For Democracy, Slow is Smooth and Smooth is Fast

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has made swift, unorthodox and dramatic moves, testing the executive branch’s power and our system of checks and balances, resulting in significant disruption to government operations and services.

I know that many Mainers are concerned, and have questions about the impact President Trump’s actions will have in our state and our country. I wanted to share with you what my staff and I are doing, and what response I think this moment deserves from elected leaders.

Most of the concerns stem from actions taken by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which have raised questions about privacy, transparency, executive authority and more. Most Americans and Mainers support rooting out wasteful spending, but also expect the government to be accessible, reliable and responsive. But the breakneck pace of disruption and the lack of transparency create a risk that the outcome will be worse service — like when you need to talk to a human, but it’s been replaced with an AI bot that keeps leading you in circles.

My staff and I have been working with constituents for weeks to chase down information about threats to grants awarded to Maine organizations, the status of federal jobs in our state, and more. (If you have been affected by the president’s executive actions or have questions, please get in touch.)

In the meantime, the political response from some of my colleagues in Congress and from liberal media pundits has been as swift and dramatic as the president’s and Musk’s actions — including warnings about an authoritarian takeover.

It is difficult, but in the midst of all this tension, I am urging my fellow Democrats to react thoughtfully and choose our words carefully — not because we don’t take the moment seriously, but because we do.

A look at our past will show that this moment is not without precedent. Nearly all presidents have pushed the limits of their power and many have taken legally questionable actions later blocked by the courts. President Trump’s administration is pushing big political and policy moves, and many of these actions already face legal challenges. Some have already been temporarily blocked, pending review and appeals.

This is a sign the system is working, with the judicial branch mediating legal disputes and making sure that the other branches stay within constitutional guardrails. This process is slow by design. But in response to passionate calls for immediate action from those who oppose President Trump, some Democrats have been tempted to ring the alarm of “constitutional crisis” loudly and frequently.

But in this fraught moment, leaders shouldn’t aim to match the rhetorical pitch of Americans’ worst fears. We should react with discipline to ensure the worst does not come to pass. That requires composure in the face of chaos. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.

Everyone knows the story of the boy who cried wolf. The point of that folktale is not that danger didn’t exist. Everyone knew it did, and they had the means to protect themselves. But overcome by fear, the boy sounded the alarm daily and when the wolf finally came, no one believed him.

Stopping a potential constitutional crisis will require a majority of Americans to stand up and act. But will a majority take us seriously if we have been calling the president a “dictator” while courts and the Congress retain authority to constrain him? What happens to our credibility if at every turn we accuse the president of breaking the law, including in cases where reasonable jurists disagree? After all that, will a majority of Americans be listening if the president triggers a true constitutional crisis?

To be sure, one federal district judge has said his administration is dragging its feet in complying with a court order — no small thing, but also not without precedent in American history. The president is pushing the envelope. Everyone, including the people who voted for him, knew he would. So far, the system is working as intended.

If we are worried about what the president and the GOP will do with the mandate they earned at the ballot box, Democrats must focus on winning back a seat at the table through upcoming elections. To do that, we need to focus on the question we were reckoning with before Inauguration Day: Why did we lose so badly in the fall?

Democrats cannot ignore the political realignment that has taken place in the last decade. Our district voted for President Barack Obama twice and has since voted for President Trump three times. I win because of people who split their ticket, voting for both me and President Trump. These are the kind of voters with whom Democrats need to restore credibility if we want to reverse our slide into political oblivion.

But we suffer from a knee-jerk reaction to anything President Trump supports. How else do you explain the party’s shift from a political home for those critical of globalization and free trade to one that argues that the president’s tariff and trade agenda will impose unacceptable costs on the American people? Meanwhile, in the name of fighting climate change, we justify an energy agenda that ignores and sometimes even belittles concerns about affordability and honest questions about the pitfalls of a rapid energy transition.

Both parties have a spending problem, but only Democrats have allowed themselves to be seen as the party that throws good money after bad, ignoring the underlying flaws in our system while subsidizing the fallout. Americans know the country cannot sustain limitless government spending amid trillion-dollar deficits and soaring national debt.

Finally, as the president moves at the political speed of light to cut and reform the federal government, consider this: Many people, whether they’re building a home or starting a small business, feel hindered by a political and regulatory system that seems to block progress, not support it. We should acknowledge they may judge whether the president’s results justify his means.

The Democratic Party has much to offer America, namely our rock-solid commitment to the New Deal agenda of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, defending collective bargaining rights, and skepticism of big monopolies and unchecked greed. This is not an exhaustive list.

In the months and years ahead, we need to remain calm, roll up our sleeves, and take on the difficult task that begins with a look in the mirror and continues with the hard work necessary to win back the confidence of the voters. Otherwise, Democrats will continue down the same path that led us here.