FRAMINGHAM — A little more than a month into Donald Trump’s second presidential term, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke in Framingham about how U.S. citizens are enduring “a hard time.”
“When our co-presidents (Trump and entrepreneur Elon Musk) are firing veterans, it is a hard time,” Warren said Saturday during a packed town hall inside Nevins Hall in the Memorial Building. “When they are trying to bring down our government from the inside, it is a hard time. When co-president Elon Musk is out there mowing through every federal database that has all of your personal financial information — in some cases, medical information all of the way that you can be identified — it is a hard time.”
While the crowd inside was supportive of Warren — including booing Trump, Musk or Trump’s Cabinet picks whenever they were named — others stood outside City Hall holding pro-Trump signs, including those reading “Make America Great Again.”
Warren took five questions from audience numbers who were selected through a lottery system. While the queries were mainly about Trump and how to oppose him, former City Councilor John Stefanini asked her how Framingham can protect its hospital, MetroWest Medical Center, which is owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., a for-profit company.
Warren responded by saying she’s been fighting private equity firms — specifically those which invest in companies that are not publicly traded on stock exchanges, including hospitals and medical practices.
“I have introduced bill after bill, and each time I get a few more people along with me, but not enough to change the laws, I’m going to say after that,” the senator said.
Another man, Josh from Berlin, asked Warren if there is a red line that would cause New England to secede from the United States. While Warren laughed about the question, she then said she’d answer it seriously.
“I am not giving up on the Constitution of the United States,” she said. “We stay and we fight, don’t give them anything.”
Read More…….
Sen. Warren has several criticisms of Trump administration
Warren spoke about a variety of issues involving Trump, including the firing of federal workers, his alignment with Musk and cuts to health research.
One man, who identified himself as Steve, asked what is happening at the federal level to protect remote federal workers.
“We don’t know,” Warren said in response. “We’re going to keep fighting this out in the courts, we are also going to keep fighting it out in Congress and to try to push back, we’re going right now into what’s called budget reconciliation … understand, this is where the rubber hits the road on federal dollars and how those federal dollars get spent.”
While Warren’s remarks were mainly focused on opposing Trump, she also appealed to Republicans.
“Cancer doesn’t know Democrats from Republicans, MAGA from non-MAGA,” she said. “If we fire people who keep us safe on airplanes, it hurts everyone. What we want is a government that just abides by the law, nobody’s here doing the big lie, saying that Donald Trump didn’t win.
“We just want our government, our representatives to follow the law. It’s not any fancier than that.”
