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CT Insider – Monday, January 20, 2025
By Alex Putterman and Ken Dixon
Connecticut is prepared to fight President Donald Trump on some of his highest-profile policy promises, Attorney General William Tong said minutes before Trump was inaugurated Monday.
“On any of these major questions — birthright citizenship, federal funding — we’re ready, and we’ve been anticipating this rash of executive orders, and if they prejudice or hurt the state and the people that live here, I’m going to take action,” Tong said. “I know my fellow attorneys general are ready, too.”
It didn’t take long for that fight to begin.
Trump took the oath of office Monday in Washington, then delivered a speech in which he promised to clamp down on the U.S.-Mexico border, end birthright citizenship, declare “male” and “female” as the only two genders, drill aggressively for oil, claim control of the Panama Canal and more. Some of these priorities, Trump said, would be addressed through executive order within the coming hours.
“From this moment on, America’s decline is over,” he said.
Since Trump won election in November, Connecticut’s highest-profile state and federal officeholders, all Democrats, have sought a balance between pledging to work with the new president and vowing to fight him.
By Monday night, as it became clear Trump’s administration would move ahead with plans to try and end birthright citizenship, Tong said he planned to file a lawsuit imminently.
“This is a war on American families waged by a President with zero respect for our Constitution,” Tong said in a statement. “We will sue imminently, and I have every confidence we will win. The 14th Amendment says what it means, and it means what it says—if you are born on American soil, you are an American.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Monday afternoon he’d hoped for a “unifying message” from Trump at his inauguration but instead heard a speech that was “replete with grievances and grandiosity, playing to cultural and political divisions.”
Blumenthal said he was particularly struck by the image of billionaire tech moguls including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg appearing front and center at the inauguration, with better seats than the president’s own cabinet.
“It was a picture of government for sale,” Blumenthal said. “I wish the president well, because his success is America’s success, but I am determined to fight, if necessary, to protect Connecticut and our country.”
What might that fight look like? Blumenthal noted it will fall to Congress to pass elements of Trump’s agenda and to appropriate funds for his initiatives. He called on lawmakers from both parties to oppose the president if he attempts to overreach.
Sen. Chris Murphy said he would seek to build a “massive political campaign all across this country” to oppose Trump’s proposed tax cuts, which would disproportionately benefit the wealthy.
“You’re watching the billionaire takeover of government,” Murphy said. “You’re watching Trump unapologetically put the billionaires front and center as they ask for government handouts and as they get ready to receive another massive tax cut.”
Murphy did not attend the inauguration Monday, saying he chose to stay away after he learned Trump planned to pardon people who participated in riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
State leaders prepare for Trump era
Around the time Trump was being sworn in, Tong and Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas were gathered at the State Capitol for the 38th annual ringing of Connecticut’s replica of the Liberty Bell to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day, where both acknowledged the inauguration’s specter.
“I know many people are filled with trepidation about what the future will bring,” Thomas said. “(King) emphasized the importance of perseverance and a gradual improvement of society.”
Thomas then quoted King’s assertion that “human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable” and that achieving justice “requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle.”
In the coming weeks, Connecticut’s legislature is expected to consider bills that could gird the state against policies Trump may attempt to enact. For example, top lawmakers have suggested strengthening Connecticut’s Trust Act, which limits how much state and local police may cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
Gov. Ned Lamont, one of few Democratic governors to attend Trump’s inauguration Monday, said it was too soon to say how Trump’s initial executive orders might affect Connecticut but said he will be watching “like a hawk.”
Due to cold weather in Washington, the inauguration ceremony was held inside with limited space, which pushed Lamont and many other elected leaders to an overflow room.
Speaking to reporters late Monday afternoon, Tong stressed that for his office to challenge Trump’s orders, the issues must directly affect Connecticut families.
“We don’t yet know exactly what the president has planned for today and the coming days,” Tong said, adding that he had been in contact with other Democratic attorneys general around the country. “We were expecting hundreds of executive orders today. We’ve just a handful right now.”
Tong, who with a small group of staff members from his office were monitoring the day’s developments, said he was particularly concerned about orders related to immigration — including a possible attempt to end birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the constitution — as well as transgender rights.
Trump is reportedly planning a number of measures related to gender identity, generally aimed at curtailing Americans’ ability to identify as transgender or gender nonconforming.
“You heard him talk about gender,” Tong said. “This is about real people who live real lives, and they have jobs, they have housing. If he does anything based on their gender or gender identity to impact their jobs or their housing or their health care, I will not hesitate to act.”
During Trump’s first term, Tong and other attorneys general from blue states sued Trump repeatedly over a number of issues.
“Our job is to keep Connecticut communities safe,” Tong said.
Congressional delegation weighs in
Whereas most Democrats greeted Trump’s election in 2016 with a commitment to “resist,” some in Connecticut and elsewhere have struck a more conciliatory tone this time around.
“I look forward to working with the new administration whenever and wherever possible to lower the cost of living and expand opportunity for the people of eastern Connecticut,” U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney said in a statement Monday. “I am determined to ensure that the new administration supports my work in Congress to continue the recent multi-year investments in education and job training that is critical to expanding shipbuilding and our nation’s defense industrial base.”
Rep. Jahana Hayes issued a similar statement shortly after the inauguration, saying that “as the new Administration takes shape” she is “committed to actively seeking ways to work together on behalf of the American people.”
Other members of the state’s Congressional delegation were somewhat more combative, promising to fight Trump where necessary.
“It’s not the outcome I voted for, but Donald Trump won the votes of 77 million Americans and it is our responsibility as representatives to carry out the people’s will,” Rep. Jim Himes said. “But do not conflate respect for our institution with acquiescence to the dangerous, extreme and, often, illogical whims of the President-elect.”
Himes said he has “grave misgivings” about Trump’s ability “to lead with the respect and integrity” and committed to fight his “attempts to further radicalize and divide this country.”
Rep. John Larson, the top Democrat on the House Social Security subcommittee, emphasized a desire to protect key federal programs.
“It is my sincere hope that we will be able to work with President-elect Trump to get things done for the American people,” he said. “We are, however, a system of checks and balances, and if the Trump agenda moves to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or SNAP benefits, I, and our entire delegation, stand ready to push back and fight for the people of our state and the United States of America.”