Jeff Merkley

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley on Thursday decried “the entrenchment of an authoritarian state” in this country and urged Oregonians to continue to push back on the Trump administration through protesting and voting.

“When things are in crisis, we can stick a pillow over our head and lay on the couch and hope it gets better. Or we can join an affinity group that shares our values,” Merkley told a crowd of several hundred people at the East Portland Community Center. “I’m encouraging everyone to get engaged because that is the way we’re going to save our republic. And that is our mission as citizens.”

Fears about the future of U.S. democracy, the security of upcoming elections and threats to free speech dominated Merkley’s east Portland town hall, where attendees also criticized the senator’s fellow Democrats for failing to hold President Donald Trump more accountable.

Before the Portland event, one of Merkley’s three town halls Thursday, with the others held in Springfield and Medford, attendees used colored stickers to rank the issues they most wanted to discuss. The top concerns were all focused on the Trump presidency and included free speech, the ethics of Supreme Court justices and how the president has profited from elected office.

Several attendees cast those issues as part of a broader threat to democratic institutions.

“Silencing free speech is the most egregious issue of all,” resident Lee Herskowitz told Merkley. “When you silence your opponents, you turn us into a banana republic. I see all these countries across the world that we look down upon because they’re run by despots. Silencing free speech is just the first step of a bad process.”

Attendees also strongly criticized Democrats, Congress and federal prosecutors under President Joe Biden for failing to act to keep Trump and his administration accountable through prosecutions, ethics reforms and other measures. One called the Democratic party “feckless” while others expressed skepticism that proposed reforms would make a difference.

Harvey Clawson, a local resident who uses the community center gym every day, said he’s deeply concerned about the disappearance of checks and balances.

“They’re anti-science, they’re anti-democracy, and everything we thought we had as checks and balances seems to be collapsing around us,” Clawson told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “Congress isn’t holding the president accountable. Congress isn’t holding the courts accountable. The Supreme Court can run rampant with corruption. We don’t have any of the things we thought we were guaranteed by the Constitution.”

Concerns about the upcoming election were also front and center, with attendees saying they were frightened Trump’s mail-in voting executive order could upend voting in Oregon.

Merkley and U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Portland, who also attended the town hall, sought to reassure attendees, arguing that states retain authority over elections and that Oregon officials are preparing contingency plans to ensure ballots are counted.

“The Oregon Secretary of State is very clear that they have a plan B and a plan C, and we will be ready to get ballots out to people and to make sure that your voices are heard,” Dexter said.

Merkley also named several solutions Congress and the Democratic Party should focus on in the near term to prevent the president and top officials from profiting off their positions. Those include strengthening penalties in a clause of the Constitution that is intended to prohibit federal officials from profiting from foreign governments or to prevent the president from receiving certain financial benefits while in office.

He suggested banning elected officials and top executive branch officials from trading stocks, including by regulating and limiting prediction markets so officials cannot profit from inside knowledge or political outcomes. Merkley also said the party should work on creating stronger penalties for conflict-of-interest transactions and bribery involving public officials. Both ideas got loud applause from the crowd.

The lawmakers also discussed broader reforms, including Supreme Court ethics rules and term limits, greater disclosure of political spending and limits on dark money and a more independent Justice Department.

Southeast Portland resident Marta Muñoz said discussions about democratic institutions and corruption ultimately come back to how the government serves ordinary people.

“I am an immigrant. I walk with my identification on my back,” Munoz said. “And I care for the people that I see struggling on the streets, living on the sidewalks. Housing is important, safety is important, the economy is important. It’s all interconnected.”