Democrat Elissa Slotkin Delivers ‘Starmaking’ Rebuttal to Trump

Elissa Slotkin had the eyes of the nation on her as she gave the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s first joint congressional address of his second presidential term on Tuesday night.

“It’s late, so I promise to be a lot shorter than what you just watched,” the first-term Michigan senator said after Trump spoke for about 100 minutes, the longest annual presidential address in modern history.

Slotkin was announced for the role by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries last Thursday. Schumer described Slotkin as a “rising star” who will “offer a bold vision of hope, unity, and a brighter future for everyone, not just the wealthy few at the top.” Slotkin promised she would take the opportunity “to level with” the public “on what’s actually happening in our country.” Her rebuttal comes at a time when Democrats are struggling to present a unified opposition strategy to Trump.

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Slotkin began her 10-minute rebuttal by explaining her own path to politics before addressing Americans’ economic concerns, admitting that changes are necessary after a “fraught election season.” She said: “Americans made it clear that prices are too high and that the government needs to be more responsive to their needs. America wants change, but there’s a responsible way to make change and a reckless way, and we can make that change without forgetting who we are as a country and as a democracy.”

On the economy, Slotkin said prices of “groceries, housing, health care” need to be brought down, manufacturing needs to be brought back to America, businesses need certainty to invest, and Americans who aren’t billionaires need a fair tax system. “Look, the President talked a big game on the economy, but it's always important to read the fine print,” she said. “Do his plans actually help Americans get ahead? Not even close,” she added, arguing that Trump is trying to deliver “an unprecedented giveaway” to the wealthy. “And to do that he’s going to make you pay in every part of your life.”

Slotkin said Trump has no credible plan to lower grocery and home prices and that his tariffs are likely to raise the price of energy and trigger a trade war that could hurt U.S. manufacturing and agriculture. She also claimed that Trump would raise the costs of premiums and prescriptions “because the math on his proposals doesn’t work without going after your health care” and that “in order to pay for his plan, he could very well come after your retirement,” referencing social security and Veterans Affairs benefits at risk. “If he’s not careful, he could walk us right into a recession,” Slotkin said of Trump.

Slotkin also raised concerns about billionaire Elon Musk’s status as an advisor to Trump, pointing to his attacks on social security, Medicare, and VA benefits as well as the Department of Government Efficiency’s mass terminations of federal employees and programs that have upended Washington and the world. “Change doesn’t need to be chaotic or make us less safe, the mindless firing of people who work to protect our nuclear weapons, keep our planes from crashing, and conduct the research that finds the cure for cancer only to rehire them two days later,” she said. “No CEO in America could do that without being summarily fired.”

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Addressing border security, Slotkin said that “every country deserves to know who and what is coming across its border” but that “securing the border without actually fixing our broken immigration system is dealing with the symptom and not the disease.” She said that the U.S. needs “a functional system” that allows vetted immigrants to come legally and contribute to the economy, before seemingly facetiously adding: “I look forward to the President’s plan on that.”

Slotkin offered a sharp contrast to Trump’s more isolationist America First approach to foreign policy, declaring: “Today’s world is deeply interconnected—migration, cyber threats, AI, environmental destruction, terrorism—one nation cannot face these issues alone. We need friends in all corners, and our safety depends on it.”

She argued that Trump quotes former President Ronald Reagan when he calls for “peace through strength” but that Reagan “must be rolling in his grave” after Trump’s clash in the Oval Office last week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “Reagan understood that true strength required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity.”

The Oval Office episode with Zelensky, Slotkin said, “summed up Trump’s whole approach to the world: He believes in cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends like the Canadians in the teeth.” Slotkin said Trump doesn’t believe the U.S. is “exceptional” and that he “would have lost us the Cold War.”

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Slotkin ended on a word of warning and a call to action. “Our democracy, our very system of government, has been the aspiration of the world, and right now it’s at risk. It’s at risk when the President decides you can pick and choose what rules you want to follow, when he ignores court orders and the Constitution itself, or when elected leaders stand by and just let it happen,” she said. “But it’s also at risk when the President pits Americans against each other, when he demonizes those who are different and tells certain people they shouldn’t be included.”

But, she added, “as much as we need to make our government more responsive to our lives today, don't for one moment, fool yourself that democracy isn't precious and worth saving.” She told viewers not to tune out, to go to town halls and hold elected officials accountable, and to organize. “Pick just one issue you’re passionate about, and engage—and doomscrolling doesn’t count.”

The post-presidential-address rebuttal is widely seen as an opportunity for emerging party leaders to take the spotlight, and even conservatives praised Slotkin’s performance. Commentary editor John Podhoretz called it “starmaking,” and Jewish Insider editor-in-chief Josh Kraushaar called it the “kind of focus that Dems have lacked since Trump took office,” adding “her worldview is what can lead the Dems back out of the wilderness.”

Here’s what to know about Slotkin.

From CIA analyst to congresswoman

After graduating with a masters degree in international affairs from Columbia University, Slotkin was recruited to be a Middle East analyst for the CIA. Fluent in Arabic and Swahili, she served three tours in Iraq with the U.S. military. She then served in national security roles at the White House during both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. During the latter, her work ranged from combatting ISIS to U.S.-Russia relations.

Part of the Democrats’ hope in Slotkin may be due to her ability to win over more conservative voters. Slotkin ran for Congress in 2018, flipping a Republican-held seat and helping Democrats regain a House majority. Her campaign, she said, was inspired by watching her mother die from ovarian cancer in 2011, after her family struggled to afford life-saving care against insurance price gouging. 

Slotkin drew nationwide attention—including both protests and support—when she announced at a town hall in 2019 that she backed Trump’s impeachment. She nevertheless went on to win reelection in 2020 and again in 2022.

In February, 2023, Slotkin threw her hat in the ring to succeed Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D, Mich.). Her campaign targeted split-ticket voters, emphasizing affordable healthcare, costs of living, and jobs for working and middle class Americans, while taking a moderate stance on gun laws. She narrowly beat Republican Mike Rogers, becoming the youngest Democratic woman elected to the Senate. She was one of four Democrats to win Senate races in states won by Trump.

“I personally think that identity politics needs to go the way of the dodo,” the 48-year-old, who describes herself as a third-generation Michigander, told NBC News after the 2024 election. “People need to be looked at as independent Americans, whatever group they’re from, whatever party they may be from.”

Slotkin has broken from her party’s positions on several issues, and was scored as one of the most bipartisan House members. She has opposed abolishing the death penalty, reserving its use for rare cases; was one of 12 Senate Democrats to vote for the Laken Riley Act that mandates harsher detention rules for undocumented immigrants suspected of theft or violent crimes; and drew criticism after voting for an amendment in 2023 preventing Department of Defense facilities from displaying non-official flags, including Pride flags. (Slotkin said she wished to ban “hateful flags” like the Confederate flag and would “rather support a no-flag policy than allow hateful imagery above U.S. military bases”; she has been endorsed by the LGBTQ+ rights group Human Rights Campaign and voted in favor of gender-affirming care for military families.)

“We’ve gone through periods of political instability before, and ultimately, we’ve chosen to keep changing this country for the better,” Slotkin said Tuesday night. “But every single time, we’ve only gotten through those moments because of two things: engaged citizens and principled leaders—engaged citizens who do a little bit more than they’re used to doing to fight for the things that they care about, and principled leaders who are ready to receive the ball and do something about it.”