WASHINGTON – When President Donald Trump immediately began signing a slew of executive orders on inauguration day, Sen. John Hickenlooper said he wouldn’t bother with publicly opposing all of the president’s actions because doing so would have him “end up flailing at the windmills and not getting things done.”
Most of these executive actions, he said at the time, were a “distraction” from the “real issues.”
That’s no longer the case.
Just over 100 days into Trump’s presidency, the senator is continuing on a strategy of, as he described in his March 12 town hall, “public pressure” that can “force Republicans to face up to the pain that they’re creating.”
And those 100 days have been unlike any previous presidency. Trump has signed a record number of executive orders, pardoned those charged for participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, frozen congressionally appropriated funds, gutted federal agencies, instituted and then partially paused steep reciprocal tariffs, and deported three U.S. citizens in his unsuccessful efforts to scale up deportations.
It was about a week into Trump’s term — when he attempted to freeze all federal grants and loans — that Hickenlooper started being more vocal against the administration. That day, his office sent out a memo outlining the freeze’s impacts across Colorado and posted several times on the social platform X condemning it.
In the following days, he picked up the pace in explicitly condemning Trump’s actions on X, and a week later, he made his goal clear: “The moment is NOW to use every tool at our disposal to disrupt the chaotic actions of the Trump administration,” he wrote on X.
As those executive actions continued to roll out, Hickenlooper joined other Democrats in signing letters to the administration and continued to post sharp criticism on social media.
In a broad-ranging interview with The Durango Herald this week, Hickenlooper said the public-pressure strategy — alongside comprehensive litigation challenging many of Trump’s executive actions — is working. He has faith the Democratic Party will come together, and he explained why he voted to confirm several of Trump’s executive nominees.
“Well, I think like everyone, I'm exhausted,” he said of the president’s first 100 days.
“No one should be able to say they were surprised by what (Trump) did,” he added. “(Project) 2025 was out there. Trump distanced himself from it, but he wasn't very convincing.”
Being in the minority in both chambers of Congress — even if only by slim margins — means Democrats are extremely limited in how they can oppose Republicans’ legislative agenda.
The Senate’s 60-vote threshold for most legislation doesn’t apply to executive nominations, which require only a majority of votes. And Republicans are using a process called reconciliation to change domestic policy and spending — including potential cuts to Medicaid — that also requires only a simple majority of votes to pass each chamber.
Democrats — including Hickenlooper and Bennet — have participated in efforts to stall reconciliation and nominee confirmation votes, but those tactics often only delay the inevitable.
Still, Hickenlooper says he thinks the Democratic strategy to make people aware of how “vile” Trump’s actions are is working – at least somewhat.
“We're making progress, right?” he said. “I mean, you can't run out to the barn and get a pitchfork and storm the White House. That's not going to work, but you can let people understand exactly what they're losing and what's at risk. And I think that’s a big part of what we’ve been trying to do.”
Hickenlooper’s office told the Herald that its D.C. location received 10 times the number of calls in the last four months than in the last four years combined. It has also received hundreds of thousands of emails, many opposing the SAVE Act, the Department of Government Efficiency’s broad federal cuts and firings, potential cuts to Medicaid and Social Security, and Trump’s tariffs.
Hickenlooper said litigation challenging Trump’s actions and a network of whistleblowers are key parts of Democrats’ overall strategy.
Federal departments rehiring fired workers, Republicans being advised to avoid in-person town halls, and Republicans reconsidering potential Medicaid cuts are all signs that Democratic efforts are having an impact.
Still, Hickenlooper has voted to confirm nearly half of Trump’s 21 cabinet picks, placing him among the top seven Democratic senators to support the cabinet nominees.
All of those nominees would have been confirmed regardless of Hickenlooper’s support, he said.
“You can vote no, and it's a good storyline,” he said. “And I understand that many of my constituents want everyone to vote no and not to support anything, but in these cases — these people I voted yes for — are people I felt I needed to have a relationship with to make sure Colorado didn't get cheated.”
Hickenlooper was one of only five Democrats voting to confirm the official tasked with carrying out Trump’s trade agenda — including the steep “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs that Trump would pause just a week after instituting them. That official, U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer, found himself defending the tariffs at a hearing with the House Ways and Means Committee when Trump announced a pause on some of these tariffs.
Hickenlooper said it was important to have a positive relationship with Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, in part because Wright now controls the funding toward the Colorado-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Hickenlooper previously made a point of supporting Wright publicly despite disagreeing with him on many issues. He said he knew Wright would have to lay people off at the president’s direction, but believed that Wright is “also going to fight.”
“I talked to him, and I trust him,” he said. “He's going to fight to keep the funding at NREL as much as he can.”
All of this considered though, Hickenlooper said he thinks bipartisanship is still possible. He pointed to youth apprenticeships, a long-time priority of his, as a bipartisan issue. He also noted that even concerns about Trump’s tariffs were bipartisan, with several House and Senate Republicans signing onto a bill that would rein in Trump’s tariff authority.
Broad bipartisan collaboration on bigger issues like immigration, energy policy or government spending is anything but a given, though. Trump’s unilateral energy and immigration reforms aside, Republicans plan to pass their reconciliation spending package without much, if any, Democratic support.
A handful of Democrats have taken the approach of leading protests at various federal agencies that have been gutted across the country.
For his part, Hickenlooper said he attended Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s rally in Denver, though he didn’t give a speech or post about it on social media.
Hickenlooper acknowledged fragmentation and “lack of trust” among leadership as a reaction to losing a major election but said he has faith the party will come together.
“That's why Democrats are uniquely good at circular firing squads,” he said. “So hopefully we will resist that temptation for once, but I think we'll come together in the next six to 12 months. I think you will find an upwelling, a unity that will surprise people.”
Kathryn Squyres is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C. She can be reached at ksquyres@durangoherald.com.
