Listener supported, WNYC Studios.

This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.

Democrats in Washington have seemed almost paralyzed by the onslaught of far-right-wing appointments to the Trump cabinet

and the wrecking ball that he's unleashed on his own government agencies.

The Democrats register their opposition, but they seem lost in any attempt to

organize themselves against the administration's fire hose. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the

House, offered a baseball analogy recently, saying they're waiting for the right pitch. Last week on our

program, Senator John

Federman of Pennsylvania said this, how many years can you jump on cable and yell and scream

that the world's on fire? In the states, though, Democratic governors seem much more determined.

They seem to have more leverage to oppose the federal government. Governor Tim

Waltz tweeted this in January. President Trump just shut off funding for law enforcement, farmers,

schools, veterans, and health care. Minnesota needs answers. We'll see Trump in court.

That's one of the many reasons that I wanted to speak with Tim Walts.

That, of course, and the election that brought Donald Trump back to the White House.

I hear all the time from non-Trump voters,

two reactions to what's going on in the last month.

One is, I don't want to watch the news.

I want to shut it all out.

Yeah.

It's too much.

...