“Donald Trump knows that fear is contagious, but what we know is that courage is also contagious and it is catching up,” U.S. Rep. Jason Crow told participants in the “Together for Democracy” conference Jan. 29.
Crow, a Democrat and Army veteran from Colorado, was a keynote speaker on the closing day of the event sponsored by Democracy Forward. He spoke plainly about what he sees as the threat to democracy posed by the Trump administration. And he insisted the path to redemption will require a long-term vision.
Donald Trump and White House adviser Stephen Miller did not anticipate the reaction they would face from the people of Minnesota, Crow said, referencing the last month of aggressive ICE roundups, the murders of two nonviolent protesters and tens of thousands of people marching in the streets.
“People are preparing to resist, and this administration I think has bit off more than they can chew.”
“Folks are stepping up, and they’re being bold,” he said. “They’re looking at the example of the people of Minnesota. They’re preparing. … This is catching fire around the country. People are preparing to resist, and this administration I think has bit off more than they can chew.”
In a dialogue with Jodie Morse, chief program and strategy officer at Democracy Forward, Crow said those who oppose Trump’s actions must understand there will be no deescalation of the harsh tactics seen in Minnesota. For example, replacing Greg Bovino as head of the Customs and Border Patrol invasion with Border Czar Tom Homan is not a deescalation.
“They only step back temporarily to try to regain control of the narrative through their footing and hope people move on to something else. What they’re trying to do cycles between where they do something horrible and egregious and then there’s a big response and they try to pull back, create some space, and then they go at it again. So we’re taking a long view here.”
Federal agents murdering Renee Good and Alex Pretti “is a feature, not a bug of the system this administration has designed” he said. “It was designed to do this. … Stephen Miller … has a white nationalist vision for this country and he’s pursuing that. I think Donald Trump’s motivations are different. I think for him it’s less about immigration enforcement and more about power and domination and submission. He has created this force in ICE and CBP for the purpose of getting communities to submit and dominating them quickly and fiercely.”
The good news, he said, is that Trump “didn’t expect Minneapolis to respond the way they did. This, in my view, is a turning point for the good. … They’re standing up with great personal courage and resiliency and they’re filming and they’re taking pictures and they’re holding the line literally. They’re bearing witness to this. They’re protecting their neighbors. They are not being cowered by this administration.”
Crow cited former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s description of the administration creating chaos intentionally and “flooding the zone” with aggressive actions.
“That is their strategy,” Crow said. “You just throw everything out there, you overwhelm your adversary, you overwhelm the opponent because when your goal is chaos, which their goal is, is to create chaos because within chaos, truth becomes murky. Facts become murky. Opposition capitulates. You don’t know where to fight, how to fight. People get tired. That is their goal.”
“We just do not have the luxury being tired and deciding not to fight the battle.”
His goal, however, “is to build and to create a cohesive response.”
“I know it can be tiring,” he confessed. “I know it can be a lot. We just do not have the luxury of being tired and deciding not to fight the battle because when we start ceding ground, that’s where they start winning.”
Last November, Trump accused Crow and five other lawmakers of “seditious behavior” he said “punishable by death.” Trump’s threat followed a video released by the lawmakers — all veterans or intelligence officials — advising service members to refuse illegal orders from the incoming administration.
That video was not sensational, Crow said. “The only thing sensational is that Donald Trump doesn’t like people telling him he can’t do something. So his response, of course, was (we) should be arrested, tried for treason and executed. That was his response, threaten me with execution for treason. … He knows exactly what he’s saying when he says those things and puts it on Truth Social. … He wants to get people threatened and afraid. The whole point is intimidation.
Crow said he will not be intimidated by Trump. And he’s “taking names” of Trump’s co-conspirators.
“I’m making sure if there are people who are murdering, brutalizing, violating the law and Constitution in this administration, they must never work at a reputable place again. Right? If lawyers are violating their ethical obligations and violating the law and Constitution and they think they’re going to be protected, well, again, I’m taking names.
“People think the path toward restoration and repair for our country involves sweeping things under the rug and just moving forward. History does not show that any society that has been through what we’re going through and about to go through has repaired itself absent accountability.”
Despite predicting more aggression from the Trump administration, Crow said he believes the nation is at a turning point today.
“Not everybody’s going to lead, but there are a lot of people who will follow if other folks jump in. … What we’re seeing is I think a pivot point right now, and the more people we have who are jumping in, the more people who are following. We’re building momentum.”
America remains in “great danger,” he said, “but there is a path through that danger and it’s our job to help chart that path through the danger.”
What must come next, he said, is “a reawakening and another enlightenment for our nation.”