Concern that traditional checks and balances will not hold President Donald Trump accountable and frustration about Democrats’ response to Trump’s sweeping executive actions dominated a town hall hosted by U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse in Breckenridge.

Neguse, a Democrat who represents Colorado’s 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, answered questions from constituents for just over an hour Saturday, Jan. 22, at the Riverwalk Center. Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District includes Summit County and much of the Western Slope.

“I would be lying to you if I did not tell you that right now we are facing perhaps the most difficult path in recent memory that the Congress and the country has been compelled to grapple with,” Neguse said.

In Washington D.C., Neguse said he has faced “trial by fire” as he has worked to “try to defend our democracy” and “to vindicate our Constitution.” He said that this is a “real perilous moment, in my view, for our Republic” and that the Trump Administration “every day is engaging in activity that is unlawful, that is unconstitutional and that is having real world dramatic consequences here in Summit County.”

“We know that each and every one of you and every constituent that I’ve heard from in the course of the last eight weeks is calling on Congress to do more to step up,” Neguse said. He said the two most important questions he has been asked are “What are you going to do, and what am I going to do to defend our republic?”

“There is so much that you can do and, in my view, must do,” Neguse said. “Right now, the answers aren’t going to come from Washington. It’s going to require every single citizen using the most important tool that we are endowed with — our voice.”

More than one Summit County resident questioned Neguse about what recourse is available if Trump ignores court rulings, such as an order by the U.S. Supreme Court that his actions are unconstitutional.

“It is a question that keeps me up at night,” Neguse said, noting that he has been appointed to lead a Rapid Response Task Force and Litigation Working Group focused on developing a strategy around “these precise questions.”

Trump has tested the strength of “guardrails” like the checks and balances the courts are meant to uphold, Neguse said. But he said that twice in the past 30 days, the U.S. Supreme Court has “rebuffed” Trump and that the Trump Administration has lost about 90% of the at least 130 cases filed against it.

“It does us no service to declare that all is lost and that every single guardrail is gone and there is no recourse,” Neguse said. “That is not the case.”

While Trump and his allies have been “signaling and telegraphing that they may very well defy a Supreme Court order,” Neguse said, “the federal courts are not without tools.” He said courts can impose sanctions, hold those that disobey it in civil or criminal contempt and even seize financial assets in certain cases.

As far as what the Congress would do if Trump were to ignore a court order, Neguse said that the current Republican majority is “toothless” but asked, “At what point is enough enough? When will they defend our republic? Can we not find three Republicans, three who will defend the Constitutional order?”

Breckenridge resident Emily Gilbert noted that Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, overseen by billionaire Elon Musk, has attempted to access databases that store millions of Americans’ personal information while also laying off tens of thousands of federal workers.

“It’s terrifying. It’s horrifying,” Gilbert said. “And what I’ve seen from Democrats is holding up paddles, wearing pink suits and voting with the Republicans on the continuing resolution to keep the government open, when we have all the power.”

She asked why Democrats have been unable to come up with a message that resonates with the American people and responds to Trump’s expansive federal actions. Other residents echoed this question, asking about why Democrats were not prepared for Trump’s executive actions, some of which were outlined in Project 2025, and why the party couldn’t negotiate a better deal to fund the federal government.

Neguse noted that he did not hold paddles during Trump’s State of the Union address and that neither he nor Colorado’s two U.S. senators, Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, voted to approve the Republican-backed bill to fund the federal government. Ten Senate Democrats broke ranks to vote alongside Republicans to pass the funding bill and avoid a government shutdown.

Describing a shift away from traditional cable and print news toward social media, Neguse said, “we have a very fractured media environment now, which is difficult to communicate to a broader audience.” He said that is “not an excuse” but that “many Democrats are fighting back,” and the party has to “do a better job” with conveying what it is doing.

“We have to offer an alternative vision that is actually rooted in helping people live their lives, in helping people have access to opportunities to be able to have a great quality of life,” Neguse said. “Fundamentally that is what politics is supposed to be about.”

Neguse said his team has developed the website LitigationAndResponse.House.gov to provide more information to the public about its work. He also noted that a federal judge has blocked the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive Social Security data.

While Democrats in the early days of the Trump Administration were reactive, rather than proactive, Neguse said that the outcry from constituents has helped convince lawmakers to prepare for “hypotheticals.” 

Project 2025, for example, made clear that the Trump Administration planned to dismantle the Department of Education, Neguse said. So when the Trump Administration introduced an executive order to do so, he said that Democrats were ready. Several lawsuits were filed within 24 hours.

Neguse said that he believes that those lawsuits will be successful and that Trump is attempting to use executive orders to do things like abolish the Department of Education because he knows he does not have the votes in Congress to do so.

Breckenridge resident Lea Dreux noted that Neguse has received campaign contributions from a pro-Israel political action committee as well as real estate interests. Dreux asked how constituents can trust that Neguse is “going to protect our communities despite receiving a lot of money from interest groups?”

Neguse responded that he “vehemently disagrees” with the premise of the question that his votes are decided by what groups help fund his campaign. He said that on the other side of the aisle, Republic members of Congress “are terrified of their own constituents.”

“At the end of the day, I have an obligation as a congressman to do what I can to represent the 750,000 people that call Colorado’s 2nd district home and be faithful to all my constituents, to the Constitution, to the country and to my own conscience,” Neguse said. “That’s how I’ve voted and how I will continue to vote.”

Neguse said that he believes there is too much corruption in politics and that he has led the effort to ban stock trading by members of Congress and to pass a constitutional amendment to repeal Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision that enabled corporations to spend unlimited money in elections.

Addressing a question about federal funding freezes, Neguse said the Trump Administration’s flurry of federal firings and funding freezes is “intended to make us feel helpless and like we don’t have agency or power to shape what is happening.” But he noted that a federal court ordered the Trump Administration to end its federal funding freeze.

“It can be really hard to be hopeful about the future for our country,” Neguse said as he wrapped up the town hall. “But to me, hope is not some quiet, distant thing that you just hold on to. Hope is meant to be loud. Hope is meant to be action-oriented. It’s not passive. It requires us to be engaged.”