Mayor Harrell struck a more defiant tone in “State of the City” speech today, but was light on specific safeguards.
Monday was Presidents’ Day but thousands of people in Seattle did not appear to be in the mood to celebrate the current president, who they see as usurping democracy and trying to install himself as an above-the-law dictator. Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck attended the protest in Downtown Seattle outside the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building, which houses the Department of Education and Internal Revenue Service — both under attack from Trump Republicans.
“Seeing these early warning signs, I led the charge,” Rinck told the gathered crowd, which exceeded 2,000. “I called for the standing up a committee on Seattle City Council focused on federal administration and policy change. Because we know that the impacts will be robust and profound in this city. We’re seeing them already. Whether you’re a government worker, whether you depend on programs and housing or environmental protections or energy policy — every aspect of life as we know it is under attack. And we need our City engaged. We need our City working on this.”
The Trump administration has sown an incredible amount of chaos and already threatened the basic tenets of democracy in two short months, with a flurry of executive orders and actions unsanctioned by constitutional authority of the executive.
