"Democrats have some power to stall and throw sand in the gears, but right now, this is mostly a PR battle... The hardest thing we have to do is simply wait. "
I mean, yes, but they're not doing very much sand-throwing, are they? Confirming Trump nominees to the cabinet, for example. Sure, they'll be outvoted and these monsters will all be seated. But could they show a little defiance? Y'know, as a treat?
I read an article yesterday about how Congressional Democrats were annoyed by how many calls they were getting from constituents about their lack of action. "There's only so much we can do," they plead. "We're in the minority."
I dunno. Even if there's only so much you can *DO*, now seems like the exact right time to at least be speaking out MORE. This wait-and-see approach is bad optics at best and a tacit endorsement at worst.
I saw that same article and then received a DNC fundraising email and saw red. Really?? You want my money AS YOU BITCH about people expecting you to do things? Shut the fuck up.
This is literally your job.
The South Korean legislators climbed a fence in the middle of the night to stop a coup. Can you capture maybe a tenth of that energy for the fascist takeover of our democracy? As a treat?
The South Koreans are amazing. WTF is wrong with Americans? I think it's the worship of electoral politics above all other forms of political action. That indoctrination into "American democracy"--it's really just exceptionalism.
Exactly. At least make a show of trying to stop it, whatever they can do. Don't vote yes on some cabinet nominees because they might actually be qualified, (ahem, AMY KLOBUCHAR!), vote no on ALL OF THEM! History will not be kind to how so many of our legislators are acting like this is run of the mill governing, and not a five-alarm fire. Voting against his picks might not make a difference in them getting confirmed, but it will send a message to US that they are not on board with his nonsense. It just feels like everyone is so glib about this.
If you want to do something but not sure what, follow your school board and local government. Last week I found out that our school committee was going to rescind a policy that was passed in November, Excellence in Student Outcomes and Success. It is an anti-racism policy focused on equity. The new chair never wanted this policy because as he said last year, its 2024 aren't we past institutional racism? He hated this policy and with the new committee he knew he could get the 4 votes needed.
Screw that, I started a change.org petition rallied the troops and had 170 people show up last night.
First they tried to say they were never going to rescind the policy (spoiler they were, the agenda item was titled rescind policy 1050) then they tried saying they were going to put it into abeyance, where the crowd rightfully pointed out it's basically the same thing. Prior to the outpouring of people and speakers, even a trans student spoke on how much this policy means to them and every other marginalized student it went from going to fail with a 4-3 vote to passing with a 6-1 vote.
People read some of the committee members for filth and they deserved every minute of the dressing down.
If you feel helpless and overwhelmed, remember that your local school committee progressives and democrats are dealing with newly empowered Republicans and let them know you have their backs. It felt really good to win a battle.
Thank you for this fight! I'm also seeing racists/fascists emboldened on the local levels, and it is terrifying, but also the easiest to combat.
At the state level, I just signed a petition to stop a GOP state rep here in WA, who just introduced a resolution to stop vote-by-mail, which we have done successfully for decades here at this point, but of course the Repugs hate it because why should voting be easier and more accessible? Ugggggggggggggggh
I still don't support the "keep your powder dry" theory. Swing at everything AND wait them out. Yes, hard agree, elected officials need to throw themselves into the gears to stop this juggernaut because, if they don't, more people will end up getting hurt or killed. This needs to not be about positioning for the next election; it needs to be about stopping fascism in its tracks.
I keep hearing people saying stuff like "we will survive this." "We" might, but not everyone will, and that's an important distinction. It's a place of privilege. One million Americans died of COVID under Trump I. More than 4500 American soldiers and 200,000 civilian Iraqis died in Bush's war because "Saddam tried to kill my Daddy." More than 60,000 Americans died of AIDS alone under Reagan's policies, not to mention the 50,000+ Central Americans killed in his wars there.
We can't do nothing. People will die and lives will be irreparably damaged.
People are doing a lot and we can keep doing things while also maintaining our sanity. Can we please stop the narrative that nothing can be done? This is compliance in advance.
This drives me crazy. Democrats won another special election last night, House Dems have formed a rapid response team, Musk/Trump have suffered judicial setback after judicial setback, protests are ongoing and we're still hearing the same ole "Dems aren't doing anything." It feels like a psyop at this point. Just because Democrats don't have a big ass button that says "THIS BUTTON STOPS TRUMP" doesn't mean they're not doing anything.
Exactly. He won, so he is going to win a lot of these fights, yes. But folks are working hard in many ways to resist and address the illegalities and other areas where 'doing something' is possible. I'm disappointed in this narrative and we need to do better all around at lifting up the work being accomplished and creating a narrative that what is happening is harmful for our planet and everyone on it.
Thank you a thousand times. Unfortunately doom and gloom gets clicks and comments and that’s what all the threads/Bluesky/cable news pundits want and need to stay afloat. Trump and Elon and his minions flood the zone with their bs and performative terribleness and media says “keep throwing those bones for us to chew and spit out to our readers”. Trump, he’s bad for America but great for journalism (an actual quote from a journalist I know). Going to focus on taking back the Congress in 2026, helping Kamala become Calif governor (if she wants that job) and knowing that trump’s idiocy and musk’s narcissistic megalomania will wear on voters quickly.
People doom and gloom and they love it. They can wring their hands and write their articles and it accomplishes nothing. This situation demands that we all get off our asses and participate (something that if more people had done come election time, we wouldn’t be in this shit). If they can’t even envision a future for this country, how are they gonna help bring it to life? They’re just holding the rest of us back.
Yup, seeing a good bit of compliance in advance even in these comments. Like Sherrilyn Iffill says in that substack "People are doing things. You will meet those people when you start doing things."
Thank you. The Democrats, state AGs and other officials are filing lawsuits against the current administration. Several EOs have already been halted or blocked which is why Trump, Musk, Vance, etc. are so angry at judges right now.
The Democrats are in the minority in both chambers. They literally cannot stop any of Trump's nominees from being confirmed without Republican help. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski - two (alleged) moderate Republicans - voted for Tulsi Gabbard and are going to vote yes on RFK Jr. Every single Democrat voted no on Tulsi Gabbard and the only Republican who joined them was Mitch McConnell. That only comes to 48 votes.
There is so much going on that it is hard for even seasoned political experts to keep up. Which is why the GOP is flooding the zone so that Democrats don't know which fire to respond to.
The sad truth is that voters effectively fired the Democrats - they’re doing everything they can as the minority party to resist. It’s not sexy but that means going through the courts. People constantly screaming “Do Something!” seem like they want their own dictator to just fire bomb the WH since they ignore everything else the Dems are doing.
I want Democrats to swing at every pitch, hoping at least one eventually results in a smash up the middle that hits the pitcher square in the balls.
Seriously, Trump and Vance are out here saying federal judges --you know, the folks who have been deciding what passes constitutional muster for over 200 years-- can't block the exercise of presidential powers, or even the exercise of Musk's powers. And not a single elected Republican has pushed back. At the least, Dems need to call out that complicity at every opportunity and remind everyone what is real. Videos of the Jan 6 riots that were part of the evidence admitted in prosecutions are being deleted from government websites, ferchrissakes. Hunkering down in the hopes they punch themselves out didn't work so well during the Fascist's first occupation (see e.g., Bob Mueller's much-ballyhooed "bombshell").
The part that genuinely terrifies me is that they're dancing with ignoring the courts. And that is when our democracy is truly gone. If they say fuck off to an adverse ruling, who will enforce it? And once that happens, the courts lose all power. They're our last safe guard and all it will take to lose that is these guys saying "Nah."
They recently started barring news outlets from the WH who didn't refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the "gUlF oF aMeRiCa!" This seems like an odd thing to prioritize. Which makes me wonder what his real priorities are. He seems more concerned with literally taking over the world than running the country. Buying Greenland, turning Gaza into a hotel resort, changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico. These seem to concern him more than what Musk is even doing. It's like he turned over control of the actual country to Musk.
Ditto stupid culture war shit like banning anything they consider "woke" like paper straws (never even heard of these until republicans started whining about them) and banning trans people from the military. The actual day to day shit doesn't appear to interest him. He's dropped talking about things like grocery prices altogether. And changes the subject when it comes up. You know, the one thing that got him elected in the first place?
What did surprise me, and he could just be straight up lying, is that he said he would obey the courts. He either seems to think that SCOTUS will just rubber stamp whatever he wants (can't say with a straight face they won't) or he knows that if he just defies the law altogether his party will get blown out in he midterms and/or any special elections between now and then. Part of making fascism work is either having the military back you up no matter what, or operate under the public's radar. They aren't doing either.
My guess is he wants to stay in office for life. Hence the fixation on finding a way to get a third term. But the thing is, you still have to maintain semi-popularity to win re-election and make it look credible. Getting more land makes you look good. Abolishing Social Security doesn't.
I get that they are "flooding the zone with shit" but these are far from geniuses. Musk and his goons are doing this out in the open for all the world to see and the people they are firing are going public. This is happening far from under the radar. Once non-political people start paying attention, my guess is his numbers are going to crater. The question is, will it matter by that point?
You're more optimistic than I am. I don't see his numbers tanking. I think a lot of (low info) voters like strong daddy-man in charge vibes. They simply don't pay enough attention, and when it IS brought to their attention it will be in a way that dumbs it down enough to make it seem like it's good for them. The erosion of education and distrust in media is paying dividends for Republicans.
I think a lot of what they are doing could easily tank the economy. Picking fights with our allies is not good for the world market in general. He's a chaos agent. Musk used fancy words yesterday to suggest a recession was a good thing. These idiots are not thinking very far ahead. If high prices got him elected, imagine what tanking the economy will do.
They won't tank in the short term. New presidents get a few months grace period. But it IS already eroding a bit, +9 on inauguration day, +4.5 now. Just give it a few months of sustained high grocery prices, which low info voters DEFINITELY pay attention to.
It's still - technically - the "honeymoon period" for Trump. None of his policies have really been felt yet due to judges blocking a lot of his EOs. We won't be feeling the real hurt until a couple of months from now. His core MAGA base (30-35% of the country) will keep supporting him but I think low information voters who don't pay attention to politics as much will start to care when they see things aren't getting better.
There was a report that came out yesterday that inflation and consumer prices have increased this month. There are reports of egg shortages on grocery shelves. And of course Trump blamed Biden.
It's become clear that Musk is the Achilles Heel of the administration. Musk trampling the executive state is something the right desperately wants, but can't achieve legislatively, because, ya know, killing food programs for hungry children is wildly unpopular. So the entire R party is staring at their shoes as Musk wipes his ass with the Constitution.
But Musk's entire power base is Tesla, and it's profitability underwriting Twitter as his e-bullhorn. Tesla is in a precarious financial spot right now, so boycotting and protesting the Swastikars is likely our best political cudgel.
There was a point yesterday when the top 5 stories in the NYT app were all about Elon Musk, his decisions, his actions, and not one of them mentioned Trump. More of that please.
I agree with the exception that we can’t wait on hounding our reps over what Elon is doing. Remember: Hitler dismantled democracy in 53 days. We’re 18 into this one and the long knives are sharpening. Call your rep, call your senator, go to protests, demand that Democrats use the debt ceiling as a hostage to force this administration to follow the law.
And Dustin: good on you for helping your wife. You are correct that none of our ulcers will be felt in Washington. I encourage everyone to pick up any hobbies you’ve been putting off. Skills will never not be valuable.
Your point about Hitler is an important one. And the thing is Republicans have been undermining our government and democratic powers for decades. This isn't the beginning of the fight. This is our last battle.
Because I don't understand the debt ceiling thing, how do Dems have any more leverage with this issue vs everything else? I'm all for throwing a grenade to stop a larger war, but what can they actually do about this?
Basically it boils down to this: without increasing the debt ceiling the government shuts down, which causes chaos. It is almost always a political blow to the party in power, so it would currently hurt Republicans. As such they want to avoid it. Also, this shutdown is much more abrupt than what Musk is doing, whose impact will take some time to ripen.
Republicans have a 3 vote majority, meaning more than 2 defections shuts them down without Democrat help. They also have a fractious shitty caucus made up of lunatics and Mike Johnson is a shitty speaker who struggles to keep them in check.
So what I think Democrats should do, and what I called Pramila Jayapal to ask that the progressive caucus push for, is to agree to short term extensions to the debt ceiling and make further extensions contingent on Trump following the law.
The admin nominee positions only need a simple majority to get through, so Dems can try delay tactics in the hopes of swinging someone away from a vote, but that’s the only thing they can do there (and even those delay tactics are limited).
Budget on the other hand requires a two-thirds majority in senate. If GOP doesn’t have that (which they don’t have 60 votes) it allows Dems to filibuster or use threat of a shutdown.
May I suggest listening to a conversation with Karen Walrond on the Everything is Fine (unfortunate title that was created a few years ago) podcast? She had helpful advice about activism and self care that helped me refocus on how to survive the next year.
Sorry to be a pessimist, but being an historian does not breed optimism. Not in most of us anyways (I do have colleagues that are more optimistic. Two colleagues anyway).
"These people are hanging themselves with their own rope and kicking the chair out from under them...Then we pounce."
That paragraph is assuming that people will actually pay attention and come to the conclusion that voting matters, it is Trump's fault, that the parties are not the same, and that it is worth getting off their asses to go and vote. Considering how dumb and hateful Americans are, I am...not optimistic. It also assumes that the People and Constitution have any power left. That is a big assumption. Dictators run their countries into the ground and still maintain their hold on power. Because they are dictators and there is no functioning democratic system to unseat them. We can hope Trump is like Sulla and that he will leave office when his term is done (technically Sulla left far after his term, but he still stepped down eventually). And we can hope that whoever follows him will be put in power by a legitimate election. But we can't count on any of that.
This is not a war of attrition, we are already beaten down. We lost the PR war. We lost all 3 branches of government, not to mention the 4th. Our enemy has the support of the entire moneyed class. They are just ignoring court rulings. They are energized and have the vast majority of resources. We now need to think of this as an asymmetrical conflict, more akin to a revolt, an insurgency. We need guerrilla tactics.
I am NOT saying to stop fighting. Do whatever you can. Call your reps. Support orgs like the ACLU. Vote in whatever elections we have left. Protest and march. Personally for me, thinking these things are going to work requires more optimism than I can muster.
But we all need to remember: The fight is all there is at this point. We cannot be complacent. We cannot comply.
I'd like to add, to anyone who sometimes feels helpless and hopeless, that one thing we can all do is keep facts alive. Save and print things. Archive things. Don't call it the Gulf of America. Keep posting cited facts in your posts.
Fascists try to remake history and the present. Don't let them. This is something that's free to do (albeit time consuming), and second nature to anyone who's 'very online' and/or kind of a nerd too.
Seeing Apartheid Ken up there wearing that stupid fucking hat and lecturing us on "fixing" America...I just can't. How the hell is one random who wasn't vetted/confirmed by Congress (not that he would have had any problem) go into all these agencies and just start firing the bulk of the staffs? It's all so enraging.
Money. He bought himself a presidential administration. And judges in states like Pennsylvania allowed it, like when he did that MAGA lottery, which was blatantly illegal.
Besides money, Musk is doing what Republicans have always wanted to, but can't because the blowback would be too severe. The muted R response is because they're secretly happy over it.
The thing is, at the moment, Trump's approval rating is, for him, very high, higher than at ANY point during his first term according to some sources. People see him as doing a lot, being "energetic," and they like that. It may well come crashing down in the next few months as the actual effects of his policies come to light, but it very well may not. I'm through underestimating the stupidity of American voters.
Trump's approval is the 2nd lowest of any president of the last 60 years, next to Trump 1. Further, the positives are overwhelmingly R voters, with moderates' support being highly contigent on the economy. The more Trump and Muskrat hack away at essential services and ignore the economy, the more it'll torpedo his most tenuous supporters.
Kara Swisher has this great line: they're so poor all they have is their money. I think about that all the time
"Democrats have some power to stall and throw sand in the gears, but right now, this is mostly a PR battle... The hardest thing we have to do is simply wait. "
I mean, yes, but they're not doing very much sand-throwing, are they? Confirming Trump nominees to the cabinet, for example. Sure, they'll be outvoted and these monsters will all be seated. But could they show a little defiance? Y'know, as a treat?
I read an article yesterday about how Congressional Democrats were annoyed by how many calls they were getting from constituents about their lack of action. "There's only so much we can do," they plead. "We're in the minority."
I dunno. Even if there's only so much you can *DO*, now seems like the exact right time to at least be speaking out MORE. This wait-and-see approach is bad optics at best and a tacit endorsement at worst.
I saw that same article and then received a DNC fundraising email and saw red. Really?? You want my money AS YOU BITCH about people expecting you to do things? Shut the fuck up.
This is literally your job.
The South Korean legislators climbed a fence in the middle of the night to stop a coup. Can you capture maybe a tenth of that energy for the fascist takeover of our democracy? As a treat?
The South Koreans are amazing. WTF is wrong with Americans? I think it's the worship of electoral politics above all other forms of political action. That indoctrination into "American democracy"--it's really just exceptionalism.
‘You Can’t Let This Happen,’ Says Fundraising Email From Sitting U.S. Congressperson
--The Onion @theonion.com
Exactly. At least make a show of trying to stop it, whatever they can do. Don't vote yes on some cabinet nominees because they might actually be qualified, (ahem, AMY KLOBUCHAR!), vote no on ALL OF THEM! History will not be kind to how so many of our legislators are acting like this is run of the mill governing, and not a five-alarm fire. Voting against his picks might not make a difference in them getting confirmed, but it will send a message to US that they are not on board with his nonsense. It just feels like everyone is so glib about this.
If you want to do something but not sure what, follow your school board and local government. Last week I found out that our school committee was going to rescind a policy that was passed in November, Excellence in Student Outcomes and Success. It is an anti-racism policy focused on equity. The new chair never wanted this policy because as he said last year, its 2024 aren't we past institutional racism? He hated this policy and with the new committee he knew he could get the 4 votes needed.
Screw that, I started a change.org petition rallied the troops and had 170 people show up last night.
First they tried to say they were never going to rescind the policy (spoiler they were, the agenda item was titled rescind policy 1050) then they tried saying they were going to put it into abeyance, where the crowd rightfully pointed out it's basically the same thing. Prior to the outpouring of people and speakers, even a trans student spoke on how much this policy means to them and every other marginalized student it went from going to fail with a 4-3 vote to passing with a 6-1 vote.
People read some of the committee members for filth and they deserved every minute of the dressing down.
If you feel helpless and overwhelmed, remember that your local school committee progressives and democrats are dealing with newly empowered Republicans and let them know you have their backs. It felt really good to win a battle.
Thank you for this fight! I'm also seeing racists/fascists emboldened on the local levels, and it is terrifying, but also the easiest to combat.
At the state level, I just signed a petition to stop a GOP state rep here in WA, who just introduced a resolution to stop vote-by-mail, which we have done successfully for decades here at this point, but of course the Repugs hate it because why should voting be easier and more accessible? Ugggggggggggggggh
You made my day, week, month! Thank you for showing up and showing how it can be done. Start local is probably the very best advise to everyone.
I still don't support the "keep your powder dry" theory. Swing at everything AND wait them out. Yes, hard agree, elected officials need to throw themselves into the gears to stop this juggernaut because, if they don't, more people will end up getting hurt or killed. This needs to not be about positioning for the next election; it needs to be about stopping fascism in its tracks.
I keep hearing people saying stuff like "we will survive this." "We" might, but not everyone will, and that's an important distinction. It's a place of privilege. One million Americans died of COVID under Trump I. More than 4500 American soldiers and 200,000 civilian Iraqis died in Bush's war because "Saddam tried to kill my Daddy." More than 60,000 Americans died of AIDS alone under Reagan's policies, not to mention the 50,000+ Central Americans killed in his wars there.
We can't do nothing. People will die and lives will be irreparably damaged.
People are doing a lot and we can keep doing things while also maintaining our sanity. Can we please stop the narrative that nothing can be done? This is compliance in advance.
https://sherrilyn.substack.com/p/democracy-is-crumbling-is-anybody
This drives me crazy. Democrats won another special election last night, House Dems have formed a rapid response team, Musk/Trump have suffered judicial setback after judicial setback, protests are ongoing and we're still hearing the same ole "Dems aren't doing anything." It feels like a psyop at this point. Just because Democrats don't have a big ass button that says "THIS BUTTON STOPS TRUMP" doesn't mean they're not doing anything.
Exactly. He won, so he is going to win a lot of these fights, yes. But folks are working hard in many ways to resist and address the illegalities and other areas where 'doing something' is possible. I'm disappointed in this narrative and we need to do better all around at lifting up the work being accomplished and creating a narrative that what is happening is harmful for our planet and everyone on it.
I'm disappointed too. It's not only compliance, it's actively helping the fascists.
Thank you a thousand times. Unfortunately doom and gloom gets clicks and comments and that’s what all the threads/Bluesky/cable news pundits want and need to stay afloat. Trump and Elon and his minions flood the zone with their bs and performative terribleness and media says “keep throwing those bones for us to chew and spit out to our readers”. Trump, he’s bad for America but great for journalism (an actual quote from a journalist I know). Going to focus on taking back the Congress in 2026, helping Kamala become Calif governor (if she wants that job) and knowing that trump’s idiocy and musk’s narcissistic megalomania will wear on voters quickly.
People doom and gloom and they love it. They can wring their hands and write their articles and it accomplishes nothing. This situation demands that we all get off our asses and participate (something that if more people had done come election time, we wouldn’t be in this shit). If they can’t even envision a future for this country, how are they gonna help bring it to life? They’re just holding the rest of us back.
Yup, seeing a good bit of compliance in advance even in these comments. Like Sherrilyn Iffill says in that substack "People are doing things. You will meet those people when you start doing things."
Thank you. The Democrats, state AGs and other officials are filing lawsuits against the current administration. Several EOs have already been halted or blocked which is why Trump, Musk, Vance, etc. are so angry at judges right now.
The Democrats are in the minority in both chambers. They literally cannot stop any of Trump's nominees from being confirmed without Republican help. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski - two (alleged) moderate Republicans - voted for Tulsi Gabbard and are going to vote yes on RFK Jr. Every single Democrat voted no on Tulsi Gabbard and the only Republican who joined them was Mitch McConnell. That only comes to 48 votes.
There is so much going on that it is hard for even seasoned political experts to keep up. Which is why the GOP is flooding the zone so that Democrats don't know which fire to respond to.
The sad truth is that voters effectively fired the Democrats - they’re doing everything they can as the minority party to resist. It’s not sexy but that means going through the courts. People constantly screaming “Do Something!” seem like they want their own dictator to just fire bomb the WH since they ignore everything else the Dems are doing.
I want Democrats to swing at every pitch, hoping at least one eventually results in a smash up the middle that hits the pitcher square in the balls.
Seriously, Trump and Vance are out here saying federal judges --you know, the folks who have been deciding what passes constitutional muster for over 200 years-- can't block the exercise of presidential powers, or even the exercise of Musk's powers. And not a single elected Republican has pushed back. At the least, Dems need to call out that complicity at every opportunity and remind everyone what is real. Videos of the Jan 6 riots that were part of the evidence admitted in prosecutions are being deleted from government websites, ferchrissakes. Hunkering down in the hopes they punch themselves out didn't work so well during the Fascist's first occupation (see e.g., Bob Mueller's much-ballyhooed "bombshell").
The part that genuinely terrifies me is that they're dancing with ignoring the courts. And that is when our democracy is truly gone. If they say fuck off to an adverse ruling, who will enforce it? And once that happens, the courts lose all power. They're our last safe guard and all it will take to lose that is these guys saying "Nah."
They recently started barring news outlets from the WH who didn't refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the "gUlF oF aMeRiCa!" This seems like an odd thing to prioritize. Which makes me wonder what his real priorities are. He seems more concerned with literally taking over the world than running the country. Buying Greenland, turning Gaza into a hotel resort, changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico. These seem to concern him more than what Musk is even doing. It's like he turned over control of the actual country to Musk.
Ditto stupid culture war shit like banning anything they consider "woke" like paper straws (never even heard of these until republicans started whining about them) and banning trans people from the military. The actual day to day shit doesn't appear to interest him. He's dropped talking about things like grocery prices altogether. And changes the subject when it comes up. You know, the one thing that got him elected in the first place?
What did surprise me, and he could just be straight up lying, is that he said he would obey the courts. He either seems to think that SCOTUS will just rubber stamp whatever he wants (can't say with a straight face they won't) or he knows that if he just defies the law altogether his party will get blown out in he midterms and/or any special elections between now and then. Part of making fascism work is either having the military back you up no matter what, or operate under the public's radar. They aren't doing either.
My guess is he wants to stay in office for life. Hence the fixation on finding a way to get a third term. But the thing is, you still have to maintain semi-popularity to win re-election and make it look credible. Getting more land makes you look good. Abolishing Social Security doesn't.
I get that they are "flooding the zone with shit" but these are far from geniuses. Musk and his goons are doing this out in the open for all the world to see and the people they are firing are going public. This is happening far from under the radar. Once non-political people start paying attention, my guess is his numbers are going to crater. The question is, will it matter by that point?
My good news minute for today so far was how Hegseth got booed and heckled by a bunch of military families when he visited them in Germany. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/hegseth-protest-dei-transgender-germany-military-rcna191636
I saw that!
You're more optimistic than I am. I don't see his numbers tanking. I think a lot of (low info) voters like strong daddy-man in charge vibes. They simply don't pay enough attention, and when it IS brought to their attention it will be in a way that dumbs it down enough to make it seem like it's good for them. The erosion of education and distrust in media is paying dividends for Republicans.
I think a lot of what they are doing could easily tank the economy. Picking fights with our allies is not good for the world market in general. He's a chaos agent. Musk used fancy words yesterday to suggest a recession was a good thing. These idiots are not thinking very far ahead. If high prices got him elected, imagine what tanking the economy will do.
They won't tank in the short term. New presidents get a few months grace period. But it IS already eroding a bit, +9 on inauguration day, +4.5 now. Just give it a few months of sustained high grocery prices, which low info voters DEFINITELY pay attention to.
It's still - technically - the "honeymoon period" for Trump. None of his policies have really been felt yet due to judges blocking a lot of his EOs. We won't be feeling the real hurt until a couple of months from now. His core MAGA base (30-35% of the country) will keep supporting him but I think low information voters who don't pay attention to politics as much will start to care when they see things aren't getting better.
There was a report that came out yesterday that inflation and consumer prices have increased this month. There are reports of egg shortages on grocery shelves. And of course Trump blamed Biden.
It's become clear that Musk is the Achilles Heel of the administration. Musk trampling the executive state is something the right desperately wants, but can't achieve legislatively, because, ya know, killing food programs for hungry children is wildly unpopular. So the entire R party is staring at their shoes as Musk wipes his ass with the Constitution.
But Musk's entire power base is Tesla, and it's profitability underwriting Twitter as his e-bullhorn. Tesla is in a precarious financial spot right now, so boycotting and protesting the Swastikars is likely our best political cudgel.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tesla-sales-plunging-worldwide-amid-musk-s-new-role-in-trump-white-house/ar-AA1yMqI2?ocid=BingNewsSerp
I love the term "swastikars" so, so much.
There was a point yesterday when the top 5 stories in the NYT app were all about Elon Musk, his decisions, his actions, and not one of them mentioned Trump. More of that please.
I agree with the exception that we can’t wait on hounding our reps over what Elon is doing. Remember: Hitler dismantled democracy in 53 days. We’re 18 into this one and the long knives are sharpening. Call your rep, call your senator, go to protests, demand that Democrats use the debt ceiling as a hostage to force this administration to follow the law.
And Dustin: good on you for helping your wife. You are correct that none of our ulcers will be felt in Washington. I encourage everyone to pick up any hobbies you’ve been putting off. Skills will never not be valuable.
Your point about Hitler is an important one. And the thing is Republicans have been undermining our government and democratic powers for decades. This isn't the beginning of the fight. This is our last battle.
Because I don't understand the debt ceiling thing, how do Dems have any more leverage with this issue vs everything else? I'm all for throwing a grenade to stop a larger war, but what can they actually do about this?
Basically it boils down to this: without increasing the debt ceiling the government shuts down, which causes chaos. It is almost always a political blow to the party in power, so it would currently hurt Republicans. As such they want to avoid it. Also, this shutdown is much more abrupt than what Musk is doing, whose impact will take some time to ripen.
Republicans have a 3 vote majority, meaning more than 2 defections shuts them down without Democrat help. They also have a fractious shitty caucus made up of lunatics and Mike Johnson is a shitty speaker who struggles to keep them in check.
So what I think Democrats should do, and what I called Pramila Jayapal to ask that the progressive caucus push for, is to agree to short term extensions to the debt ceiling and make further extensions contingent on Trump following the law.
The admin nominee positions only need a simple majority to get through, so Dems can try delay tactics in the hopes of swinging someone away from a vote, but that’s the only thing they can do there (and even those delay tactics are limited).
Budget on the other hand requires a two-thirds majority in senate. If GOP doesn’t have that (which they don’t have 60 votes) it allows Dems to filibuster or use threat of a shutdown.
Basically it let's them do what Republicans have been doing to Dems the past few liberal presidencies.
And they should! Hold their balls to the fire. (Yes, I did intend that language swap).
May I suggest listening to a conversation with Karen Walrond on the Everything is Fine (unfortunate title that was created a few years ago) podcast? She had helpful advice about activism and self care that helped me refocus on how to survive the next year.
Sorry to be a pessimist, but being an historian does not breed optimism. Not in most of us anyways (I do have colleagues that are more optimistic. Two colleagues anyway).
"These people are hanging themselves with their own rope and kicking the chair out from under them...Then we pounce."
That paragraph is assuming that people will actually pay attention and come to the conclusion that voting matters, it is Trump's fault, that the parties are not the same, and that it is worth getting off their asses to go and vote. Considering how dumb and hateful Americans are, I am...not optimistic. It also assumes that the People and Constitution have any power left. That is a big assumption. Dictators run their countries into the ground and still maintain their hold on power. Because they are dictators and there is no functioning democratic system to unseat them. We can hope Trump is like Sulla and that he will leave office when his term is done (technically Sulla left far after his term, but he still stepped down eventually). And we can hope that whoever follows him will be put in power by a legitimate election. But we can't count on any of that.
This is not a war of attrition, we are already beaten down. We lost the PR war. We lost all 3 branches of government, not to mention the 4th. Our enemy has the support of the entire moneyed class. They are just ignoring court rulings. They are energized and have the vast majority of resources. We now need to think of this as an asymmetrical conflict, more akin to a revolt, an insurgency. We need guerrilla tactics.
I am NOT saying to stop fighting. Do whatever you can. Call your reps. Support orgs like the ACLU. Vote in whatever elections we have left. Protest and march. Personally for me, thinking these things are going to work requires more optimism than I can muster.
But we all need to remember: The fight is all there is at this point. We cannot be complacent. We cannot comply.
I'd like to add, to anyone who sometimes feels helpless and hopeless, that one thing we can all do is keep facts alive. Save and print things. Archive things. Don't call it the Gulf of America. Keep posting cited facts in your posts.
Fascists try to remake history and the present. Don't let them. This is something that's free to do (albeit time consuming), and second nature to anyone who's 'very online' and/or kind of a nerd too.
Yup this is an absolutely critical point! Thank you for posting this!
Elon Musk hovering over Trump talking for him while his little boy looks confused at the old man at the desk is something. I mean...The fuck?
I'd make a call to the authorities about child welfare but I'm sure Musk has dissolved the Child Protection Agency.
Grimes who is the kid's mother has said she has tried every legal way to protect her child from this and doesn't know what else to do.
Seeing Apartheid Ken up there wearing that stupid fucking hat and lecturing us on "fixing" America...I just can't. How the hell is one random who wasn't vetted/confirmed by Congress (not that he would have had any problem) go into all these agencies and just start firing the bulk of the staffs? It's all so enraging.
Money. He bought himself a presidential administration. And judges in states like Pennsylvania allowed it, like when he did that MAGA lottery, which was blatantly illegal.
Besides money, Musk is doing what Republicans have always wanted to, but can't because the blowback would be too severe. The muted R response is because they're secretly happy over it.
The thing is, at the moment, Trump's approval rating is, for him, very high, higher than at ANY point during his first term according to some sources. People see him as doing a lot, being "energetic," and they like that. It may well come crashing down in the next few months as the actual effects of his policies come to light, but it very well may not. I'm through underestimating the stupidity of American voters.
Trump's approval is the 2nd lowest of any president of the last 60 years, next to Trump 1. Further, the positives are overwhelmingly R voters, with moderates' support being highly contigent on the economy. The more Trump and Muskrat hack away at essential services and ignore the economy, the more it'll torpedo his most tenuous supporters.