Senator Jeff Merkley delivers marathon speech on Senate floor to protest Trump policies

Washington- Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, began delivering a marathon speech on the Senate floor Tuesday night, speaking into the night and into Wednesday morning to protest President Trump’s policies.

Merkley, 68, began speaking Tuesday at 6:21 p.m. and denounced the Trump administration throughout the night for its deportation efforts, the rollback of federal programs, the so-called militarization of the Justice Department and its efforts to send the National Guard to U.S. cities, including Portland, Oregon.

“I came to the Senate this evening to sound the alarm,” Merkley said at the start of his speech. “We are living in the most perilous moment, the greatest threat to our republic since the Civil War. President Trump is destroying our Constitution.”

New Jersey Senators Andy Kim and Cory Booker, as well as Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, Minnesota Senator Tina Smith, Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, took turns asking Merkley questions detailed Tuesday and Wednesday morning, giving him brief breaks.

Portland, which Merkley represents, has been the target of Mr. Trump’s ire for years and was at the center of attention again last month, when the president ordered the Defense Department to coordinate the deployment of National Guard troops to the city. On Monday, a federal appeals court cleared the way for the administration to federalize and deploy members of the Oregon National Guard to Portland while a legal challenge moves forward.

“President Trump wants us to believe that Portland, Oregon, in my home state, is full of chaos and riots, because if he can tell the American people there are riots, he can say there is a rebellion,” Merkley said. “And if there is a rebellion, he can use it to strengthen his authoritarian grip on our nation. Pretend there are riots, or even try to provoke violence, and tighten his authoritarian grip.”

Merkley said Portlanders weren’t “taking the bait.” Instead, he added, “they demonstrate with joy and fantasy.”

“They want to send a message to the world that what Trump is saying about violent protests or a rebellion in Portland is simply not true,” he added.

Merkley’s marathon speech comes after Booker delivered a record speech in the Senate earlier this year, for more than 25 hours. The speech was also given to protest the Trump administration’s policies. In 2017, Merkley gave one of the longest speeches on record in the Senate when he spoke for more than 15 hours opposing the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.