While heaping praise on Montgomery County Democrats, legislators at the Sheila E. Hixson Breakfast Club lamented both President-Elect Donald Trump’s election and Republican gains throughout the country.
U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, Maryland Sen. Will Smith and Delegates Jheanelle Wilkins and David Moon promised supporters “we will in fact defend Maryland values.”
“We will come through these four years stronger,” vowed Moon during the Sunday morning event at El Golfo Restaurant in Silver Spring. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” he said.
“We got the job done,” Wilkins said, pointing to the apparent victories of Angela Alsobrooks for U.S. Senate and April Delaney for U.S. House of Representatives as well as the enshrining of reproductive rights. Maryland voters supported Vice President Kamala Harris, she noted, adding, “We did all we could do.”
Wilkins told the Democratic party supporters, “We cannot grow weary in doing good. We cannot grow weary and give up. That’s what the other side wants.”
Sen. Smith referred to Trump as a fascist, xenophobic, isolationist and convicted felon. His victory “felt like we were waking up to a country did not have love.”
Cardin, who spent 58 years representing Maryland in state and federal offices and is about to retire, thanked his supporters, stressing, “We delivered. Maryland delivered. There is so much energy in this state.”
He is pleased to turn his seat over to Alsobrooks, admitting he was concerned former Gov. Larry Hogan would win. “It’s always weighed on me,” he noted.
On the national level, Cardin stressed, “We will recover from Donald Trump.”
However, he added, “I think we need to be realistic about it. This election was a disaster.” He called it “a major setback” to so many issues Marylanders care about, including climate control, gun safety and helping immigrants.
Cardin leveled blame on the Harris for President campaign, wishing it had stressed Pres. Joe Biden’s accomplishments including improving the economy, passing the CHIPS Act and placing the blame on Republicans’ lack of support for border control.
“Why would we run away from that record?”
He also blamed Harris’ defeat on a Republican party unafraid to spread lies and conspiratorial theories, adding that one out of three voters questioned the 2020 election integrity. “That’s disinformation,” Cardin said.
If young people learned more history, they would understand what it means to be a global citizen rather than an isolationist, Cardin said. He is concerned that a withdrawal of support for Ukraine will not only make Russia victorious. It also will embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin to overtake more countries.
Many federal workers and institutions in Montgomery County are in danger with Trump’s talk of cutting the federal bureaucracy and politicizing the work force, Cardin said.
However, he added, “I have confidence in the legislative branch of government that they will not just rubber stamp everything Pres. Trump does.” What normally brings Congress against any administration is when they try and take our power. They are pretty protective of Congressional powers, and I am hopeful that we are going to see heroes on the Republican side of Congress to stand up against those type of abuses.”
To some in the audience concerned their immigrant neighbors will be deported, Cardin said there is a lot of support from the business community, churches and even some Republicans not to let that get out of control.
Rather, he predicted, Trump will have some people deported, and then claim “he fixed the problem. If he says it, his supporters will believe him.”
Sheriff Uy, Sen Ben Cardin and Maryland Sen. Will Smith attend Sunday morning's District 20 Sheila Hixson Breakfast Club @mymcmedia pic.twitter.com/di6jqf4ik8
— suzanne pollak (@SuzannePollak) November 10, 2024
