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SYRACUSE – Congressional candidate Pat Hackett on Sunday said President Donald Trump’s actions are placing the country in a perilous situation and accused Indiana’s 2nd District Rep. Jackie Walorski of enabling his behavior.
The South Bend attorney is one of three Democratic candidates running in the primary and hoping to face Walorski in the fall election. Hackett held a meet and greet Sunday at the Syracuse Community Center.
“This is no ordinary time,” she warned. “I would say it is our greatest challenge since the civil war,” because the nation is facing another attack from “within.”
Hackett talked with and answered questions from a crowd of several dozen people for nearly 90 minutes and outlined numerous issues of concern over Trump as well as other topics.
She describes Trump as lacking a moral compass and embracing an autocratic style.
“Think about all the untruths he speaks. That’s the technique that a totalitarian leader will use to gain power for themselves because we lose our sense of anything being reliable.”
In the past year, she said, the administration has been “actively trying to create a state of disunity. We’ve been encouraged to turn against one another. So you’ve seen an extraordinary increase in racism and even racist rhetoric and behaviors by our president.”
She is also critical of the administration’s attacks on major institutions, including the courts and free press.
The president’s penchant for not telling the truth, which she says is well documented, stands out as her greatest concern.
“When you attack the truth the way that he has and you attack science, evidence and reason, you are really going at the heart of our democracy and the rule of law,” she said.
Grassroots Campaign
Hackett has been an attorney for more than two dozen years in the South Bend area.
Growing up, she and her family lived in the Detroit suburbs. She was one of seven daughters. Her parents worked as attorneys and her mother became a federal judge.
Her campaign relies heavily on volunteer support and trails distantly in fundraising while remaining focused on hosting as many public meetings as possible.
Her campaign is being run by her spouse, Rita Koehler.
She mentioned in passing the need to support LGBTQ rights, and accused Trump of ushering in a “full assault on women.”
On other issues, she supports the concept of Medicare for all, a new assault weapons ban and opposed the recently implemented tax overhaul.
She supports “Obamacare” and used the word extraordinary when describing former President Barack Obama.
She avoided attacking her Democrat opponents, Mel Hall and Yatish Joshi, but said she is best suited to challenge Walorski in the general election.
She said she’s eager to debate Walorski, who she said works to avoid large public appearances.
“I’m just saying I’m the right person at this time to take on Jackie Walorski,” she said. “Boy are you going to see a stark difference when we get up on that stage.”
Hackett’s built a campaign around the theme of “dignity and justice for all,” and accused the administration “and their enablers in Congress” of having forgotten those precepts.
She repeatedly referred to Walorski as an enabler.
Aside from Trump’s recent tariff proposal, she said Walorski has failed to oppose any other initiative by the president and has not been critical of Trump’s denigrating comments about people.
“In her silence, she’s complicit,” she said.
A Focus On Trump
Much of her talk in Syracuse focused on Trump.
Speculation that Trump might attempt to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller resurfaced over the weekend after Trump called the Russia investigation a witch hunt.
If Trump would fire Mueller, Hackett said Congress should pass legislation and immediately reinstate the special counsel.
“If that does not work, then they should commence impeachment precedings,” she said. “It’s that serious of an issue.”
Hackett did not raise the spectre of impeachment during her talk, but described it afterward as “a serious option that needs to be on the table.”
She believes the impeachment could come into play in the Russia-collusion investigation, but adds that process has to work itself out and she respects that process.
She also thinks Trump’s apparent violations of the emoluments provision within the constitution – his conflicts of interest with other countries, the use of his hotels and his failure to put holdings in a blind trust could be the “basis for impeachment.”
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misidentified the congressional district represented by Jackie Walorski.
