State Senator Jeff Irwin calls Trump actions “reckless and illegal,” suggests “general strike” as remedy at Manchester coffee hour
Jeff Irwin at Manchester Coffee Hour, Saturday, March 15, 2025. Photo by Laurie Lutomski.
by Fritz Swanson
State Senator Jeff Irwin, who represents the 15th district, including the City of Manchester, Manchester Township, and Bridgewater Township, in Lansing, held a coffee hour at Millie’s Coffeehouse on Main Street. The event was on Saturday, March 15, and ran from 11am until almost 1pm. About 20 people from across the district were in attendance, though most were from the Manchester area. The event captured the contrasting energies of the current political moment, with people there to talk with their state senator about both the fine details of state policy as well as the intense drama of current national politics.
One Manchester resident, for example, opened by introducing himself and his concerns both about longstanding issues with disability benefits but also that disability benefits appear to be at risk at a national level.
Meanwhile, a second introduced herself by saying, “I am scared and angry right now. That’s kind of where I’m at, and it’s affecting my sleep and other things.”
People in attendance were concerned about veterans’ issues, environmental safety, gravel pits, road repairs, and many other issues. But the concern almost everyone expressed was that what is happening in Washington is scaring people, and they were looking to Senator Irwin for leadership and guidance.
In response to the anxieties of the crowd, Senator Irwin delivered the following opening remarks:
“One of the great things about being a state legislator is that I get to work on a wide range of different things, and I’m always learning about new things, right? The state budget this year is proposed to be $82 billion and I’m always learning new things about where those dollars are going and how it’s happening and how it’s deployed, and who does it. So I’m sure there’s a lot I can learn from each one of you about how state government could do better. Having said that, before I move on to any of these state government topics, I heard [from you all] a lot of frustration, concern, and fear, maybe some anger about what’s happening in Washington, D.C., and I’ll address it to the extent that I can.
“I share your frustration and fear. I wouldn’t do this work if I didn’t care about our community, if I didn’t care about my neighbors, if I didn’t care about our country, and I’m very worried about what’s happening to our country right now when you see such a reckless and illegal set of actions, things that are straightforwardly against the law, and yet the president is demanding that they be done [by] executive orders. That’s a red flag.
“When you see that same president fire all of the top generals and replace them with sycophants, that’s really scary. When you see the president get rid of the lawyers at the military, the judge advocate generals, that’s a big red flag, and I share your concern. I do not, as I said at the town hall we had a little while ago, I don’t feel like I have terribly satisfying answers right now for you, but all I can say is I think you need to be attentive, stick together, build that sense of community you were talking about, so that we’re ready to defend the country going forward, because, you know, we’re already seeing some negative impacts of what’s happening in D.C., and I don’t want to, I don’t want to overreact, but I don’t want to underreact.
“[…] I think there’s going to be more that’s going to have to be done to fight back against the ugly things that are happening in our government, the people who are trying to basically take away democracy. We have to stand up against that in every way possible. But I’m really hoping that it doesn’t lead to the types of things that will cause economic devastation or political violence. I would rather avoid that.
“[…] I’m trying not to jump ahead to the end of the story and hope that we can do some things here in the meantime to avert the worst possible crises that we seem to be hurtling towards. There are a lot of things happening in the courts that are somewhat hopeful. You’re seeing judges rule against the administration, which I think is positive.
“Now I will say one of the things I’ve noticed during my time in politics and government is that as you go up the chain with judges, the further up you go, the more political it gets. And so I’m very worried that as these cases go to the court of appeals and go to the U.S. Supreme Court, that there might be judges who are willing to subvert the Constitution, subvert our democracy, and imperil our republic to stick on their team, so I’m really worried about that.
“But, you know, right now, we’re not at that point yet. Right now we’re not at that point where, you know, normal processes of government are not happening, but it feels like we’re on the precipice. And I share your fear.”
The senator then set out to discuss the many detailed policy issues he has been working on. He’s concerned about water quality and the road budget and the local school budgets. He’s got very detailed plans for solving issues related to the finances of foster children and the struggle people have transitioning off of state support programs such as Medicaid. He has strong opinions about the fees multi-axle trucks should pay.
But for the nearly two-hour-long event, the attendees repeatedly returned to what is happening in Washington. The attendees wanted to know what they could do, and what the senator could do, to stop it.
Irwin returned to the fact that only mass collective action would have any effect on national events. He called on residents to organize locally and to seek and build community.
“I’ve heard a lot of people talking about a general strike […],” Irwin suggested to the room. “I think that’s even more effective. [It’s] a bigger action. But once again, you need to have mass participation for these things to work.” He then said, “Temperatures will go up, up, up, up, and, you know, at a certain point it’s going to boil over. And for some it already has.”
Jeff Irwin Coffee Hour in the back of Millie’s Coffeehouse, March 15, 2025. Photo courtesy of Laurie Lutomski.
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