'Facing a potential onslaught': Dem govs prepare to make states frontline in Trump fight
It isn't a surprise to see governors like Gavin Newsom (D-CA) readying to do battle with Donald Trump — but now even red-state leaders are building up for a fight, Rolling Stone reported Tuesday.
The site reported that the Democratic governor of deep-red Kentucky, Andy Beshear didn't want to fight Trump — in fact, he hoped to work with him on upcoming issues like the Affordable Care Act.
Trump has spent several elections railing against Obamacare and demanding it be repealed and replaced. In Kentucky, however, it's a huge help to the state.
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Voters cast ballots 2-to-1 for Trump in November from Kentucky, but the state also supported Beshear's reelection in 2023. Prior to serving as the governor, Beshear was the attorney general, and he didn't shy away from a legal battle with Trump then.
“I was one of the main plaintiffs defending the Affordable Care Act. That expanded Medicaid, brought health care coverage to 600,000 Kentuckians,” Beshear told Rolling Stone. “So you can bet, if they try to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, I’m going to be on the front lines defending it once again.”
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is also preparing for a new era of Trump, launching a new organization called Governors Safeguarding Democracy. The goal is to unify states against Trump.
The group will be co-chaired by Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who cautioned, “We’re all facing a potential onslaught; let’s pool together so we can share a common response.”
Among those threats from Trump is the idea that Trump will withhold federal funds from states that don't cooperate with his mass deportation plan.
“We won’t cooperate with any federal efforts — especially illegal federal efforts that separate families — to deport hardworking, de facto Americans who’ve been here for decades,” Polis told Rolling Stone.
However, Polis fell into it when he praised Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary.
“That is the kind of appeasement of Trump that’s really dangerous,” said Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin. “It’s bad on its merits — because RFK Jr. is a wackadoodle who is going to do great harm to this country with his anti-science, anti-vax ideas.”
But it’s also bad as a matter of opposition politics, Levin says: “Polis is creating a permission structure for other Democrats who would like to not do hard things.”More than 20 governors are involved in the effort, including big names like former Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA) and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS).
The group is looking into the way states can flex their collective muscle from the federal government. One example is barring access to state driver's license databases, which the federal government can use to track undocumented people.
“Anything from clean air and water to safe medication is potentially under attack now,” said former Newsom aide Julia Spiegel, who serves as the group's administrator. “What are states going to do to create the regulatory infrastructure if the federal government is no longer going to be able to do it? Governors are working together to address these big questions — to make sure their state institutions can protect and provide the things of daily life that matter to people most.”