It’s nice to see the senate opposition functioning.
Edit: 18 hours of holding the senate floor, giving voice to the american people. Lots of tears as american suffering is read out loud for the congressional record. Testiment from Americans across the country. This is the voice of the people. Please click the link, share and watch. The media needs to know we care about the opposition more than we care about trump rambling on a plane about fort knox.
Something I want to highlight, because I know it’ll come up (even if just in people’s minds) is democratic betrayals and silence, eg on the budget CR.
Chuck Schumer likely betrayed the Dems either for financial institutions and “stability”, or for state safety and cowardice. The former is scummy, and pretty much grants him all the hate he deserves. The latter is also plausible, and perhaps more excusable (still betraying our wishes) in that millions of people who hadn’t been following politics would hear smear tactics against Democrats. Plus, it would shut down the courts which is the one area of frequent victory.
I’m not making that case because I agree with it, especially now that courts are faltering, just that someone good but scared could believe it. And even if you assume the worst of Chuck, think about the motivations that put most Democrats in place across the country. A good number of them aren’t going to capitulate to the silence/financial appeasement.
If you want a better solution: Research democratic candidates before you vote for them. I’ve been phone banking for Susan Crawford, and while everything I see about her is good, I do get worried by the voter response of “Oh, I always vote Democrat!” Someday, for some people, that will not be a good idea. For some 80% of them, it is. And if the House is ever 80% democrat, it won’t matter that 20% of them are spineless.
On that point, Schumer flipped (and whipped up enough traitors to pass the bill) in like the 12 hours before the vote. They had been talking about this since the inauguration, as the time when they’d finally be able to force the Republicans back to the table and do something
There’s no way he didn’t get a call from someone.
Then he meets with Trump, goes on a talk show tour to try to justify his actions, and the Democratic establishment held their breath to see if people would buy it. They still aren’t coming out hard against him… The condemnations are lukewarm and hesitant at best from party leadership.
No, they gave MAGA everything they wanted. They didn’t even get to give input on the spending bill. This isn’t 5D chess, this isn’t a strategic play… It was just total capitulation
And the party still wants to wait and see if Schumer can salvage his reputation, if they can sweep this utter betrayal under the rug
This was my read on the situation as well, thank you for voicing it better than i could.
The condemnations are lukewarm because at best they wouldn’t accomplish much. For all the effort voting out Chuck and finding a replacement, Republicans would have full focus on special elections.
We all know for all intents AOC and JCrockett are the leaders of the Democratic Party currently. A title would not change that to a significant degree. Neither of them has encouraged focus on Schumer, and I imagine there’s good reason for that.
I’m all for finding inspiring new candidates - but we don’t actually gain all that much by dragging down the pretty bad ones - and I fully agree they’re bad, especially when their seats are not up for election. The house has a lot of seats to claim.
I once had a bad sandwich at a shitty sandwich shop. I said it was bad. I just don’t devote time and energy to warning everyone away from the shop. I’m finding better sandwiches. This is the challenge of building yourself off what inspires you rather than what you hate.
If a sandwich shop gives you food poisoning, you absolutely should be telling people not to eat there. You should leave reviews and tell people every time the name comes up
The logic you’re using is “well, what if the shop closes down and people can’t get sandwiches at all? What if they’re forced to eat at the numerous food stands that also give you food poisoning?”
If you say nothing, people are going to look at the sandwich shop sign and think it’s safer than the street food… That’s not better
To get away from the metaphor, harshly condemning Schumer at every turn would definitely do something. It sends a message that “this isn’t what you can expect from Democrats”
You say everyone knows who the real leaders of the party are…I literally don’t even know the second name there, I know AOC because she does good messaging about who she is and what she stands for. And I pay attention
Most people don’t even know who their representative is, but they’re much more likely to know who Schumer and Pelosi are. And they hate them.
This shady shit is why people hate the Democrats. When someone hands Trump everything he wants without a fight, they try to downplay it, like people haven’t noticed. They don’t punish it, they barely mention it - they’re so desperate to not shake the boat that they do nothing
Democrats need to shake the boat and make enemies… That’s what wins elections today. They need to call people out, and tell them what they stand for, and then they need to follow through
I agree with this sentiment 100%. I feel totally betrayed by Schumer. I feel really good good watching Corey broker spend 16 hours reading constituents letters before the congressional record.
I agree we can’t blindly vote for a party. That is what got us here. But presidential elections come down to 2 candidates and it’s going to be a lesser of two evils vote. Trust me I hate the dems as much as any dem. I’m a true centrist I like policy that makes sense on both sides of the isle. I don’t remember a time in history where the lesser of two evils contrast was so high.
We really need to clean sweep congress and get fresh blood who’s represents the american people and not corporations and billionaires.