In one of several responses to the SOTU address—including an official Democratic rebuttal from newly elected Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger—Lee says she plans to use her remarks on behalf of the Working Families Party to go to the heart of the matters facing this country. Well aware of the violent chaos that resulted from the administration’s decision to surge masked and armed ICE agents into Minneapolis, Chicago, and other cities, and equally aware of threats from the administration and its allies to employ even more chaotic strategies as the 2026 election season proceeds, Lee, a progressive member of the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Education and the Workforce, says that mounting concerns about Trump’s autocratic approach “can’t go unaddressed because we are in a moment of authoritarianism.” “Even before we get to what ICE has been doing in Chicago and Minnesota, the things that [Trump] has been doing are scary to those who have paid attention.” She points to “The cuts at the NIH.… The cuts to USAID, at a time where diplomacy is so important.
Author: John Nichols
Published at: 2026-02-24 00:00:00
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