Michigan Senator Wants Young Grads To Fear Working For Trump

Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin says she wants college grads weighing a job in the Trump administration to conclude it’s not worth the trouble, and she’s counting on Democrat-led investigations to send that “deterrence message.”

In an interview on “America, Actually” with host Astead Herndon, the first-term senator laid out a post-midterm game plan that includes going after the officials and aides who carried out President Trump’s agenda.

“I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘should I go work for the Trump administration? Like that sounds fun. I might get an opportunity,’” Slotkin said. “I want them to be like ‘Lord that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want, and so let me avoid participating in that.’”

“I want that deterrence message sent,” she added.

ON UCHICAGO CAMPUS: U.S. Senator from Michigan Elissa Slotkin hopes planned political prosecutions of republican leaders will scare young conservatives from getting involved in politics.@ElissaSlotkin pic.twitter.com/p7NBJpDcQW

— The Chicago Thinker (@ThinkerChicago) October 17, 2026

Slotkin said that if Democrats retake the House, “and especially the House and the Senate,” the party should pursue three goals: pocketbook legislation on issues like housing, “accountability” for what she called “unbelievable corruption,” and reforms to “Trump-proof the government.”

“You have to pick signature cases and you have to go after people and projects that are just super egregious,” Slotkin said, pointing to the White House’s East Wing as an example voters “feel.”

She made clear that the president himself isn’t the only one in her sights.

“The people around Donald Trump who are doing his bidding and enabling this have no such immunity,” said Slotkin, who noted she voted twice to impeach Trump. “So you go after the people who did his bidding.”

The Michigan Dem also unloaded on Trump personally, claiming he no longer cares about his own signature slogan.

“I think that he thinks America is mediocre and heading downhill and he just wants to get his,” she said. “It’s literally milking the cow that is the United States of America for whatever him and his sons can get.”

Slotkin said the “guardrails are completely gone” in Trump’s second term and accused him of caring “only” about “self-interest.”

“I don’t have a ton of faith that my Republican colleagues are going to have any more strength,” she said.

On November 18, 2025, a half-dozen Democratic lawmakers with military and spy-agency résumés, led by Slotkin and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, went on camera to say:

This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens. Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats coming to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.

The rest of the crew was Reps. Jason Crow, Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander and Chrissy Houlahan. Slotkin posted it on her X account.

Trump, enraged, called it “sedition at the highest level” and said the lawmakers belonged behind bars. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth censured Kelly.