Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley introduced a new resolution condemning authoritarianism in all its forms and opposing the implementation of authoritarian policies in the United States of America.
The resolution continues Merkley’s work to sound the alarm bells over what he has called the “authoritarian slide” both here in the U.S. and around the world. His effort highlights how authoritarian governments—including Russia and Venezuela—have consolidated executive power at the expense of individual freedom. Merkley’s resolution emphasizes that “most modern democracies do not die at the hands of armed militias, but instead at the hands of elected officials who erode the separation of powers to tighten their authoritarian grip.”
“The authoritarian takeover of the United States of America is not around the corner—it is here right now,” said Merkley. “We have all three ingredients for a strongman state: a rubber-stamp Congress doing the President’s bidding, a deferential Supreme Court delivering more and more power to the Executive Branch, and a power-hungry President behaving like a king. Authoritarians are not new—they’ve been following this playbook to weaken democracies around the world, and now, Donald Trump is using this playbook here to dismantle our democratic institutions right before our eyes. We will keep ringing the alarm bells.”
Merkley’s resolution follows his speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate earlier this year to speak directly to the American people and ring the alarm bells about the Trump Administration’s authoritarian takeover of the country. He spoke for 22 hours 37 minutes—the third longest speech in Senate history.
Merkley’s resolution is also cosponsored by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Full text of the resolution can be found by clicking here.
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