Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn) said he thinks President Trump is trying to turn the country into “very close to a totalitarian state.”
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” outspoken Trump critics expressed concern that the ongoing government shutdown has allowed Trump to exercise more “king-like powers” and make decisions that should belong to Congress.
“I think one of the reasons President Trump is refusing to negotiate is because he likes the fact that the government is shut down,” Murphy said.
“I mean, this is a leader who is trying to move our government much closer from a democracy to a totalitarian state. And so that’s part of what happens in totalitarian states,” Murphy said. “The leader, the regime alone, decides what to fund and what not to fund, often in coordination with his oligarch friends.”
Murphy rejected the idea that Trump cares more than Democrats about paying the U.S. military, simply because the government get An anonymous donation of $130 million to cover troops’ salaries, which some lawmakers and experts say raises legal concerns.
Murphy said, “I don’t want to live in a world where Donald Trump and a handful of billionaires decide which part of the government works and which part doesn’t, which is why I’m calling them to the table tomorrow, so we can reopen the government and it can be the democratically elected Congress that decides what things get funded, not a handful of ultra-rich people.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
