www.montereycountynow.com january 16-22, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 17 have been controversial picks. Kash Patel, for instance, Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, thinks the Jan. 6 insurrection was planned by the FBI. Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who ran for president in 2016, who Trump tapped to be director of national intelligence, traveled to meet now-deposed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2017, despite his chemical attacks on his own people. She also blames NATO for why Russia invaded Ukraine. Gone are the so-called “adults in the room” from Trump’s first term, and the second is shaping up to be even more chaotic. Yet unlike Trump’s first term, when Democratic voters and electeds united in resistance right after his election, the vibes on the left feel different this time. Maggie Haberman, a political reporter with the New York Times, said recently in an interview with journalist Kara Swisher: “[Democrats] seem sapped of energy right now.” Politico’s Jonathan Martin, one of the most dialed-in political reporters in the country, put it like this recently on a podcast: “The winds are definitely not blowing toward full resistance,” he said. “The interregnum after 2016… was dramatically different than now. Democrats were to the barricades, and now Democrats are more to the bar. They want to drown their sorrows and watch football, or not think about this at all.” The two members of the U.S. House of Representatives who, collectively, represent Monterey County’s residents in Washington, are thinking about it. The two Democrats aren’t exactly optimistic about what they can achieve for their districts in the coming years, but say they’re going to give it their level-best. U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, was first elected in 2016, and from the outset of his time in Washington, he was, and remains, committed to reaching across the aisle to Republicans—bipartisanship is core to his politics. When asked how he plans to fight for his constituents in Trump 2.0, he says, “I think obviously from a federal angle, what we can do is similar to what we did the last Trump term: Make sure we lean in on trying to fix our broken immigration system.” But he acknowledges Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations can instill fear in his undocumented constituents, which comes with reverberations. “The message that I told people, told my constituents, is you’ve got to continue to excel and continue to live your lives,” he says, noting “how valued they are locally, in my district, and in California. We’ve seen that with our Dreamers, and seen that with our farmworkers.” He also adds an interesting observation, saying he currently hears less about a reliance on a foreign workforce. “I remember speaking with my ag producers, talking about what I believe is their number-one issue, the lack of labor in the last decade,” Panetta says. “They said that’s not the number-one issue anymore. They said their domestic workforce is pretty solid right now.” He also thinks many of his GOP colleagues will come to realize the economic impact of mass deportations. “If there starts to be a chill in the air, it affects the economy nationally and locally, because it will prevent people from coming,” he says. “Rightfully so, I think they will go after low-hanging fruit [like] criminals convicted of crimes. “What do we do to protect the people who contribute to our economy, and really become a part of who we are here?” Panetta says. “There’s a lot of layers here and a lot of levels here.” Currently, the GOP controls the house by an extraordinarily narrow 219-215 margin. (There is an absent seat vacated by former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, who resigned after he was reelected because Trump nominated him to become Attorney General. Gaetz later withdrew from the running after reports of his partying escapades were about to surface, which included, allegedly, paying minors for sex.) Noting that narrow lead for Republicans, Panetta says, “It’s a very slim and splintered majority, and they’re going to have some difficulties. Monterey County’s two congressional representatives are Zoe Lofgren (District 18) and Jimmy Panetta (District 19). Both Democrats were re-elected by large margins in safely blue districts, and say they will look to work with Republicans if opportunities present themselves. “This is a moment that will test us.” Daniel Dreifuss Daniel Dreifuss
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