Sen. Jeff Merkley Delivers Nearly 23-Hour Anti-Trump Speech

As I’ve written previously, MAGA supporters call it “Trump Derangement Syndrome” when we say President Donald Trump has been running an authoritarian regime in his second term, but the true TDS is people watching Trump consistently embody all that is federal government overreach, and simply ignoring the facts because they love their MAGA messiah so much.

On Wednesday, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) spoke on the Senate floor for nearly 23 hours, marking the third-longest Senate floor speech in modern history behind Sen. Cory Booker, who, in April, took the floor for 25 hours in protest of Trump’s policies, and Sen. Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, because — what you mean America can’t be legally racist anymore?

According to Politico, Merkley began speaking at 6:21 p.m. on Tuesday and stood down at 5 p.m. on Wednesday with a departing message for Americans to “keep fighting.” He spoke for a total of 22 hours and 36 minutes.

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“I’ve come to the Senate floor tonight to ring the alarm bells. We’re in the most perilous moment, the biggest threat to our republic since the Civil War. President Trump is shredding our Constitution,” the Oregon Democrat said.

Merkley talked about an array of polices and demands put forth by the Trump administration that indicate Trump truly believes he’s the dictator and king he swears he’s not. He talked about the Trump administration’s halting of research grants and other congressionally approved funding for universities, as the president continues his agenda to overhaul the entire education system with a MAGA makeover. He spoke on Trump weaponizing the Department of Justice to take revenge on his political rivals, such as New York Attorney General Letitia James. Merkley even touched on Trump’s policies that allow his administration to designate anyone who opposes him ideologically as a terrorist, or part of a terrorist organization like Antifa, which the facts have shown over and over again is not an actual organization at all.

Merkley also went in on Trump for telling observable lies about Portland, Oregon, being a “war-ravaged” hellscape where ICE agents are “under siege.”

“President Trump wants us to believe that Portland, Oregon, in my home state, is full of chaos and riots. Because if he can say to the American people that there are riots, he can say there’s a rebellion. And if there’s a rebellion, he can use that to strengthen his authoritarian grip on our nation,” he said.

You kinda have to give it to Merkley. I mean, Booker, as a 56-year-old man, certainly deserves to be commended for being able to stay on his feet for more than a full 24-hour day.

Merkley turns 69 on Friday. Every joint in his body is probably still cussing him smooth out right now.

From CNN:

Shortly after his remarks came to an end, Merkley told CNN’s Manu Raju that he almost fainted at one point and noted that he had been dehydrating himself since Monday morning.

“It is about dehydration. My last sip of anything — well, I might have had a micro-sip – was breakfast on Monday morning on the plane. That was my last food too. And I wasn’t really sure that was going to work out, and I said, ‘I hope I’m not fasting for no reason.’ I love to eat,” said Merkley, later adding that he had a slice of pizza just off the floor.

He said “there was one moment” where he thought he might faint, and noted that he had injured his back while running a few weeks ago. “My back hurt the whole damn time,” said Merkley.

You know that man got some good sleep when he got home. Somebody should go check on him, honestly.

Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley Delivers Nearly 23-Hour Speech Blasting Trump Administration’s ‘Authoritarian Control’  was originally published on newsone.com