Adam Schiff Blasts Republicans for Their Silence on Padilla's Assault

Senator Adam Schiff blasted his Republican colleagues for their silence after the Trump administration assaulted and then detained sitting senator Alex Padilla.

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Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) blasted his Republican colleagues for their silence over Trump’s Department of Homeland Security’s attacks on Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) after the Democratic Senator tried to question DHS Secretary Kristi Noem about the chaotic and immoral ICE raids in California.

“To see in the United States of America, the executive use force like this against a member of a co-equal branch of government to see that it has come to this already, and not a peep yet from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. No, whisper of dissent yet,” Schiff said on the Senate floor on Thursday.

Watch:

SCHIFF: And now this latest act, when a U.S. Senator goes to demand questions about the lawfulness or lawlessness of these actions, to see him tackled to the ground, brought to the ground. What is becoming of our democracy? Are there no limits to what this administration will do?

Is there no line they will not cross. We see lawlessness after lawlessness. We see threats to judges of impeachment and of physical harm. We see arrests of members of Congress. And now this. All of us have lived as part of a generation since World War II that was used to seeing our freedoms ever expanding. We saw walls coming down. We saw new democracies being born. We came to think that somehow this was inevitable, like the laws of nature, that it was the moral arc of the universe always bending towards justice, only to see that it was not bending towards justice.

And to see this now at home, to see in the United States of America, the executive use force like this against a member of a co-equal branch of government to see that it has come to this already, and not a peep yet from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. No, whisper of dissent yet. I hope that changes.

The founders separated the powers between the Executive and the Legislative and the Judiciary, because they wanted to set ambition against ambition, ambition of one institution against another to protect all of our freedom. But that requires that we go beyond our partisan affiliations. And when something is wrong, dead wrong, when something is a threat to our democracy, that we call it out regardless of party.

Democrats will be waiting a very long time if they think any Republican has the moral courage to speak up for what they know is right.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) — a lonely voice speaking up on that side of the aisle about the fiscal irresponsibility of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” saying he can’t support it because it will balloon the national debt and doesn’t cut enough — says he and his family were “excluded” from the White House picnic for members of Congress and their families. Paul referred to this as blackballing him over his criticism.

“I think it's a mistake on their part to single out and isolate and try to blackball me or others,” Paul said.

The White House has since extended an invitation to the Republican, but to have a president so petty and mafia-like that he punishes members of his own party for having any ideas of their own kind of tells the whole story.

Of course none of the Republicans are going to speak up. All of their very loud messaging about being the party of liberty and freedom was a lie.

Republicans don’t care about freedom or liberty if it means they won’t get invited to a picnic, so they certainly don’t care if a member of the opposition party that they’ve been relentlessly demonizing for over 2 decades is assaulted and detained.

If Adam Schiff thinks those people can be shamed into speaking up, he is in for a long wait.

Republicans aren’t going to do anything about any of this. They are already in lock step with a convicted criminal, why would this be a step too far? Even if someone were to try to convince them that they don’t want to be on the receiving end of this, they know no Democrat would ever do this.

This is the very predictable result of a party that has not been held to account for anything since Nixon was given a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes that he might have committed against the United States during the Watergate scandal.

Republicans knew then that they needed their own media, and they have spent decades making that happen. That media was then used to move the needle on mainstream media coverage, which a study showed it successfully did (and still does, it appears).

After the McCain/Palin loss, we were told they were doing a post-mortem, but instead of addressing any of the issues raised about being a party of racist hate, they leaned into the Palinism until they got Trump as their party leader. A man who taught them all to never, ever apologize and that there are no such things as shame or integrity.

The Supreme Court has already made Trump immune, and it shows. Will they care that their precious states’ rights principle is being trampled on by Trump?

I see a goal post being moved very shortly.

And again, this will all come down to you, The People. We very much need leaders and elected officials who will take charge to restore justice and lawfulness, instead of waiting for the people to tell them which way to turn.

What do you think about Sen. Schiff calling out the Republican silence? Share your thoughts in the comments below.