U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin said Tuesday the country needs responsible changes and should be an engaged leader in an interconnected world, as she gave the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.
Slotkin said prices for things such as groceries, housing and health care need to come down and that Trump does not have a credible plan to address them.
She said Trump’s economic policies are going to make Americans “pay in every part” of their lives, including tariffs and trade wars, a rising national debt and a potential recession.
“President Trump is trying to deliver an unprecedented giveaway to his billionaire friends,” Slotkin said.
She also cited multibillionaire businessman Elon Musk, who under Trump is heading up the Department of Government Efficiency, highlighting concerns about widespread layoffs of federal workers and access his team has to Americans’ data.
“We need a more efficient government. You want to cut waste, I’ll help you do it. But change does not need to be chaotic or make us less safe,” Slotkin said.
She also spoke about the heated White House meeting last week during which Trump berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for being “disrespectful.”
Slotkin said the meeting summed up Trump’s approach to the world.
“He believes in cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends like the Canadians in the teeth,” she said. “He sees American leadership as merely a series of real estate transactions.”
Slotkin said American democracy has been the aspiration of the world, and that right now it is at risk.
Trump is seeking to carry out an “America First” foreign policy, which has included orders to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization, and to slash the work of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Slotkin said she would rather have the United States as a world leader than Russia or China.
“Donald Trump’s actions suggest that in his heart he doesn’t believe that we’re an exceptional nation. He clearly doesn’t think we should lead the world,” she said.
