The choice: Show their opposition to the president’s policies, particularly his executive orders on immigration, by refusing to attend the White House event. Or go, not appear petulant or petty, and keep the lines open, engage, cooperate where they can, and try to maintain federal help on issues like combating the heroin problem.
“There was a vigorous debate,” Donovan said, among his Democratic peers. In the end, all except one decided to attend.
Not only was it the right thing to do, Donovan said, but for a history buff and political junkie the invitation was the chance of a lifetime to see the Oval Office and walk the hallways that Jackson, Lincoln and Kennedy had once before. Donovan comes from a Chittenden County family steeped in Vermont political history.
In this edition of Digger Dialogue, the 43-year-old, just-sworn-in attorney general describes his White House visit, why he decided to go, what the president talked about — and why Donovan opted against having his picture taken with Trump or Vice President Mike Pence.
“Feelings are so raw at this point, on both sides,” Donovan said about not joining in any group or individual photos. He and other Democratic AGs are not only professionally opposed to Trump’s policies, he said, but many, including him, are personally offended.
Plus, a photo with Trump could be fodder for an opponent, particularly a Democrat, sometime down Donovan’s political road.
Donovan said he wrestled with whether to go to the White House but ultimately decided he could oppose Trump’s policies and attend out of respect for the office.
In a 25-minute interview, Donovan’s awe and wonder at the historical significance of the White House are apparent — particularly the impressiveness of the Oval Office, the portraits, the images from his youth he remembered as he walked Tuesday in the famous Rose Garden.
Majestic. Magnificence. Surreal. That’s some of the ways Donovan summed up his visit to the smaller-than-expected-from-the-outside house of history. He was one of the last to leave and said he could have spent the whole day wandering around.
The president was more subdued than on the campaign trail, Donovan said, but the AG said he was worried by Trump’s criticisms of the judiciary — what he called attempts to marginalize the third branch of government and a key part of the system of checks and balances.
Oh, and the official portrait of his hero, President John F. Kennedy? Yes, Donovan said, he saw it and laughed: It looks just like Gov. Peter Shumlin’s official portrait recently hung at the Vermont Statehouse.