At a Mesa Townhall, Kris Mayes and Greg Stanton Commit to “Save Our Country”

The bipartisan group of about 250 people who attended the over two-hour town hall at the Dobson Community Center in Mesa hosted by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Congressional District Four Representative Greg Stanton brought many concerns to the gathering.

Virtually every subject that has plagued this country since the return of Donald Trump and his MAGA-Project 2025 agenda was addressed including:

• The plight of the Social Security and Health Care systems, especially in cash-strapped rural areas.
• The illegal freezing of Congressionally approved funds for areas like Head Start, Roads and Bridges, and Air Conditioning and Heating assistance.
• The Department of Education and what Musk, Trump, and DOGE are doing to it and the rest of the federal government.
• Illegal Tariffs.
• The erosion of the Nation’s soft global power and ceding diplomatic, economic, and assistance ground to China.
• The taking of immigrants with no criminal records off the streets and detained.
• The betrayal of veterans and government workers by taking away the services and collective bargaining rights they are legally entitled to.
• The future of the Democratic Party and what it should stand for.
• The prospect of not being able to achieve the American Dream.
• Freedom, the viability of the American Ideal, and how the people respond to the Musk/Trump/Vance move to Fascism and economic destruction.

Please watch the entire town hall below.

Through all the questions and responses (most that were met with approval and applause,) Mayes and Stanton warned that the country is indeed in perilous times and encouraged the people to stay engaged, telling them that events like these town halls, where most Republicans are loath to hold because of the policy blowback they would face from their Democratic and Republican constituents, are key to pressuring MAGA supporters of Musk/Trump/Vance, especially in swing districts, to either hopefully break with their party and their destructive policies or galvanize support to defeat these out of touch representatives at the ballot box in 2026.

Both Mayes and Stanton started the event with prepared remarks.

The Arizona Attorney General, who has been to several town hall events both inside and outside the Grand Canyon State, discussed the nine lawsuits that she and other Democratic Attorney Generals have brought against the Musk/Trump/Vance Administration ranging from the end of Birthright Citizenship to the non release of funding for Congressionally approved programs to the firing of federal employees to the power of Musk’s DOGE to the closing of the Department of Education to the attempt by the American Duce wannabe to control the nation’s elections.

Ms. Mayes, who came to the town hall after a joint press event with Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes where they announced a lawsuit against Trump’s Executive Order on the Executive Branch taking control of American elections, also hinted that a tenth lawsuit could be coming as early as April 4, 2025.

It did with two lawsuits to stop Trump’s funding stoppage of federal support for museums, libraries, and grants for the National Institute of Health.

In her comments, the Attorney General repeated her concerns that what Musk/Trump/Vance are doing is a coup on the American Government and Ideal, stating:

“I believe, in my heart and in my soul that we have never lived in more dangerous times, at least since the Civil War… I believe that we are in the middle of a coup…. I believe that because I have filed nine lawsuits, and on several occasions, the Trump Administration and Elon Musk, the unelected billionaire, has attempted to defy federal court orders that we won in those cases, and to me, that is an attempted coup on our Democracy.”

“We are working hard in our office and you know, yeah, this is about protecting our state. And this is about preventing things like slashing jobs, gutting essential Services, and leaving the Community scrambling to pick up the pieces. None of that is what they claim it to be efficiency. None of that is efficiency. It’s destruction. That’s what it is. True efficiency comes from careful planning, collaboration, and respect for the law. Not from haphazard cuts and mass firings. Abruptly destroying lives.”

In concluding her opening remarks, the Attorney General called the people to action, stressing three C’s, saying:

“The attack on our country is about three things right now. It’s about crowds. Got that covered. It’s about courts. I’m trying to have that covered, and it’s about courage.”

She also channeled the voice of past generations of Americans to the current fight for the nation’s soul, finishing with:

“I think about past generations and what they would be thinking about this today and I truly believe that past generations are speaking to us across the ages. They are speaking to us across time and space and across the ages. And they are saying to us fight. Fight for our country. Now is your time. This is our time to stand up for our country and to deliver for this country and to save this country.”

Representative Stanton spoke next and told the audience and the Attorney General that House Democrats “Are in the game with you.”

Picking up on the Attorney General’s discussion of the lawsuits against the MAGA-Project 2025 regime, Stanton said:

“Now the challenge is actually making sure that we fully enforce those (court)orders. Otherwise, we’re in a constitutional crisis in the United States of America. And if this President thinks that the United States of America is going to move, kind of by flooding the zone with all of these illegal acts falling comfortably numb into authoritarianism, he’s got another thing coming.”

Stanton then reminded the audience that the Trump tax hikes through tariffs, his holding of Bipartisan Infrastructure funds to Arizona, breaking collective bargaining agreements with federal workers, and taking control of American elections were clearly illegal, going against measures like the Impoundment Act and the Constitution.

At the end of his opening remarks, Stanton did hold out hope, based on recent Republican defections to support a rule change to allow mothers of newborns to vote remotely, that some of his colleagues across the aisle may be repulsed by the new math budget crunching of MAGA Representatives to pass a reconciliation passage that gives tax cuts to the richest individuals and corporations over the needs of vulnerable seniors and children, may vote against it, saying:

“We only need three courageous Republicans that come over. And if they do, we can block these massive Medicaid cuts that are going to cost over 500,000 Arizonans that take them off the Medicare role. Three courageous Republicans that come over and we will not dismantle the Department of Education as the Attorney General is fighting so hard in court...We can actually re-establish checks and balances in the United States government because that’s not a partisan thing. It’s not a Democrat or Republican thing. This is a President who was trying to be an authoritarian leader... If you’re a Republican member of Congress, stand up for yourself, fight for your power as a member.”

On a follow up question, Blog for Arizona was able to ask Representative Stanton about the status of the funds earmarked for the Grand Canyon state from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Congressman replied:

“The infrastructure money is being held as they analyze it for Green New Deals or DEI. And of course, there’s no such thing as a Green New Deal. So, how do you analyze it to look for a programs to support something that doesn’t exist? But I think what they mean is they don’t want programs that support things, that fight climate change or sustainability. Well, we got money for a bridge over the Rio Salado in Tempe, which is a pedestrian and bike bridge so less people are going to use cars. They’re going to use this bridge instead if they want to use multimodal ways to transportation. Well, is that Green New Deal? I don’t know. We’re waiting to find out it that are not because it’s a damn good project for this region. But even like freeways. What’s crazy about their policy is every major, freeway uses some renewable materials and so if you use recycled materials in a road project. Well does that make it Green, New Deal? Do we have to maximize negative impact on the environment so anything that is a sustainable building material has to be taken out of a product. It’s a policy made for a MAGA audience but in practical experience, it’s impossible to follow. And so Court’s going to figure that out and they’re going to undo it. But right now, it is on hold, which should piss people off beyond the fact that it’s illegal, But it was voted on in a bipartisan way. Republicans overwhelming voted for the bipartisanfrastructure law, and that’s what’s being held up right now.”

During the question and answer session, Mayes and Stanton addressed the audience members’ concerns while expressing hope that, while the situation may get worse before it gets better, as long as people like those at the town hall make their views known through future events like town halls (where they can convey their concerns,) peaceful protests, and the ballot box, the nation, the American Experiment, and American Dream should survive.

One example of the people pushing back on MAGA’s Project 2025 agenda is Representative Stanton’s response to a question about Trump threatening Universities (the area of the town hall is only minutes away from Arizona State University) and the uncertainty facing some of the immigrant students that attend them, condemned Trump’s actions on programs that promote sustainability and D.E.I., stating:

“What’s going on in higher education in the United States of America is because this President thinks he’s a bully and can threaten universities by taking away their research dollars or other federal dollars.”

He said that universities and, later, legal firms that feel threatened by Trump’s Executive Retribution Orders should “Lock arms, with every other university around the United States of America and say, if you’re coming for one of us, they’re coming for all of us.”

The worry that either the courts would back Trump or that he and his government would ignore their final rulings was addressed by the Attorney General, who responded to the questioner, “It’s almost surreal that you even have to ask it and I even have to answer it.”

Mayes did try to ease concerns by noting that when the Musk/Trump/Vance Administration has been given an order to comply with a motion, they have done so.

Later, in response to another question on the subject of the lawsuits, including the one filed earlier that day on election security, she said:

“It is going to come down as scary as this probably feels right now, given the composition of the United States Supreme Court, but I still believe in them…We will find out whether the United States Supreme Court believes in America… I believe that they do, and I believe that they will. And I believe that our country will hold. If it doesn’t, we will have to together decide what to do about that next step.”

If the courts failed the system, Mayes said it may be time for “national collective action.”

Asked by another questioner if she was worried about how this could hurt her in the next election, Mayes responded:

“I am not worried about my next election, and I’m not worried about retaliation because if all I ever do with the rest of my life is, the next two years, fighting for our Constitution and for you.”

Later, after the town hall, the Attorney General responded to a question from Blog for Arizona on whether she was concerned that the Trump government would drag its feet in the courts, like he did when he was charged with crimes when he was not in office, saying:

“That’s a really hard question to answer…Depends on whether that, you know, the, the original posture, including whether they were tros (temporary restraining orders) or preliminary injunctions. But you know, these things can take months up to years. But, you know, we’re seeing federal judges take quick action, which is helpful because then we can stop the bad stuff quickly. And so, and then you litigate it after that. That’s why it’s really important to get a preliminary injunction or a tro so you can stop it and then litigate it after that. And then if we have to do motions to compel, we’ll do that.”