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Floor Speech

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Mr. KIM. Thank you, Senator Merkley, for taking time out tonight to shine a very bright light on a very dark problem: actions by the Trump administration that put your rights and your freedoms at risk.

You know, you are talking about USAID and how the Trump administration was putting it through the woodchipper. That is something that resonated with me as that was the place where I started my government service and my career--working at USAID and standing alongside public servants who were proud to be able to serve our country.

I wanted to ask you these questions because I am hearing it from a lot of people in New Jersey who are alarmed by the actions that they see, whether going after our government and our public servants or what we are seeing in the streets across our country.

I thought it might be good to talk through some of these questions, to dig in deeper and give the people watching at home a sense of what we mean when we see and say that Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy.

Let's start with the simple but important question of who is the enemy or, more importantly, who does Donald Trump see as an enemy?

In multiple speeches, it is very clear that Donald Trump sees many of his fellow Americans--your friends, your neighbors, you--as the enemy. He calls them ``the enemy within.'' It is an absurd thing. It is an insane thing. It is something you might just write off as rhetoric, but it is not. You know it is not because of something called NSPM-7. ``NSPM'' means ``national security Presidential memorandum.'' This one is entitled ``Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.'' In short, what this allows the President to do is basically declare that anyone or any group who opposes the President's agenda can be declared a domestic terrorist organization.

It directs multiple government Agencies--from the Department of Justice, to Treasury, to Homeland Security--to take broad, sweeping actions to disband and uproot basically any entity it decides they can label as opposing the President. Some of these entities are think tanks and advocacy groups.

But that is just politics. That is civil discourse, and that is how we are supposed to communicate our differences, these groups that are standing up and speaking out against the President's policies. That is what we in this country should be allowed to do in raising our free speech.

So, again, who are the enemies? To Donald Trump and this administration, they say it is you. So if you are the enemy, what about the entity that exists to confront and deter our enemies--the military? Which brings me to a second question: What is the military's role in confronting enemies? Let's start with what the military's role should be in protecting Americans.

I have had the opportunity to work alongside our military during my career in national security, whether that was out in Afghanistan or at the Pentagon or at the White House. These are some of the best of us as Americans. They have chosen not just to serve but to put themselves in harm's way to protect our country and our way of life.

But that is not what Donald Trump sees as the military. Look at the current deployment of the National Guard troops. What we see here in DC or in Chicago or in the Senator's home State of Oregon is our National Guard, our servicemembers, used as political props to produce TV content for President Trump. In all of these cases, the servicemembers were deployed against perceived Democratic areas to clearly punish his political enemies.

So if this is a President who is going to try to get away with everything, that leaves us to a pretty scary question: What lengths will this President go to take actions against his declared enemies? The answer seems to be, incredibly great lengths.

We see that right now to our south in the Caribbean. Before I dig in here, let's pause for a moment and make one thing clear. Drug traffickers and gangs driven through the drug trade are enemies. These are entities and people who do harm to Americans. The American people are not the enemies.

Even when looking at how we address these threats from traffickers and gang members, there are laws that ensure that those efforts can't be turned against you. But that is exactly what we saw last month when a Black Hawk helicopter was used to transport and deploy Federal agents to Chicago.

According to a report by the New York Times, agents, led by the U.S Border Patrol, pulled dozens of American citizens from their apartments in the middle of the night, pointing guns at sleeping men and women before zip-tying them and taking them outside. I never thought that I would see these actions here at home, and it terrifies not just me but so many people within my home State and I know around this country.

If that is what Donald Trump wants--total power to target the government's greatest resources against his enemies--then that begs yet another question: What is the President's end goal? I think that is pretty clear. His end goal is your silence, your fealty, your submission, making you so afraid to stand up or speak out.

So, Senator Merkley, thank you again for holding the floor tonight as a reminder that our democracy is under attack. It is a good reminder because democracy isn't just your voice and your vote; it is your right to stand up and not be silenced, your right to have your rights not threatened or intimidated by the same military that is supposed to protect you.

So as I was thinking about the words that you were saying but also this incredible act that you are taking tonight to be able to focus the American people's attention upon the challenges and threats that we face, I wanted to ask you a question--one that sums up the totality of what I was going through about just this meditation on the word ``enemy'' being used against our fellow Americans.

So I ask you, Senator, what must we do to restore our democracy in this moment? What can we do to give power back to the people? How can I try to assure my constituents--the people in New Jersey--that our democracy is not slipping away?

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Mr. KIM. I thank the Senator for his answer. I thank you for what you are doing in standing up right now and shining a light on this in this incredibly dark time, especially as your own constituents are fearful about what comes next.

I think now, more than ever, it is important for us to be honest with the American people about the true state of the fragility that reminds us that we cannot take this for granted. And I think your work right now, being able to draw that attention, is all-important.

So, again, I am grateful for your time and continue to urge you to use your voice right now to speak out and continue to do so with strength.

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