By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
NEWPORT – As the crowd filtered into the commons area of Oregon Coast Community College for a political town hall Saturday, President Donald Trump was announcing tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China.
As the audience of 450 waited for two Oregon Democrats — Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep Val Hoyle – to begin an hourlong Q-and-A, the Trump administration was sealing a deal to deport thousands of immigrants back to Venezuela.
And as Merkley and Hoyle answered questions – each one about Trump’s first two weeks in office — Elon Musk’s deputies were combing through a sensitive Treasury Department computer system responsible for trillions of dollars in U.S. government payments.
The three-term senator and two-term congresswoman did not hold back their opinions Saturday about the Trump administration, using words like “Facist” and “Imperial Presidency” to a mostly gray-haired audience and local government officials worried about federal jobs, grants, immigration and the impact of Trump’s executive orders on everything from schools to research labs.
“Do not crawl under your couch in a fetal position,” Merkley implored as a reaction to the torrent of Trump administration edicts and orders. “We can’t be so cynical, so exhausted that we give up.”
The town hall at Oregon Coast Community College was the first of three Merkley and Hoyle conducted Saturday in Newport, Philomath and Albany and the first since Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20. The Philomath event drew 500 people, according to Philomath News. Merkley held two more town halls Sunday in Salem and Eugene.
The turnout in Newport was the largest of any congressional town hall that anyone could remember and filled the college’s Commons area to overflowing. But it was hardly a surprise that so many people turned out to a meeting organized by two progressive Democrats. Lincoln County’s population is heavily influenced by retirees and is the rare rural coastal county where voters have favored Democrats running for president for the last seven general elections dating back to 2000.
In an interview with YachatsNews before the town hall, Merkley and Hoyle said the stark differences in Trump’s second term were evidenced in his inauguration speech.
“What was clear was the difference in tone,” Merkley said. “There was no talk of working with Congress to implement his agenda. It was all about his presidency and executive orders … and it has been a fire hose of orders since.”
In the interview and again during the town hall, Merkley, the senior Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, targeted Trump’s nomination of Russell Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget – even spelling out the nominee’s last name so people could look him up.
The OMB was the agency that last week ordered the sweeping freeze of federal assistance, followed by the whiplash two days later rescinding the order.
Merkley said Vought visited his office before his first confirmation hearing Jan. 22 to declare that the administration “can do whatever it wants” via executive orders and acknowledged that it would eventually take the Supreme Court to decide many of them.
“They’re all scary,” Merkley said. “But the scariest of all is Russell Vought.”
Hoyle told YachatsNews that there are moderate Republicans in the House who oppose some of the Trump administration’s initial orders, but are threatened by primary re-election challenges if they cross the president or the billionaire Musk.
“They’ve been planning for four years to take over government and replace them with unqualified lackeys,” Hoyle said. “But that is by design. They want to break the government.”
Litany of objections
On specific topics, Merkley and Hoyle said:
- Oregon is a sanctuary state and local law enforcement agencies are prohibited from aiding potential immigration roundups by federal law enforcement agencies;
- The U.S. Transportation Department is proposing limiting its grants to states which agree to cooperate on immigration arrests and a more puzzling order giving preference to communities with marriage and birthrates higher than the national average;
- Hoyle said the 2025 Oregon Legislature should consider holding back extra money to help fill monetary gaps if or when the federal government slows funds to the state, especially for education;
- Merkley objected to a House-passed measure that bans transgender girls and women from competing on school sports teams that match their gender identity, saying it should be an issue determined by individual states and their sports governing bodies. “Let’s get the federal government out of the exam room,” he said.
- The gap between the wealthy and middle class is growing, Merkley said, “…and each tax proposal that Trump puts forward will make it worse. The Trump tax cuts are the next big challenge.”
Hoyle said the next two years will be difficult for progressive Democrats and “blue” states like Oregon.
“We’re not in the majority,” she said of House Democrats. “There’s limited things we can do to impact the Trump administration. But the public will need to stand up and change the House in two years.”
On Saturday, both Merkley and Hoyle time and again urged people to fight back if they object to the Trump administration’s policies.
Hoyle said it was only the major public and local government pushback on the OMB’s freezing of federal grants last week that resulted in its reversal.
“They’re bypassing Congress in so many ways … but people pushed back,” she said. “The Trump administration lost their first major effort to take over the federal government. Your voice matters.”
- Quinton Smith is the editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com
The only way to stop this attack on the American people is to just have a peaceful stay-at-home protest. just shut America down don’t spend a dime on anything. We can not have street protests because Trump will declare martial law and call in the military to be on our streets and in our cities. We the people are the only ones that can stop this attack that 77 million of our fellow citizens have bestowed upon all of us. Shut America down
Shutting America down is exactly what Trump and Project 2025 implementers are trying to do. I don’t think we should do it for them. I do think boycotting companies/entities owned by MAGA supporting billionaires e.g. Amazon, X, SpaceX, Meta even Apple may help them grow a backbone to stand up to the bully. We, the people, do have the power to stop him. What I want to know, is how much is Congress going to allow Trump to do before shutting him down?
Does it help to send an email and if so, to who? If your unable to do anything, such as stop any of this craziness and all your suggesting for us is staying home, it doesn’t sound like enough.
All of your reps and senators such as Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden and your reps that are in your district. It’s better to call though as that has the most benefits.
I used a handy website to call my reps and senators yesterday. However, some of their phone lines were busy…. People are definitely making the effort.
https://5calls.org/
Yes, email or phone or mail your congressional representatives and demand that they act to stop trump’s illegal acts. Keep the pressure on! Trump is known to roll over when faced with strong resistance.
Go to https://www.congress.gov/ and in the right hand column is “Contact your Member,” it’ll tell you who your reps are and how to reach them.
Resist!
Yes, sometimes it’s easier to call or send a letter as most congressional reps have you send a message by going on their website. But the online Oregon Blue Book has contact info for every Oregon representative and senator. Go online to: https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Pages/national-representatives.aspx
A national strike. I agree that is a good plan. If only Americans could be as committed to the idea as some places in Europe have been in years past.
We the people voted for Trump.
I will not attend these meetings. I am supporting President Trump.
May I ask how you think his presidency will affect your life and the lives of your neighbors and the people in this country?
That is a reckless action unless you have millions or billions to spend.
Voters did not fall for all that “fascist” and “threat to democracy” rhetoric. Democrats did badly in the election because of their disastrous and frankly insane policies. Subverting our justice system by trying to destroy and imprison your political opponents while claiming to be the defenders of democracy is just an insult to people’s intelligence.
Elections have consequences someone once said and your chickens have come home to roost.
Trump broke the law, was impeached, convicted of fraud, etcetera. It took a special gyration by the Supreme Court to say such acts were Presidential and therefore legal to keep Trump out of prison. Egg prices have continued to soar, hope you’re counting.
Yes, and it took special council Robert Hur to excuse Biden for the “mishandling of classified documents” (same thing Trump was convicted of) and criminal charges partly due to his “questionable memory” and likelihood he would appear. before a jury as a sympathetic elderly man with a poor memory. Clinton also escaped prosecution for his several sexual misconduct accusations and was saved from impeachment when he was acquitted by the senate. So why Trump? Why Bragg’s all out juggernaut so intent on prosecuting and convicting him before a presidential election and republican convention? Doesn’t look innocent and it backfired. Oh, and those egg prices? You have heard of the bird flu epidemic causing millions of chickens to be euthanized, correct?
Trump is trying to destroy the Dept. of Education, OPM, USAID and many more. People are losing their jobs. It’s going to be a blood bath. Keep watching to see what you voted for.
do you not feel that they are your chickens, too, coming home to roost? How are you feeling about the developments in the last two weeks? Do you support an unelected immigrant taking over the Treasury department and all of the Americans’ information being loaded on to hard drives to go -where? How do you feel about all the inspector generals being fired? About all civilian government workers being fired? About unqualified and inexperienced people being put into the cabinet? About leaving the WHO, NATO, wanting to take Greenland ? I do wonder how supporters of this administration come to the conclusion these and other planned actions will make America great?
Bless you
Well the document case were not quite the same, not the documents, or the respondents response; they were no where close. You can put Biden, Obama, and both Clinton’s opposite Trump on the teeter totter of both-siderism and David Dennison’s feet would literally be on the ground.
I am not falling for it, I agree with you and I’m just shaking my head at how a big lesson has not been learned by the democrats.
Totally agree with Anne. The only way to hurt those enablers is with the bottom line. She failed to mention Tesla. Anybody who buys one of his vehicles is basically funding Trump and the rest of the robber barons.
M.D. and Michael Campbell~ are you ready to receive your aging and dependent relatives into your home if their Social Security income and medical benefits are compromised? Or are you willing to let them go homeless and defenseless at a time when there is no place to be homeless?
Trump had a long list of civil suits and criminal actions long before he ran for office. If you are a reasonable person, you can’t ignore that he really is a criminal and has caused harm.
Oh, and btw, I could provide you with hundreds of examples of truly horrific assaults, murders, rapes, and child abuse committed by white American citizens against other white American citizens. Will these criminals have their citizenship revoked and be deported, too? I can understand the need to apprehend those who are here illegally, but I have concern that innocent American citizens who do not have lily-white skin will be wrongfully harassed and caught in the frenzied round-up.
Deported to where? Unfortunately criminals that are American citizens are our problem, those criminals who are here as undocumented are not and are deportable back to where they are citizens. And shouldn’t it be American citizens committing “truly horrific” crimes committed against other American citizens? Are American citizen crimes “truly” horrific while those committed by the undocumented are “falsely horrific”, and not nearly as severe, ugly, traumatizing and life changing for the victim? And BTW, “lily white skin”, would you use a similar term to describe a characteristic of another race? I think not. I hope not.
Hm. American citizens of which nationalities-ethnicities will be swept up in this new twist? Deporting American citizens to El Salvador, a country known for making people disappear? and btw, when one registers a gun, when they ask “race,” “white” is one choice.
[2025-02-04 Headline:] Trump says he’d deport US citizens convicted of crimes ‘in a heartbeat’ if legal
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/marco-rubio-el-salvadors-president-agrees-house-us/story?id=118433524
“White” is one thing, but I was clearly making a statement about the use of “lily white skin” which has been used as a term attached to white supremacy beliefs and racism. Therefore, it can be taken as derogatory and not as innocent as the term would seem. BTW, my statement had nothing to do with guns or deporting American citizen criminals of different ethnicities. I clearly stated who was deportable and who was not but I appreciate your thoughts.
The continued drama and hysteria from the left is tiring. Biden bypassed congress several times (forgiving billions in student loans anyone? Arms to Israel?) and often used “executive orders”, just like every president has, to move his agenda forward. I guess when it’s a republican though it’s a “takeover”. I do not appreciate a party of hysteria, I would appreciate a party that should have learned a lesson from the last election and done some soul searching on what matters to all Americans as shown by how and why they voted for Trump. We will survive Trump as we just survived one of the most unpopular presidents in history, but keep fear mongering and not changing your direction democrats and the next presidential election will again not go your way. I think at this point we are all looking for a president who will truly unite us and listen to all the citizens they are serving.
Bush II’s Second-term average: 37, Biden’s rating at the end of his term: 40%, and that’s despite the huge bump Bush II got after 09/11, and the usual bump in increase by initiating two (“off budget”) military invasions, each of which lasted for years, and that “reconstruction” of Iraq that wasn’t–but alot of money was spent (contrary to Cheney’s claim that “Iraq –or its oil– would pay all the costs of its construction. Just like Trump claimed he’d decrease the deficit in his first term–but didn’t. Probably his proposed tax cut for the wealthy will increase it even more.
Just like Biden said he would unify the nation, he didn’t. Just like his wild spending fueled inflation and greatly hurt most of America. Just like Biden opened the borders to mass migration that fed the cartels and has added millions of people to the country who were waved in with not much more than a paper with a court date. Some polls had Biden’s final approval rating at 36%, but I won’t quibble, he still had of the lowest approval ratings. And I will throw in the great deception to the American public concerning Biden’s failing age related cognitive abilities by his party and the media and than throwing him under the bus when it could all no longer be denied. What a mess. We will never agree on Biden vs Trump and that’s okay. Best of luck to you in the next election, pick a better candidate and direction next time.
Ah the great deception… The D’s replaced the top of the ticket while the R’s voted in an adjudicated criminal whose astute cognitive abilities knowingly blamed a whole of of wrong bodies for a air collision.
It’s just one minor action but I canceled my Amazon subscription after 7 years even though I really depend on it for getting a lot of things I can’t purchase locally. But I’m tired of Jeff Bezos kissing the convicted felon’s rear end. I’m willing to pay shipping charges elsewhere just to avoid doing business with Amazon.
As for Saturday’s town hall, it didn’t solve anything, but it sure made me feel better seeing the turnout of 400 to 500 mostly like-minded people.
Don’t you all hear yourselves? Trump is winning yet again. He is dividing and conquering.
I cannot believe that Merkley and the Democratic Party want girls to compete in sports against genetic “former” men. This is not fairness. Women have struggled for fairness for centuries and now the Democratic Party wants to throw that away. Shame! This is crazy. How can anyone think this is a good idea? This goes too far. I can’t in good faith support anyone who believes this is a good idea. Does anyone remember Lia Thomas? Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas will not be allowed to compete in the Olympics. It is sad that the political parties have designed themselves to be diametrically opposed to each other.
RIF
You do not understand the issue. Lia Thomas and cases like that of top class athletes are not the issue. Each sports association should figure out its own rules and guidelines. The issue is little kids in school who are transgender and who should not be subject to genital checks at the schoolhouse door.
Before I moved home to Oregon to retire, I lived in Utah and had neighbors with a child four or five when I first met her. She played with other kids in a nearby open area, had long blonde hair and wore dresses. Only later did I found out she was born a boy but from a young age had wanted to have long hair and wear dresses and clearly identified as a girl at an age far too young for it to be a conscious decision. As she went through grade school, none of her classmates or their parents had any idea she was born male. She played grade school sports with other girls and no one knew the better. It’s only a problem if you make it a problem which is the whole point of Trump and crew trying to harness despicable bigotry against these innocent children.
I grew up in a secular Jewish home under parents who taught us to always champion the underdog. I think the current hateful campaign of bigotry against transgender kids and adults is despicable beyond belief and I wish people who are falling for it would realize they are being manipulated into hateful behavior against other human beings who have done absolutely nothing wrong other than being born different than the norm.
Merkley and Hoyle are my kind of democrats. Instead of introspection following their electoral defeat they are digging in and doubling down on insane policies that are deeply unpopular with the American people. Merkley and Hoyle are just the type of leftist politicians who guarantee democrats will keep losing elections. Keep up the good work.
The majority has spoken by voting for Trump and his winning tells that citizens are fed up with the Biden administration ruining our country. Trump isn’t perfect, but he’s trying to restore sanity and what America was founded on. Stop wasteful spending by the previous party. If you want to live in any country, you should obey the laws andlive there legally. It should be common sense, but that has been lost due to all the laws being broken for the last four years. Non-citizens think they have a right to be in the U.S. because they were allowed to walk in freely. Now they are acting like victims since Trump is reinstating the law. And under Biden, our tax money was being spent to support them while living in the U.S.