On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said that while pollsters tell them to talk about the economy, “I think people care about democracy. I think people care about stopping a fascist takeover of our country.” And “we have to convince them to be concerned about it if they’re not.”
Smith said, “I still think the bulk of the country, the bulk of Republicans, for that matter, believe in representative democracy and believe in our Constitution. They’ve just deluded themselves toward and in terms of the threat that Trump poses to all of that. And there’s a bunch of different reasons for it, and we’ve talked about it, okay, so they don’t like the Democrats, they don’t like the left. I get that. But you should understand that, even though Trump presents himself as the one standing up against those things, what he really is, is an authoritarian who wants to grab as much power for himself as possible, and that places our entire country at risk. And I think we need to talk about that.”
He continued, “I know the pollsters say, talk about housing, talk about affordability, talk about costs, that’s what people care about, kitchen table issues. I think people care about democracy. I think people care about stopping a fascist takeover of our country. We have to make the case. And, given the threat that you have outlined, we have to convince them to be concerned about it if they’re not.”
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