[R]ep. Peter Welch is in a position he’s never been before.
Politically, that is.
In his almost 10 years in the U.S. House, starting in 2007, Welch has served in the majority party while a Republican was president, George W. Bush, and then when Democrat Barack Obama followed.
Now he’s about to serve in a Republican-led House at the same time a Republican moves into the White House: Donald Trump, whose election Welch said would be “bone-chilling” and now is a reality.
What strategy will Welch pursue? Will he try to work with the Republicans and Trump or be a loud and leading voice of opposition?
“Quite honestly, I’m trying to figure it out,” Welch told VTDigger. In the past, even when he was in the minority, the Republicans would deal with him because they stood to gain from it.
“I needed them because they had a majority. They needed me to some extent because they needed credibility with the White House,” Welch said.
Now, with Trump in the White House, the Republicans don’t necessarily need Democratic support.
“I’m apprehensive that they are going to do the common mistake in politics where you overreach and overinterpret your mandate,” Welch said.
The congressman said he will be seeking advice from Vermonters and has scheduled a Tuesday night telephone town hall-style event to get feedback.
When it comes to his approach, Welch said he’ll emulate former Vermont Sen. Ralph Flanders, who stood up to and led the effort to censure Sen. Joe McCarthy, who claimed there were Communists working in the government.
“He stood up and said no, this has got to end,” Welch said. “The role I have to play is what Vermonters have always played. And that is to resist the encroachment of a single civil liberty of a single person at any moment at any time, and when it comes to the president, if he follows through on his threat to really take actions that I think encroach on the civil and constitutional liberties of people, it has to be an implacable opposition.”
Welch protested against the Vietnam War while in college.
Trump, he said, tapped into the economic distress of many Americans.
“He was a very appealing candidate to the part of America that frankly has some legitimate economic grievance,” Welch said.
Both Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders found support for their presidential campaigns among the same disenfranchised, economically distressed group. Sanders, Welch said, had a more positive message of free college, health care reform and a higher minimum wage. Trump “gave them someone they could blame.”
The Democratic Party, Welch said, also needs to examine itself and admit it needs to do a better job connecting with working class voters after Hillary Clinton lost states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
