Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, the murder rate in the United States today--the global murder rate--is infinitesimal. It is a fraction of what it was 200 years ago, 400 years ago, 600 years ago--a fraction of what it likely was in the Bronze Age or in the days when native Tribes patrolled this land.

What we have seen over the course of global history is that human beings have decided that instead of advancing our social power or our economic power or our political power through violence, we are going to have law and order. We are going to have economies that reward merit. We are going to punish people who disobey those laws to protect the rest of us, and that has served us really, really well. Today, you are fundamentally less likely to be attacked, to be murdered by a neighbor, by somebody you have a contest with than you were centuries ago.

Donald Trump is throwing that out the window. Donald Trump is throwing out the window the idea that we only advance ourselves politically or economically or socially through nonviolent means. What happened last week is that Donald Trump said to this country: If you use violence on my behalf, you are off the hook. If you beat the hell out of police officers, if you pound them over the head with metal poles, if you yank them by the neck and drag them into a crowd and hold them down so that people can stomp on them, if you tase police officers to the point that they suffer a heart attack, as long as you are doing that to advance my political power, you are off the hook.

The people who walked out of jail last week were convicted of viciously violent crimes. Yes, there were plenty of people who were convicted who didn't engage in that horrific violence, but I was here in this Chamber that day. I remember all of my Republican colleagues running out the door just like the Democrats did. I don't remember any of my Republican colleagues staying in the Chamber to greet the tourists. Everybody knew that our safety was in jeopardy. Democrats certainly knew our safety was in jeopardy because, as we found out, many of those protesters were looking for Democrats.

One of the most violent protesters who was let out of jail last week--in the middle of his sentence after he had beaten up police officers--went to the gallows, went to the noose that was constructed, and posted on social media: Too bad no Democrats here.

If you beat up a police officer for reasons other than perpetuating Donald Trump's power, you are still in jail. The only people who beat up police officers in the year 2021 who got let out of jail last week-- the only ones--were the ones who beat up police officers to help Donald Trump. That sends a clear signal that your violence is excused if it is for Donald Trump's political purposes, and that puts all of our lives in jeopardy. That puts our democracy in jeopardy when violence is excused. And what we are learning in the days following that unconscionable Executive order of pardoning the rioters--not some of the rioters, everyone--is that it is part of a plan.

Listen, I have done a lot of work across the aisle. I have such respect for my Republican colleagues. I have spent hours, weeks, days sitting in rooms, negotiating immigration bills and voting bills and public safety bills. But, man, you are watching this President trying to seize power right now, trying to make us irrelevant, trying to suppress political dissent. What happened last night is part of a story. A President can't be the only person in charge of who gets money or not in this country. That is corrupt because then the President can dole out money to his political friends or the friends of his billionaire friends. He can dole out money to States with Senators who are loyal to him. He can punish companies that are competitors with his billionaire friends or punish States represented by people who are disloyal to him.

That is not how our democracy works. We are in charge of making sure that taxpayer money is spread out evenly. That has nothing to do with loyalty or disloyalty to the leader.

A couple of days ago, all of the inspectors general just got fired. That is illegal, but they all got fired. Why? Because, if you are going to engage in corruption inside these Agencies, you don't want anybody to be watching.

So you have got to put this next to each other. You have got to understand the story. If you are trying to transition our democracy to a government of which only one person is in charge, you permit people to engage in violence on your behalf so as to intimidate the opposition into being silent. And I am just going to tell you, if you don't believe this, there are a lot of folks who don't support Donald Trump who are not going to show up to rallies, who are not going to participate in politics because they just learned that if they do and somebody hurts them, that person might be let off the hook. You excuse violence. You arrange government so you can operate in darkness, and you rig the rules so that nobody is in charge of dispensing money except for you. Violence is a legitimate tool of politics; one person in charge of dolling out money; government decisions made in secret.

That is not a democracy; that is a recipe for corruption--for corruption.

So, yes, I am fuming mad about how my Republican colleagues talk about law and order and then mostly, with a few exceptions, either remain silent when the most violent January 6 protesters get pardoned or celebrate those pardons. But I also want to be clear that it stands in a context of actions taken during this first week that are undermining our democracy to the point of putting it on the brink of possible extinction as a means for fundamental corruption to take place inside our government. That should be unacceptable. That is unacceptable.

I am thankful to Senator Murray and others for bringing this down to the floor to raise this alarm bell.

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