from Michigan. She spoke for about 11 minutes.
Here’s a transcript of her remarks as ready for supply:
Hello everybody. I’m Elissa Slotkin. I’m honored to have the chance to talk tonight. It’s late — so I promise to be lots shorter than what you simply watched.
I gained’t take it personally if you happen to’ve by no means heard of me. I’m the brand new senator from the nice state of Michigan, the place I grew up. I’ve been in public service my whole life, as a result of I occurred to be in New York Metropolis on 9/11 when the dual towers got here down. Earlier than the smoke cleared, I knew I wished a life in nationwide safety.
I used to be recruited by the CIA and did three excursions in Iraq, alongside the army. In between, I labored on the White Home below President Bush and President Obama, two very totally different leaders who each believed that America is outstanding.
You will discover that very same sense of patriotism right here in Wyandotte, Michigan, the place I’m tonight. It’s a working-class city simply south of Detroit. President Trump and I each gained right here in November. It may not appear to be it, however loads of locations like this nonetheless exist all throughout america – locations the place individuals imagine that if you happen to work laborious, and play by the foundations, you must do effectively and your youngsters do higher.
It jogs my memory of how I grew up. My dad was a lifelong Republican, my mother a lifelong Democrat. But it surely was by no means an enormous deal. As a result of we had shared values that had been larger than anyone get together.
We simply went by means of one other fraught election season. People made it clear that costs are too excessive and that authorities must be extra conscious of their wants. America needs change. However there’s a accountable strategy to make change, and a reckless method. And, we are able to make that change with out forgetting who we’re as a rustic, and as a democracy.
In order that’s what I’m going to put out tonight.
As a result of whether or not you’re in Wyandotte or Wichita, most People share three core beliefs: That the Center Class is the engine of our nation. That sturdy nationwide safety protects us from hurt. And that our democracy, regardless of how messy, is unparalleled and value combating for.
Let’s begin with the economic system.
Michigan actually invented the Center Class: the revolutionary concept that you could possibly work at an auto plant and afford the automobile you had been constructing. That’s the American Dream. And to be able to broaden and defend the Center Class, we have now to do a couple of, basic items:
We have to carry down the worth of issues we spend probably the most cash on: Groceries. Housing. Healthcare. Your automobile.
We have to make extra issues in America with good-paying, union jobs — and produce our provide chains again residence from locations like China.
We have to give American companies the knowledge they should make investments and create the roles of the longer term.
And we want a tax system that’s truthful for individuals who don’t occur to make a billion {dollars}.
Look, President Trump talked an enormous sport on the economic system, but it surely’s at all times vital to learn the wonderful print. So: do his plans really assist People get forward?
Not even shut.
President Trump is attempting to ship an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire pals. He’s on the hunt to search out trillions of {dollars} to go alongside to the wealthiest in America. And to do this, he’s going to make you pay in each a part of your life.
Grocery and residential costs are going up, not down — and he hasn’t laid out a reputable plan to cope with both.
His tariffs on allies like Canada will elevate costs on power, lumber, automobiles — and begin a commerce conflict that can damage manufacturing and farmers.
Your premiums and prescriptions will value extra as a result of the mathematics on his proposals doesn’t work with out going after your well being care.
In the meantime, for these preserving rating, the nationwide debt goes up, not down. And if he’s not cautious, he might stroll us proper right into a recession.
And yet one more factor: To be able to pay for his plan, he might very effectively come after your retirement – the Social Safety, Medicare, and VA advantages you labored your entire life to earn. The President claims he gained’t, however Elon Musk simply known as Social Safety “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”
Whereas we’re as regards to Elon Musk, is there anybody in America who’s snug with him and his gang of 20-year-olds utilizing their very own pc servers to poke by means of your tax returns, your well being data, and your financial institution accounts? No oversight. No protections in opposition to cyber-attack. No guardrails on what they do together with your personal information.
We want extra environment friendly authorities. You wish to reduce waste, I’ll show you how to do it. However change doesn’t must be chaotic or make us much less secure.
The senseless firing of people that work to guard our nuclear weapons, hold our planes from crashing, and conduct the analysis that finds the treatment for most cancers — solely to re-hire them two days later? No CEO in America might try this with out being summarily fired.
OK, so we’ve talked about our financial safety. How about nationwide safety?
Let’s begin with the border. As somebody who spent my entire profession defending our homeland, each nation deserves to know who and what’s coming throughout its border. Interval. Democrats and Republicans ought to all be for that.
However securing the border with out really fixing our damaged immigration system is coping with the symptom not the illness. America is a nation of immigrants. We want a purposeful system, keyed to the wants of our economic system, that permits vetted individuals to come back and work right here legally. So I stay up for the President’s plan on that.
As a result of right here’s the factor: In the present day’s world is deeply interconnected. Migration, cyber threats, AI, environmental destruction, terrorism — one nation can’t face these points alone. We want pals in all corners — and our security will depend on it.
President Trump loves to vow “peace through strength.” That’s really a line he stole from Ronald Reagan. However let me inform you, after the spectacle that simply passed off within the Oval Workplace final week, Reagan should be rolling over in his grave. All of us need an finish to the conflict in Ukraine, however Reagan understood that true power required America to mix our army and financial may with ethical readability.
And that scene within the Oval Workplace wasn’t only a dangerous episode of actuality TV. It summed up Trump’s entire strategy to the world. He believes in cozying as much as dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our pals, like Canada, within the tooth. He sees American management as merely a sequence of actual property transactions.
As a Chilly Warfare child, I’m grateful it was Reagan and never Trump in workplace within the Eighties. Trump would have misplaced us the Chilly Warfare.
Donald Trump’s actions recommend that, in his coronary heart, he doesn’t imagine we’re an distinctive nation. He clearly doesn’t assume we should always lead the world.
Look, America’s not good. However I stand with most People who imagine we’re nonetheless distinctive. Unparalleled. And I’d reasonably have American management over Chinese language or Russian management any day of the week.
As a result of for generations, America has supplied one thing higher.
Our safety and our prosperity, sure. However our democracy, our very system of presidency, has been the aspiration of the world. And proper now, it’s in danger.
It’s in danger when a president decides he can decide and select what guidelines he needs to comply with, when he ignores courtroom orders or the Structure itself, or when elected leaders stand idly by and simply let it occur.
But it surely’s additionally in danger when the President pits People in opposition to one another, when he demonizes those that are totally different, and tells sure individuals they shouldn’t be included.
As a result of America is not only a patch of land between two oceans. We’re greater than that. Generations have fought and died to safe the elemental rights that outline us. These rights and the battle for them make us who we’re.
We’re a nation of strivers. Threat-takers. Innovators. And we’re by no means glad.
That’s America’s superpower.
And look, I’ve lived and labored in lots of nations. I’ve seen democracies flicker out. I’ve seen what life is like when a authorities is rigged. You possibly can’t open a enterprise with out paying off a corrupt official. You possibly can’t criticize the fellows in cost with out getting a knock on the door in the midst of the evening.
In order a lot as we have to make our authorities extra conscious of our lives at present, don’t for one second idiot your self that democracy isn’t treasured and value saving.
However how can we really try this? I do know a variety of you may have been asking that query.
First, don’t tune out. It’s simple to be exhausted, however America wants you now greater than ever. If earlier generations had not fought for democracy, the place would we be at present?
Second, maintain your elected officers, together with me, accountable. Watch how they’re voting. Go to city halls and demand they take motion. That’s as American as apple pie.
Three, arrange. Choose only one situation you’re enthusiastic about — and interact. And doom scrolling doesn’t depend. Be part of a bunch that cares about your situation, and act. And if you happen to can’t discover one, begin one.
A number of the most vital actions in our historical past have come from the underside up.
In closing, everyone knows that our nation goes by means of one thing proper now. We’re undecided what the following day goes to carry, not to mention the following decade.
However this isn’t the primary time we’ve skilled important and tumultuous change as a rustic. I’m a scholar of historical past, and we’ve gone by means of intervals of political instability earlier than. And finally, we’ve chosen to maintain altering this nation for the higher.
However each single time, we’ve solely gotten by means of these moments due to two issues: Engaged residents and principled leaders.
Engaged residents who perform a little bit greater than they’re used to doing to battle for the issues they care about. And principled leaders who’re able to obtain the ball and do one thing about it.
So thanks tonight for caring about your nation. Simply by watching, you qualify as engaged residents. And I promise that I, and my fellow Democrats, will do every part in our energy to be the principled leaders that you simply deserve.
Goodnight everybody.
Initially Revealed: March 5, 2025 at 12:29 AM EST
