At a town hall event on Monday, Rep. Gabe Amo (D-RI) spoke about President Trump and what must come from this moment.
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00:00well it's it's always hard to follow these two you know I you know I first
00:12met Senator Reed when I was 18 years old on a trip to Washington DC and looked
00:17around at these buildings in Washington I said maybe I won't get to work here one
00:21day and then a year later got to work on Senator Whitehouse's campaign to be in
00:27the U.S. Senate so I can't go too far without acknowledging the long-term
00:33leadership that they have provided for people throughout Rhode Island
00:42and and while we're on the note of gratitude I just want to thank all of
00:46you filling rooms like these seeing the overflow I went by to say hi before we
00:52got started this is how we make government work yeah we send people to
00:58Washington and we do all the the work of showing up in our elections and
01:03everything in between but it's holding every single one of us accountable that
01:11keeps the system going keeps us focused on our constituent our customer who we work
01:18for that's all of you and I say it very intentionally well in every room that I
01:22am that I work for you and I want you to treat this relationship that way because
01:27that is in fact how we make sure that the service part of public service is always
01:33part of the equation
01:38but I want to acknowledge the fact of the matter that you all many of you are here
01:44because you are worried you are angry you are concerned you have been affected
01:51emotionally personally materially by the scope speed and scale of a president who is not only
02:01aired on the side of lawlessness but has made that his brand and and and I look I get it you should be
02:13frustrated you should be angry and we I know I can speak for the the senators here and and and the
02:22people that I interact with in my life they are frustrated they are seeing the
02:27author of our authoritarian streak having a tough time with that word today
02:32authoritarian streak appear in so many forms whether it's how we treat our allies to how
02:39we treat our how he's treating our fellow citizens you know letting doge run rampant in the social
02:47security administration letting the minority the billionaires dictate what will happen to Medicaid
02:57what will happen to snap when you see over and over and over again the tendency to lean on the side of
03:07control control so that people are you know banging on the doorsteps asking for their basic rights and freedoms
03:17that is something that is scary now I say to you that people feel powerless right now do not fall for that the noise the
03:29distraction the distraction the volume the quantity that is part of the mission to overwhelm us to make us turn on the TV and say you know what I'm turning it right back off
03:43so we have to stay focused we have to remember that we are powerful we are not powerless in this moment and beyond that we have to look for the hope that is our state's model but the hope that is integral to all of those rays of sunshine that we've seen over the past several weeks in the courts where we've seen it or through the work of the Senate I saw both senators
04:12out there with Senator Booker focusing our country on this mission the hope that's in the work to get that money for the Washington Bridge that Senator Whitehouse works so closely with a Republican colleague on to go against the tides of this administration
04:30and the hope that's in all of our communities we have to look out for one another more now than ever a new spirit of volunteerism of concern of care for one another has to emerge from this moment so with that I look forward to your questions but know that you are powerful and your being here tonight is a symbol of that so let's keep fighting