Gov. Ned Lamont was sharing a table with Gov. Janet Mills of Maine at the White House when President Donald J. Trump chose to make an example of Mills 鈥� and Maine 鈥� over resistance to his executive order aimed at driving transgender athletes from women鈥檚 and girls鈥� sports.
鈥淚s Maine here, the governor of Maine?鈥� Trump said, looking around the State Dining Room, where the nation鈥檚 governors gathered in late February for what is normally a congenial bipartisan dinner. He fixed his stare on Mills and said sharply, 鈥淎re you not going to comply with it?鈥�
The moment arrived like a thunderclap, electric and deeply felt by Lamont on several counts. Mills is a friend, and 海角换妻 has a gender-identity rights law similar to Maine鈥檚. Trump鈥檚 sudden jab at Mills and Maine just as easily could have been directed at Lamont and 海角换妻.
鈥淚鈥檓 complying with state and federal laws,鈥� Mills told Trump.
鈥淲e are the federal law,鈥� Trump replied. 鈥淵ou better do it. You better do it, because you鈥檙e not going to get any federal funding at all if you don鈥檛.鈥�
鈥淪ee you in court,鈥� Mills shot back.
Nearly three weeks later, that Maine was under attack by no fewer than six federal agencies over the continued participation of a transgender girl in high school sports, and Lamont acknowledges relief that he only was a witness to Trump鈥檚 sudden attack in the State Dining Room and not its target.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 necessarily want to get singled out by the president of the United States and have him take retribution, as he singled out Janet Mills and took some retribution,鈥� Lamont said. 鈥淚 was sort of happy to be sitting where I was 鈥� but I was also pretty proud of Janet for standing up.鈥�
The mixed sentiment is emblematic of a careful, constructive-engagement approach to all things Trump that Lamont says is informed by his experiences with Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago. The disagreements were frequent but created no lasting breach with the White House.
The lesson from 2020?
鈥淲hen you disagree, disagree with respect,鈥� Lamont said. 鈥淎nd let people know loud and clear where you stand.鈥�
Lamont鈥檚 ability to balance those two things will be on display Tuesday.
He is holding a morning press conference with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal to urge the Trump administration to halt its plans to gut clean air rules. In the afternoon, he is to join the congressional delegation at a Disability 海角换妻 Rights rally outside the state Capitol to protest Medicaid cuts being considered by Trump and congressional Republicans.
More often, Lamont has opted to criticize Trump policy, not Trump personally.
A case in point was Lamont鈥檚 initial restraint on the Trump administration鈥檚 action last week in that the Environmental Protection Agency boasted was the 鈥済reatest and most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history.鈥�
One of the 31 changes would lift 鈥済ood neighbor鈥� restrictions on midwestern power plant emissions that are carried to 海角换妻 and other states on prevailing winds. The EPA鈥檚 administrator, Lee Zeldin, also promised to erase the foundational finding that greenhouse gases endanger humanity.
鈥淭hese rollbacks are especially damaging for downwind states like 海角换妻, which rely on federal protections to prevent other states鈥� pollution from impacting our air quality,鈥� Lamont said. He added, 鈥淚 strongly urge the EPA to reconsider rolling back these critical environmental and public health protections.鈥�
Neither Lamont鈥檚 statement nor one from Katie Dykes, his commissioner of energy and environmental protection, mentioned Trump or the Trump administration by name. Similarly, a week ago, Lamont largely ignored Trump in describing the state鈥檚 vulnerability to cuts in federal funding of Medicaid, which provides health coverage for more than one-third of 海角换妻 residents.
The omissions were deliberate.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the Democrats are doing themselves any favors when they make everything all about Trump all the time,鈥� Lamont said in an interview. 鈥淚 talk about Medicaid, I talk about child care, I talk about SNAP benefits. I reach out to Republican governors. I say, 鈥楾his is going to impact your state just as much as it鈥檚 going to impact my state. We don鈥檛 have to make this all about Trump, but on this one issue, I think we should be working together.鈥� I think that鈥檚 primarily what my job is right now.鈥�
Mark Bergman, a Democratic political consultant whose clients include governors and members of Congress, said the different roles can dictate different tactics regarding the president. Governors, more often than not, are opting for pragmatism.
鈥淎s a governor, you鈥檝e got a lot of different interests you have to balance, and every governor will make those decisions and do what鈥檚 in the best interests of their state,鈥� Bergman said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the best way to handle what is now a very disruptive period of time for state and federal government. If you are a member of Congress, it鈥檚 a different calculation.鈥�
海角换妻鈥檚 two Democratic U.S. senators, Blumenthal and Chris Murphy 鈥� who broke with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, over his voting for a Republican take-it-or-leave it resolution that avoided a shutdown of the federal government 鈥� said Monday that Democrats at all levels have to be more aggressive.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think appeasement works right now,鈥� Murphy said.
Blumenthal quoted Timothy Snyder, a Yale history professor whose first lesson in a pamphlet, 鈥淥n Tyranny,鈥� is 鈥淒o not obey in advance.鈥� Snyder posits that most of the power of authoritarianism is given freely by individuals who think about what a repressive government wants, then 鈥渙ffer themselves without being asked.鈥�
鈥淲e have to resist appeasement,鈥� Blumenthal said. 鈥淒o not obey in advance. This road is long and windy, but it leads only to catastrophe if we resort to appeasement.鈥�
Neither senator said they were talking about Lamont, who will be appearing with them Tuesday.
鈥淚 just don鈥檛 want to live in a world in which any of us go and bend the knee to Donald Trump in order to get money. That may feel like the right thing in the short run, but it will destroy our democracy in the in the long run,鈥� Murphy said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that that鈥檚 what鈥檚 happening in in 海角换妻. That鈥檚 broader advice that I鈥檓 giving.鈥�
Lamont notes that Mills did not go to the White House looking for a viral moment, one that has placed her face on T-shirts with the line, 鈥淪ee you in court!鈥� Trump brought it to her, and she made the call not to back down, he said.
While Lamont has opted for engagement with Trump, he has not yielded ground on 海角换妻鈥檚 areas of conflict with the president, most notably the 鈥淭rust Act鈥� that sets limits on how the state interacts with federal immigration agents or its support for refugees.
鈥淥bviously, there鈥檚 some lines that I will not cross, you know. If you want to take away that Dreamer from Middlesex High School, not on my watch, you鈥檙e not going to do that,鈥� Lamont said. 鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 need to go out and pick a fight. People know where I stand.鈥�
In June 2020, a month after the police killing of George Floyd, Lamont dismissed Trump鈥檚 call for governors to use the U.S. military to crack down on the resulting police-brutality demonstrations. He suggested then that the president look to states like 海角换妻, where police and protesters generally have demonstrated mutual respect.
鈥淚 hope he鈥檒l be able to learn from our example,鈥� Lamont said at the time. It was on-brand for Lamont 鈥� equal measures quiet defiance and optimism, perhaps misplaced, that Trump might see another way.
Lamont may be recalibrating, but his posture toward Trump lately has been what it was a month into the pandemic five years ago. He said then, 鈥淚鈥檝e got to leave the door open. I鈥檝e got to work with people. Our congressional delegation can put on the boxing gloves. I need to get this state through a crisis.鈥�
In his state of the state speech last month, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential candidate for president in 2028, drew a different lesson from his dealings with Trump in 2020.
鈥淭here are people, some in my own party, who think that if you just give Donald Trump everything that he wants, he鈥檒l make an exception, and he鈥檒l spare you some of the harm. I鈥檒l ignore the moral abdication of that position for just a second to say almost none of these people have had the experience with the president that I do,鈥� Pritzker said. 鈥淚 once swallowed my pride to offer him what he values most: public praise on the Sunday news shows.鈥�
Pritzker said it yielded nothing helpful. With Trump, he said, 鈥淕oing along to get along does not work.鈥�
State Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, a progressive weighing a run for governor, said he preferred Pritzker鈥檚 more defiant approach to Lamont鈥檚. 鈥淲e need to be strong without being unnecessarily antagonistic,鈥� he said.
Lamont is aware of such sentiments and how they appeal to potential Democratic primary voters. He has yet to decide if he will seek a third term in 2028.
For now, his approach suits the goals and personality of Lamont, a 71-year-old former businessman from Greenwich who did not object this week when introduced on Bloomberg TV as a centrist who finds order and comfort in a businesslike approach to governing that, so far, is foreign to Trump 2.0.
In January, a CBS poll found that a majority of Democrats essentially shared Lamont鈥檚 view in favoring an effort to find common ground with the incoming president. A month later, , with 65% favoring across-the-board opposition.
On March 9 in Trumbull, the Democratic Town Committee鈥檚 annual 鈥淜eys to Democracy鈥� fundraising dinner drew its largest crowd, and the vibe was one of resistance, not cooperation or engagement, said attendees, including the Democratic chair, Ashley Gaudiano.
Attorney General William Tong, who has joined other Democratic attorneys general in suing the Trump administration over everything from a presidential order ending birthright citizenship to this week鈥檚 dismantling of the Department of Education, was a defiant crowd pleaser.
鈥淧eople have a deep respect for how he is speaking out in this moment. I hear a lot about his boldness, that this is an energy that is needed in this moment in time,鈥� Gaudiano said. 鈥淭here is a little more pause with the governor鈥檚 response that I hear, depending on the person and where they fall, as more progressive or moderate.鈥�
The governor did not attend.
Tong said there are no substantive differences with the governor over Trump. Unlike in some other states, Tong does not need a gubernatorial sign off to sue the president, but he consults with Lamont and has heard only support for his litigation.
鈥淎s far as I know, there is no daylight between us, and I don鈥檛 expect there to be. He regularly encourages me to take strong action,鈥� Tong said. 鈥淲e just have different roles, different authority.鈥�
Tong, who recently addressed anti-Trump protesters on the state Capitol lawn and led them in fight cheers, paused and added, 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 obvious that Ned and I have different styles.鈥�
For now, officials from the Trump administration are focused on whether Maine is to be punished for letting a transgender girl compete on a high school track team. The governing authority over scholastic sports is the Maine Principals Association, not the governor.
The federal departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Justice, and Agriculture are investigating. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cancelled a $4.5 million grant to Maine for marine research. And even the Social Security Administration got involved by canceling contracts that allowed hospitals to automatically report births. SSA later reconsidered.
No federal law explicitly bars trans athletes from competing against girls in high school sports or women in collegiate games. is a threat to take federal funding from any 鈥渆ducational program that deprives women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.鈥�
The NCAA has complied with Trump鈥檚 order, so he has succeeded in banning trans athletes from collegiate women鈥檚 sports in Maine and elsewhere. The Maine Principals Association has not.
As Mills told Trump, she anticipates it will end up in court.
