Dick Durbin Asked Point Blank: Did The ‘Trump Administration Play Into Your Decision’ To Retire?

During a press briefing on Thursday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) was asked if the Trump Administration was a factor in his decision to retire in 2026.

Transcript

00:00How much did the national political climate, the Trump administration, play into your decision to step aside?

00:06Well, it played against my decision.

00:08The matter I got about what Trump is doing to this country and to the Constitution,

00:12the more I wanted to serve and not step aside.

00:15But I'm going to spend the next year and a half doing my best to honor the Constitution and protect it.

00:20Senator, how much has...

00:22Go ahead.

00:23Going off of that last question there, we've heard from Lieutenant Governor Stratton

00:27that she's already announced her campaign and she's making it very clear,

00:30pushing back against the Trump administration, is going to be at the forefront of her campaign messaging.

00:35I'm sure that's going to be the case going forward.

00:37Is that a winning strategy for a Democratic primary?

00:41Well, it's an important place to start in the Democratic primary.

00:45There's an intensity of feeling about what the president has done in his first 100 days,

00:49and I share that feeling.

00:51There is an energy that you see in the rallies that are taking place around the state

00:55and around our country on a regular basis.

00:58There's an impatience.

00:59People want change tomorrow.

01:01They want to stop him tomorrow.

01:02Some of them are not realistic.

01:04We just don't have a majority in the House and the Senate.

01:06There's a limit to what we can do.

01:09But that is the starting point for any party that's out of the White House,

01:14as we will be in this next by-year election.