Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) expressed frustration with the Democratic Occasion’s response to President Trump’s actions throughout his first few weeks in workplace.
“I don’t think that it’s been very effective, the Dem response, so far. In fact, I’m frustrated by it. If you make everything DEFCON 5, then eventually nothing is DEFCON 5, you know what I mean? And on questions of overreach of constitutional authority, it’s not always so cut and dry,” Golden mentioned throughout an interview with The Washington Submit revealed Friday morning.
“There are some clear precedents of something that’s unconstitutional, right? But in a lot of cases, it’s not exactly self-evident and it takes time and patience and an interest in getting to facts before you can make these types of assertions,” he instructed The Submit. “And I think if you rush right out and just say, like, ‘This is, like, dictatorial or illegal,’ you might end up being wrong, and that undermines your credibility.”
Since taking workplace on Jan. 20, Democrats-at-large haven’t been unified in opposing Trump and the work of his shut allies, together with tech mogul Elon Musk, whose Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) officers have dug into a number of federal businesses, having access to cost programs and persuading employees to depart their positions.
Some have argued the Democrats’ ire must be directed towards Trump and his work, not Musk.
“Why are we so distracted here?” one prime Democratic strategist instructed The Hill. “Our singular focus should be on Trump. Not the shiny object Musk represents. What’s our focus here? Winning back the House in 2026 or pointing at Musk while yelling, ‘You can’t do that!”
Others have mentioned that Musk, proprietor of SpaceX, Tesla and the social platform X, is an effective alternative for forceful pushback since they view him as out-of-touch with common Individuals and their priorities.
“Going after Elon and DOGE isn’t going to solve every problem but it sure is a great place to start,” Democratic strategist Eddie Vale mentioned. “Normal people — and even many MAGA people who like Trump — don’t want a bunch of Elon’s incels looking at their tax returns and messing around with the system that sends them their Social Security checks.”
Golden, who represents Maine’s battleground 2nd District, mentioned he’s not trying to immediately react to Trump’s remarks each day, however extra so assessing the influence of the president’s actions after which “weigh in on whether or not I think he’s been effective or undermined American interests.”
“I’m going to be paying attention to what the president does,” mentioned Golden, who secured his fourth time period in November. “And when it comes to the conflict between Israel and Gaza, what I’m interested in seeing him doing is bringing home the hostages, particularly the remaining American hostages.”
The Maine Democrats sees tariffs and commerce as two areas the place he can work with the present White Home.
“I think there’s obvious opportunity there, particularly because of the president’s views on tariffs, but also because we’ve got [the United States-Mexico-Canada] trade deal coming back up for talks,” he mentioned.
