There is literally HIV being transmitted from mom to baby because of the illegal shutdown of US AID and now Trump’s State Department wants to spend 400 million dollars on Tesla cyber trucks. This is not about efficiency. It’s a smash and grab.
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What the hell are we supposed to do, all I can do is fight and try to take people out I have no platform. I have three of those though if you figure out what I’m saying.
This is so ethically reprehensible and morally bankrupt. What happened to "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"? Our children deserve more than this. The world deserves better than this! We have betrayed and abandoned everything we are supposed to protect!
Swasticars. They're called swasticars. Or wank panzers. Regardless, what #PresidentMusk and The Don are doing is disgusting and (allegedly) illegal. #DeportPresidentMusk #resist #voteBlue #stopMAGA #impeachTheMF #impeach4547 #impeachJD
Yep. Please keep highlighting this. We need every American to understand this is a smash and grab and we will be less safe and prosperous under Trump and the republicans
Yup. But I've been heartened by so many Americans getting active. In the works: a general strike that triggers when enough people (a critical mass of the US population) are signed up. I signed my strike card, lining up w/ others who are ready when it's time. : ) https://generalstrikeus.com?utm_source=s...
Voters equate money with success and this is exactly why “they use their own money, they don’t need to run” is complete bullshit. They will get MORE BACK! BET ON IT. THAT IS THE GRIFT.
Strange. Biden started this and only Tesla responded. What has Trump to do with it. There is a chance Trump will not proceed with the Biden initiative.
The solicitation for bids wasn't supposed to go out until May of this year. So no other companies had an opportunity to put in a bid, which is an unfair bidding practice on the govt's part. It is true,though, that the idea was first floated under Biden.
None of that matters, as I said. The solicitation should still have gone up for bid to give EVERYONE a chance to make an offer of service. If they didn't want to make a bid, that's fine. But they should have still been given the opportunity.
And don't confuse being asked about a plan to soliciting
But an idea for a service isn't a proposal for a bid that is fairly open for bidding. Now if the only company bidding was tesla, like in the case of BMW, that would be different. But the point is there was no solicitation for a contract for anyone else to bid on.
They came with the idea. They planned the solicitation for May after the next SOS was in place. Pretty common in case the new admin wanted to discard the plan. But instead of either discarding the plan or sticking with the solicitation for bids date, the trump admin just named tesla.
If I have a plot of property and draw up a plan for the house. But ownership of that property passes to you, and you decide to use my plan when you could have made up your own plan. That's on you, not me.
How many times do I have to say it? No GOP or MAGA Christian gives one shit about poor people dying.
B/c in dominionism, if you're poor, it's your own personal failure and there fore if your poor you are worthless as a human being
They WANT you to die because you are worthless
We need to protest. In numbers. I feel like people aren’t hurting enough to drive them to the streets demanding change. Although there’s one circulating for Pres Day and another 2/28.
For the love of all that's sane, people need to start doing their damn jobs and stop some of this abuse. Hell, trump would be insane to give elon more money. He already owns him. Next he will have him dance on command. Good grief.
Agreed, the conflicts of interest involved with Government purchase of Tesla products and Musk investments (e.g. Nvidia) needs to be addressed by the Legislative and Judicial branches.
My Solution: Tell Musk that Mukesh Prasad wants him to give all his money to USA and keep just $1 billion. (JUST😂)
This will eliminate his morbid thirst for more and more money and to become a trillionaire. Becoming a trillionaire will be a mild triumph compared to the effort. THIS is easy stuff, live easy, fix your soul, no hardships, show off to other billionaires your gritty big move. Be the first.
Musk can become a Billionaire, and that requires courage.
Musk may become a Trillionaire, and that requires a whole lot of doing what all other billionaires are doing.
I’m pretty much back to where I was as a disenfranchised teen politics nerd: they’re all full of shit. But at least Schatz can do his folksy social media stuff.
Schumer is out here complaining that Trump hasn't brought grocery prices down, one of y'all needs to take Minority Leader Old Yeller out behind the barn
I feel really stupid, because I don't understand how funds are being cut off when judges have issued TROs. Who is the person actually in charge of implementing these cuts?
Thank you, sir. I have a better understanding of what is going on in the Senate. Being honest with the people is always a good thing. Saying nothing or hiding simply angers everyone.
What the fuck did you think was going to happen? Or have you completely wiped Trump's first term from memory...He robbed the country blind then...and that was when he had some constraints...what did you think would happen now that there is nothing and no one to hold him back?
We forced a quorum call and that delivered a twelve minute delay and then we went in and out of executive session for ten votes. No one noticed. And then they got their confirmation on exactly the same timeframe. If someone is selling you a magic procedural button it is snake oil.
The GOP deployed every dirty trick in the books to enact their agenda. You dweebs can't even envision something like this, "Well, regular order dictates, blah, blah, blah. It says so in Roberts Rules of Order right here. I am off to a fundraiser now. Toodles."
What we’re out here asking/begging is that y’all get better at/match the political theater of the right. DOJ/SDNY sitch is a critical moment that you are choosing not to use to flex! I get your ltd minority power, I do. What I don’t get is the strategy of total powerlessness you seem to be choosing.
Brian you’re fired. I don’t want to hear about what you did that did nothing. Get out and let someone else try. One GOP senator stopped every promotion in the army. Get out with your excuses.
There are no military nominations pending and when they get past the cabinet those tactics are available to members, like my blanket hold on state department nominees. But alas it seems some people are very very determined to make this the thing. I just don’t think it’s the thing.
Well, what do you imagine is the thing let me tell you what it looks like from the perspective of a black American it appears as if the confederacy has one and the party I have voted for the last 40 years has no ideas
Is there a reason the hold is just on State dept nominees and not broader? Genuinely asking and wanting to understand.
(Thanks for doing what you're doing so far, and thanks for engaging with us here on this-- you are honestly making me feel more hopeful about Dems than I have in weeks.)
It's not. Don't get me wrong, I think there are genuinely things I know vast amounts more than you do about, but nuts and bolts Senate procedure at the present is not one of them. This has to be a Republican op, whether everyone here knows it or not. This is contrary to reality. I'm sorry.
You could do more. You could be on tv calling your GOP colleagues out by name for what they’re doing. Be blunt, be honest, call them the country hating pricks that they are. Curse if you have to in order to get coverage. Be confrontational. It’s not like they’re good people. Fight them damnit.
Why don't you all filibuster continuously on the floor? Do it in shifts. Livestream it.
There are almost enough Democratic senators that you could each take about 1 hour every two days to hold the floor. Read Richard III out loud. Read Orwell. Read Arendt.
People understand that you don’t have much power beyond using the filibuster. We’re mad because the party leadership doesn’t seem to care enough. Dems should be going on every news channel they can, every large podcast they can, etc. Dems from both chambers should be going to agencies getting
shut down every day until you’re allowed in. Hell, force your way in if you’re not allowed in. Make a scene, drive the conversation in the news. If there’s any lesson to be taken from Trump, it’s that politicians can and should drive the conversation.
Again, people understand your power is limited. The problem is that from our vantage point, it looks Dem leadership doesn’t understand the gravity of the moment we’re in. Trump and MAGA are an existential threat to our democracy, we just want you to acknowledge that and act like it.
Their power was in no way limited in the last 3 months of Biden's term where anything he did in an official capacity was protected by the SC. There should have been hundreds of EOs a day from him to prevent the reality we are currently living.
That’s a start, and we appreciate it - but bluntly, until the dems start acting like this is a crisis, loudly and performatively in public, then normies will keep on thinking it’s not a crisis. Get dramatic, disrupt at ridiculous length for the media and your constituents already, jfc.
Every time the GOP is in the minority they find new, loud, absurd ways to gum up the works. I don’t know if dems have a creativity crisis, a spine crisis, a But What About My Money crisis, or some combo of the three - but get your shit together while there’s still time to do so, ffs.
the thing about that magic procedural button is you have to push it more than once. over and over. no unanimous consent. count every vote by voice. don’t take long weekends. do. the. work. we elected you for a job either do it or quit.
Thank you for responding to this! It seems like every twelve minutes of delay is worth it though. Do it again and again and again. It's the least you can do.
Apparently you allowed unanimous consent about 380 times since January 1? Even at 12 minutes each that's 77 hours of delay. How many hours does the Senate meet for in a day? That seems like at least 10 DAYS of delay at 12 minutes a pop.
McConnell was unable to block a single Biden nominee. The only Biden nominees who failed were ones that moderate Democrats like Manchin and Sinema opposed.
I doubt they're talking about the Biden era, I imagine they're pointing to this. I am too. We have to stop making excuses for weak actions by Democrats who would rather go home and relax than fight all weekend like so many of us will be
But most of the successful examples here (other than media framing, which I agree Democrats need to get better at) came from after 2010, when Republicans won the House, or after 2014, when they won the Senate.
I'm selling "if you aren't willing to throw yourself on every lever and gear, legitimate or not, to save America from these Nazis you should have let someone better run for office"
What I'm seeing here is that there is a huge need for citizens to understand the various rules of order in the Senate. But also Senators need to understand that to everyone not steeped in parliamentary minutiae this all looks absolutely bizarre.
If you’re not willing to use every tool we have to slow things down, we’ll find someone who will. Don’t complain about being asked to do your damned job.
Hi Senator Schatz, the point isn’t did you win or lose it? Did you slow them down. In some cases delaying is our best option. This is one of those times. Give them less time to screw things up at every opportunity. Quorum calls, no UC anything. I want to see OPPOSITION, not acquiescence.
I think it would be helpful for Dems to talk about house/senate procedures, what they could be doing, what they are doing and why they can’t do more. Maybe a press conference where they can be asked questions about it. Schumer posting about egg prices isn’t helping anyone.
Can they have the vote or do anything without you? Walk out and stay out. Occupy offices. Disrupt everything. This isn't about procedure. Prevent business of any kind. Fight, spit, steal the gavel. Bring a cane. DO. SOMETHING. REAL.
Demonstrating to the people who voted for you and are counting on you that you are willing to use every tool you have to fight on their behalf IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!
THERE IS A CRISIS OF MORALE ON OUR SIDE, SHOW US THAT YOU'RE STILL IN THE FIGHT!
the congressional record shows that yesterday the senate gave UC to dispense with the post-cloture 30 hours of debate in order to advance the the votes on Lutnick and Loeffler
Right in exchange for gaveling out until TUESDAY at 530pm. If we did it by the book (without UC) those two nominees would be done by Friday. 30 hours from 230 ish on Thursday, then 2 more hours for SBA. Had we stayed in through the weekend they could’ve gotten 3-4 more cabinet confirmations!
Thank you senator for taking the time to educate people who seem to be conditioned to blame dems for what donald is doing. It's crazy how people don't understand the basics like the power of repubs having a senate majority. Thank you for all you are doing to delay as much as possible.
there’s real value in a maximal obstruction strategy, make the GOP work for it, make GOP senators have to sit in the chamber all night, hector the presiding officer with endless objections, points of order, parliamentary inquiries, etc.
Wait you're telling me that filibuster's dead? That you don't have parliamentary rules that can lock up the Senate really cuz huh that's been done in the past I guess you guys have new rules.
I appreciate what you've done re: Vought & RFK Jr. In TX, we've been living this out much longer. Think the Wendy Davis filibuster, or when txlege Dems fled the state to deny quorum, etc. Symbolism matters. Be 100% uncooperative, even if it will fail. Relentlessly call out the threat to democracy.
Also, hold your colleagues accountable for voting for any of these nominees. None of them should get a single Dem vote. TX GOP transparently plans for Orban style authoritarianism & the national GOP is on board with it. Musk/Vance/Thiel want Yarvin/TESCREAL authoritarianism. Don't give them an inch.
& this is why we're yelling. This isn't just talk. It isn't trolling. It isn't mere words. Authoritarianism is through the doors, just like TX GOP has openly telegraphed they were planning for years
When the democrats in WA had enough control to pass a bad transparency law a couple years ago, every R walked out in protest. It took weeks to get it through. Oregon Rs do this stuff all the time. Learn from the longtime underdogs.
Please, Senator Schatz. We are calling daily screaming about this. It is not business as usual. It's a crisis! It's a national emergency. We need Democrats to wake up and fight. We will back you. We're ready to fight, too. We're running out of time. The entire world is running out of time. Let's go!
Then you better block these noms. Block everything you can. Doesn't matter if it's the salad at the cafeteria. Block it. Oppose everything. Doesn't matter what it is.
"No, you can't have unanimous consent that ham sandwiches are made with bread and ham. We'll need to debate this."
I know it’s not magic. But you don’t have to make it easy for them. You can’t do it once and quit. The idea is to make them go through every tedious motion every day. Make them at least work for their fascist shit.
If you dumb fucks actually started withholding unanimous consent under and any all circumstances and actually made a messaging push about it instead of wheeling grandpa out to talk about inflation for the 700th time, 90% of the "magical procedural button" people would be satisfied
Sir, with respect, I know you are frustrated with the base telling you to do something, but you have to see that all the public is seeing of the caucus is tone-deaf commentary about the price of eggs and showing up at civil buildings under assault, but backing away from the corporate security goon1/
At a certain point in politics perception becomes reality. I don't think your team seems to understand how bad the perception game is going for you. I have still not seen an answer to why a Senator hasn't dragged a news crew past the rent-a-cop and into the Treasury. Will you 2/
get arrested? Maybe. And then you can raise an unholy stink at trial over why a Senator of the United States couldn't enter a federal building. To be honest it would be more useful than sitting in Congress getting steamrolled on film by the other team.
Drown out reality and he was willing to do some wild things to control the narrative.
So you're right, there is no magical procedural maneuver to stop fascism, it's always taken courage and good people willing to put their skin in the game. And you know what gets people to do that? Leaders. 4/?
We need to see senators and reps walking into federal buildings, and not taking no for an answer. Force the mercenaries to arrest you. You wanted to be leaders, that’s why you ran. This is history, you own the responsibility to be relentless. All of you do. Tell us how to support that, and we will.
The American public needs to see Democratic senators absolutely enraged. We need to see you making Republicans lives miserable in the halls of Congress. These aren’t normal times!
Is it too much to ask that literally every delay and annoyance tactic be used continuously? For every little thing? They’re literally destroying the ability of the state to function. Are we not in an existential battle for the preservation of the Union? We need to see senators make a spectacle.
Ok. Not 100% of what ypu would like. What have you done? Have you called your Cingressman in the House? Have you attended a protest since the ignauguration? Schatz and Murphy have been 2 of the better Senators here. Have you called yours? Dems aren't the arsonists!
Sure. But they are there to shield members, reward loyalty & seniority not to brawl with the other side. You need new senators too who are there to fight and stop acting like they’re in a courtroom with good actors. You need brawlers now who are very responsive to voters.
Keep fighting. You are one of the few senators who recognizes the urgency of the moment. Mine are sending out press releases that they are co-sponsors of bills on niche subjects that are never gonna pass, acting like it's business as usual.
You guys need a comms strategy. You need to pour money into it. Your campaigns in 2, 4 or 6 years don’t matter. Bankrupt the DNC. Get Pete Buttigieg and Jasmine Crockett on YouTube every night. We are ready to take to the streets.
Pretty sure their current comms strategy is "find out what people were mad about three years ago and tell them to bide their time until the next focus group says they should do something about it maybe."
I have great respect for the work you have been doing, but I am curious why Democratic senators continue to vote for unanimous consent. Certainly there are ways to use that do slow the process down when appropriate.
Thanks for your efforts and for engaging on this. I think most of us know there's no magic button, but it also feels like there are levers being left unused that will make things slower & more frustrating for the GOP (denying unanimous consent, more holds, etc) and it would help to understand why.
Without that, it looks & feels like Dems are holding back out of polite deference to GOP colleagues, prioritizing convenience & time off, and/or wanting to seem "reasonable." In these times, it is SO important for Americans to feel like Dems are doing everything you can to fight & slow things down.
Weird, why did you fast track all this noms so the senate could go hang out in Europe and demand 50% of Ukraines natural resources? I cant even believe you guys write this stuff. Shameless. You sound like a pathetic coward. The only snake oil is coming out of your guys useless mouths.
Yes. It’s a payment platform. That’s it. Politicians use it to process donations. It’s not sinister. None of this would be happening if Dems were in charge and Trump would be on his way to trial.
He was able to hold them up because there were thousands of promotions. These are voted on in large blocks but Tuberville didn't give consent for block approval meaning that each promotion had to be considered individually. This won't work currently as dept. heads are considered one by one already.
But he should still deny unanimous consent and ask for quorum for every single piece of senate business. Make it hurt. I don’t care if it only slows things down for 15 minutes. That adds up and pisses people off.
That was military promotions and apparently that’s easier to hold than cabinet level noms. But like I said somewhere on this thread- I want dems to have that energy. Say no. Raise objections.
I know that the majority will eventually get it done but while you slow them down you give them time to be exposed and time for the opposition to do tv spots, protests, and other public outreach. Do I have faith the dem leadership will effectively do that? Not while the dinosaurs are leading.
We are in an existential battle for the republic, and you guys are working out deals with the Republicans to speed things along. It’s despicable. People have died for this country and you guys can’t be bothered. You’re just a bunch of lazy feckless cowards. https://bsky.app/profile/murshedz.bsky.social/post/3lhzl6pqjoc2o
The dnc has filtered out anyone with principles, except for a couple of exceptions. This is what you have left: lobbyists, careerists, aspiring consultants. They won’t fight for you.
Senator, no one noticed because no one was even asked to notice.
The leadership is old and asleep at the switch. Veterans are getting fired from their jobs (forestry) and we hear about it from a reporter - then the AG Sec gets 12 Dem votes?
I've seen polls for a billion years about how Republicans shouldn't be terrible obstructionists but they just power thru it and here we are. They now control the media and all levers of govt. People are too dumb to place blame on culprit when shits broken so it goes to president.
Instead of whining about what you can't do, get out and hold press conferences daily. Make sure people are aware of the crisis. Use your bullhorn to do something other than whine
We can debate procedural strategies, but the deeper frustration out here is that elected D’s don’t project urgency or fight. Republicans drive narratives and build power with daily noise on camera and stunts about fake scandals and outrage; we fail to do the same with actual national emergencies.
No one thinks you can stop this but we're not stupid, we know what unanimous consent is and watched Tommy Tuberville frustrate the hell out of you guys for a year with it. You're a bunch of shameless fucking liars. Hope you cowards enjoy Munich. https://www.splinter.com/democrats-are-lying-to-you
You have no idea how much we'd respect you just doing whatever you can to draw attention to the crisis this clearly is. Make noise. Get attention. Delay progress of things to whatever minimal extent you have. Doing nothing or saying it isn't possible makes me want to vote for a fighter.
No need for that. He keeps challenging people to fight -- someone should simply accept his offer. Only Senator I've seen actually get in the ring was Romney https://youtu.be/faRE7ccUfwM?si=ElLg-3CNMFZBGpQp
Biden could have ordered the extrajudicial killings of every single person currently in Trump's Cabinet, and gotten away with it as one of his "official duties" in the name of "National Security."
The problem is that Democratic Senators do not have it in their hearts to punish Republican Senators and make them miserable for their partnering with Trump.
There’s no authentic fight in most of you guys. The procedural mischief should be relentless and it should be bringing you joy.
Have the rules around unanimous consent changed since when Tuberville used it to slow the senate to a crawl? Because based on the understanding of senate procedures we got in the previous administration there ARE things a single senator can do to muck up process
They called for unanimous consent around the timeline for the votes and it was granted just this week so it appears to me there is a process being used but not by Dems… is there some underlying thing that makes this impossible or is it just deference to tradition?
The issue with Tuberville was one of volume because he was placing a hold on hundreds of military promotions at once. Democrats could have spent months processing and confirming each nominee one at a time, but they had other priorities.
Because there are so few Cabinet nominees, the most you can do is delay for a few days for each one. The GOP is still going to set aside the time to confirm them.
A few days counts for slowing down the firehouse when each one is doing things like taking away life saving aid or making political attacks on civil servants. It’s not everything but it also gives the media time to carry more stories
And eventually, Democrats hinted that they would change the Senate rules to make this kind of stunt ineffective, Republicans lost interest in continuing, and Tuberville gave in.
Do you feel like you and your colleagues are riding to this moment? Do you honestly think you senators cannot come up with anything? Are you afraid of the media? You understand you work for the people, right. We are demanding you figure out how to step up. This is weak sauce.
That happened in 2012, and it was the Dems who deployed it so that they could get judicial appointments. I suppose I am glad they deployed it then, because we are all going to need those judges now.
If Senate Democrats aren’t familiar with parliamentary rules, maybe they could knock on Mitch McConnell’s door to find out how he managed to effectively block the Democrats' agenda from the minority for years. I know it involves hard work, so maybe that’s what’s preventing it from happening.
Shouldn't you be with Schumer doing another bit about egg prices and hoping to just wait it out until midterms only a fool would count on?
The only fight from democratic leadership are the off the record attacks of your own voters for having the temerity to call your offices demanding action.
If you can't do this then it's time you step down and let someone in who can.
We no longer need some procedural institutionalist. We need someone right out of a Mad Max movie that is going to drink the blood of Republicans, take no prisoners, and treat this like the war it is.
How the fuck could Tuberville hold up promotions for years for bullshit reasons and you guys are still going home this weekend? Maximum sand in gears on everything. They’re committing felonies in plain view over and over. Sand in every gear. Talk to every camera. Call it what it is.
The point is that Democrats refuse to get their hands dirty and keep making milquetoast statements and excuses. (Some exceptions like AOC and Crockett)
It’s past time for every one in the Caucus to do everything possible to slow down every process. Seeing Kennedy’s shit-eating grin on the UC motion for Gabbard is humiliating to every Dem in the Senate and to every Dem voter.
I think you have done more than most and think you are doing the right thing, but no one is expecting magic. We do expect our elected representatives to pull out all the stops to stop or at least slow the Nazi takeover of our government. That is not happening.
I appreciate your efforts, Senator Schatz. The frustration is very much mutual for us hoping something/anything procedural can save us. Back in the day segregationists were able to use the Senate 'rules' to stop civil rights legislation
& more recently Sen Tuberville kept military commissions from being approved. I think we of limited knowledge believe erroneously there's something available. Again thank you for coming online to tell us what you are doing.
We can slow down the sub cabinet and other nominees because we can force them to spend two hours per nomination and it’s impossible to do say 1,000 noms at 2 hours each so you need UC to deviate from the 2 hour rule..
I do hope to see the Democrats do this when these nominations are being considered. every minute of their time that you waste is one less minute they can spend dismantling the government
Thank you for this. I know you all are steeped in senate rules day-to-day, but for us moderately informed voters, we see Tuberville use tactics to push a preposterous GOP agenda for weeks and don’t understand why 1 Dem can’t do it for R F freakin K. First explanation that’s made any sense to me.
Do you understand strategy, man? Like, at all? You're the kind of person that tries something once and just gives up? Resign. You don't belong where you are
Brian, it might be time for y'all to consider some less traditional methods, like a shadow government, or actually trying to enter the departments being destroyed. The building is on fire. The old way is not going to get us out of this.
All due respect, if I have a wide cut in my arm and I need stitches, are you going to tell me that there's no point in applying pressure via tourniquet and gauze? Just because you can't heal the cut doesn't mean you don't try to slow the bleeding.
We noticed. More of us are noticing by the day. I contacted my own senators to thank them. I didn’t know your name before a month ago but now I think of you as one of the good ones. Don’t lose heart. A twelve minute delay saps their energy, too.
You can’t just do it once. Senate Dems need to be blocking everything they can while Trump is lawlessly impounding federal $ and giving Musk carte Blanche. It makes no sense to say there’s a crisis on one hand & then give unanimous consent to fast track Trump nominees.
I’m on team gum things up and show (literally, show) more opposition but yeah — cabinet nominees need far fewer votes than the promotions Tuberville could affect withholding his vote. What we need(ed) with cabinet picks was defecting R votes and that just won’t meaningfully happen.
Most people aren’t parliamentary wonks and that is absolutely fine. Normal why would they be fine. But we are hardwired to want and respond to optics; right now the optics are bad. Slow, deny, but also, get on every daytime show/podcast/twitch, explain how this stuff works, that it’s all on Rs.
Enjoy your holiday time. You can bet your quorum votes the GOP will be working during that time to deliver more f*kkery to the American people. Nothing you can do.
I don't know what this defeatist shit is. We need new tough energy in the Senate. People who don't bitch about putting in the time to OPPOSE at every turn, and willing to stop appeasing their rich donors at our expense. Hear our wallets snapping shut and the ring of primaries in the air.
If you were a real leader, people would follow you. You need to show people what matters and give them options for action. But by telling your constituents that there is nothing much you can do (for years and years) you have trained your constituents to be helpless and fatalistic.
senator, do you understand, from all the comments like this, that we don’t see a fight?
we don’t expect a win. not sure Rocky expected to beat Drago. but he got in the ring and fought. and it won him the respect of a hostile crowd BECAUSE HE FOUGHT, NOT BECAUSE HE WON
It’s not a magic procedural button, but the average American has no idea what’s going on and a single quorum call doesn’t signal anything about a crisis going on…you’re not meeting the moment on messaging and neither are other Dems in Congress…
I mean, yall let a Saturday Night Massacre happen yesterday with barely a skeet in response. If this is the best you can do, the Democratic Party is dead.
FBI. NSA. Seal Team six. Find someone in one of those organizations who isn't a boy scout and let him play with drones. Release Sicilians from whatever supermax they're in. Recall MK Ulta operatives. Get whoever Ted Kaczynski was working with. Make a deal with $cientologists. Whatever.
Well for starter’s they could have acted like it’s an actual crisis, denying unanimous consent instead of fast tracking noms to skip town to drink beer and eat sausage in Munich.
Plus you needed Friday off for your all expenses paid trip to Germany. Those procedural buttons might have canceled that trip. And what’s more important the constitution or getting to party with your friends in the Senate?
You're one of the best at messaging but most of Dem voters want to see ya'll running the alarm bells and doing everything possible to grind them down. Not 1 procedural maneuver, all of them. We know you can't stop them but make it hurt. Please.
How was Tommy Tuberville able to block all of Biden's military promotions? How was Rand Paul able to put a hold on Biden's state dept nominations? What tools are they using that is not available to the Democrats?
The math in the last Senate was different. Republicans have a maverick-free majority. The Democrats had two senators that didn’t come through at key times.
I agree they should be pulling out all the stops but these are false comparisons & not helpful (which I didn't realize either).
Tuberville held up 1000s of military promotions. UC slows down things for 2 hours, effective for stretching out- & stopping- 1000s of indiv votes. Not so much for cabinet
We aren’t saying that. We’re telling you to do everything in your power to grind this shit to a halt. We’re telling you to make it painful for the GOP to continue fucking us over. And the time halted by doing the procedural stuff adds up.
It isn’t. Quorum is 51 and they have 53. So if we left they could just do everything without us. Again, if people are selling a magic procedural button it is snake oil.
you could filibuster and make 50 GOP senators miserable by having to endlessly sit on the floor of the senate to maintain a quorum while a single dem holds the floor and delays them from advancing their agenda
We don’t need a magic button, we need every block in their way on everything they’re trying to do to destroy our government as it has existed. This isn’t “business as usual, let’s get along where we can.”It’s a train wreck and you all need to work to put up all the obstacles to slow the train.
How about you occupy the floor of the senate and disrupt all
proceedings until they are forced to physically remove you? At least it would make the news.
You have a lot of patience. Thank you for the explanations here. As you probably can tell, it's just a lot of people are scared and frustrated and want to believe that Democrats can do something that will STOP the madness. Hard, when both White House and R Congress want to break the same things.
I believe you, but could you (or a procedural nerd on your staff), explain why, for example, Tuberville was able to hold up all military promotions for years but Dems can’t use the same tactics here?
From only the headlines, us laypeople can’t understand the difference.
we don’t expect magic. we expect you to not roll over and act like their lackeys. and “No one noticed” – come on. make a stink. what does your comms staff get paid for.
Seriously thank you for trying, @schatz.bsky.social and no one’s asking for magic. But seriously how was your colleague from Alabama able to put an 11-month hold on military confirmations last term? Teach us what procedural buttons you can use—and use them! See how they like their own medicine!
you sure you guys aren’t in on it too? Are you honestly that weak that you can’t get across to the US citizens there’s a coup going on? Like, what’s your payday look like? I hope more Americans wake up and realize that Dem leaders don’t give a crap about us either, it’s power greed and privilege
Are you hitting the talk show circuit? Are you grabbing up the resigned DOJ attorneys and BLASTING what's happening with every megaphone you at your disposal.
You're right there's no magic procedural bullshit - so maybe add some MORE weapons to
He made sure to vote for Marco Rubio, the guy overseeing everything he's now (rightfully) complaining about. Sure would be cool not to do that next time!
The blanket hold on State nominations is *something*. It's not as much as I'd like but right now using the same playbook on the DOJ could do a lot of good.
It's important for you guys to go on vacation to Germany right now though, right? I hope you people realize that every single Democrat in congress will be replaced because you are all useless and embarrassing.
To be fair, they would have just used it for billionaire tax cuts, but they couldn't because billionaires don't pay taxes. That shit is for serfs. They had to funnel the money another way.
Not only transmitted from mom to baby, but with drug resistance created by the abrupt removal of medicines to keep the virus from multiplying in the mom's body. So we're creating AIDS 2.0 because of a few men's greed.
Brian, I met a policeman from Africa at a conference. He told me that men who have HIV believe that they can be cured by raping a virgin. Even infants aren’t spared.
US AID was saving more than lives.
Didn’t know about the Cyber trucks. So many ways to go with this…..
Administration is pro-EV after all .
Administration submitted the Cyber truck to the same vetting as all other DOGE boys.👍
These trucks are DOGE boys’ new super-cool “company vehicles.”🕶️
I choose #1……
Maybe slow the approval of nominees and throw sand in the gears at work here, what are Dems doing? We have all watched Republicans grind things to a halt as the minority party, WTF are Dems doing?
We Americans are being subjugated/held hostage by almost 100 billionaires/millionaires who have purchased and bribed the 1 president, 1 VP, 219 Republicans in Congress, 53 Republican Senators, 4 SCOTUS. Less than10% are MAGA. THERE ARE 346,492,738 million total Citizens in the US.
Regular Democrats, and really all Americans, whether they realize it or not, are desperate for an energetic and frankly emotional response from Congressional Dems. Current leadership in both houses is hopelessly inept.
Yes and Hakeem Jeffries is getting on my nerves lately by seeming feckless. He is so manufactured to be the next president that he is VERY CAREFUL to give only the 'right platitudes' that are not even close to landing.
Jefferies will never come close to even becoming nominated for president. He’s a cheap knockoff of Obama. Cringe to hear him speak. Also congressional leaders tend not to be good candidates.
But remember, they are abiding by the laws as written in the constitution and/or passed by Congress. Trump et al,have no respect for the law. Should Democrats sink to their level?
Yes, they are ignoring court orders.SCOTUS gave Trump almost absolute immunity. So where the hell are we? And yes, Adams is another power hungry sycophant who wants to stay out of jail
They are not nearly CONVEYING the extremity of the situation. That is what I’m mostly alluding to, although they absolutely leave parliamentary delay tactics unused. How did that moron Tuberville manage it, but Schumer can’t?
Can they only hold the floor to prevent a vote for ONE NIGHT? Can they not hold it for FOUR YEARS? One night is theatrics for headlines and they can suck it.
Yeah, Tuberville really mucked things up. I sure do wish the Democrats would come up with something even better. They are doing things in bits and pieces, but they do need to do more.
Are you not paying any attention? They absolutely DID use procedural delays to slow down the votes. They no longer have a filibuster for cabinet votes so they recalled the candidates and asked more questions, took turns on 3 hour shifts all through the night. White people should have voted better.
It’s worse than that. There’s no strategy. The messaging is absolutely terrible. They should tell Republicans they get no votes whatsoever for anything. They’re still trying to do deals.
Tom Malinowski gets it.
Maybe he should be House Democrats Leader
Most Americans care abt being good ppl. They may not think abt USAID much but if you will show them what difference <$0.01 of their tax dollar makes, they’ll care.
Preserving their self-image is a greater motivator for ppl than inflation or any other issue.
Why did you allow RFK’s confirmation to speed though the Senate, when even a SINGLE DEMOCRAT could have slowed things down? Do you all think we’re fucking idiots. If there is a crisis going on, why are you acting like business as usual?
They are still doing an all night session. RFK Jr has the votes. It's is a ceremonial protest. I'm a cancer patient & despise him, but the Dems are the firefighters here and the Reps are the arsonists!
We are in an existential battle for the republic. It shouldn’t be a ceremonial protest. It should be using every possible mechanism to slow the senate down. Anything less than that is fecklessness, cowardice, and laziness.
Without 4 honest men amongst the jellyfish GOP senators (and oxymoron), a 100% turnout of Democratic senators is a wall one inch below high tide. The contents of that tide is far more odious than seawater, unfortunately.
They did everything they could. There is no magic button when repubs have 53 seats. Voters made sure that repubs could do whatever they wanted. Be mad at repubs.
A related issue - Iʻll bet that charitable donations to various nonprofits will tank this year. People are afraid about losing their jobs. They will save every penny. There will be ripple effects that havenʻt been thought about yet. Keep up the good fight! Mahalo.
Yes, it's all about massive, almost unimaginable theft. Are you and your Dem colleagues *truly* using every last procedural maneuver available to slow the GOP/Trump-Musk roll? Former senatorial staffers make credible arguments that you have more tricks besides the talking filibuster. Use. Them.
it’s about efficiency when it comes to killing people overseas that aren’t wealthy white conservative heterosexuals without sacrificing Aryan people that need to live to breed for Elon Musk, anyway
Thank you for stepping up as you have. You must work with your colleagues to oust Schumer and install a proper leader like yourself, Murphy, Wyden, or Van Hollen. This is a red alert five alarm fire moment. We could lose everything. Schumer needs to go.
Agreed. And also the senate had unanimous consent in the approval of votes to move forward… so the Republicans leading the smash and grab had no institutional resistance. I’d love if you could suspend unanimous consent and at minimum make the republicans inconvenienced by their despicable behavior
I don’t understand why there aren’t daily protests. People seem fine with all this and becoming a Russian state and paying 20% of their paycheck to Elon to fund this bullshit.
I think there are. Legacy media isn't covering it. As the weather turns warmer across the nation, larger groups have more time to organize, and people process what is really going on protesting should increase. A lot of people thought Trump II would be Trump I and were not prepared.
Thus the Republicans are saying loud and clear, "We will protect life while it is in a mother's womb. After that baby is born, we don't care what happens to him or her."
So, those people affected, who baulked at voting for an intelligent, sympathetic, responsible and honest black woman, I wonder what's going through their mind now. Should we really care how Trump's actions are affecting them ? I know I don't.
You kept the floor for 30 hours against Gabbard and RFK Jr. Excellent. But several Dems voted to approve many of Trump’s nominees, giving them time to get in and do damage. YOU SHOULD HAVE HELD THINGS UP WITH EVERY NOMINEE. Learn how to oppose.
They pulled the rug out from under our feet and threw an anchor at us simultaneously. This is about throwing the majority of Americans into poverty and then prison.
From Elmos's POV - a very EFFICIENT smash and grab.
Thats whats his "department" is really about - removing any government obstacle slowing down HIS megalomaniac goals.
I hope his inevitable demise is anything BUT efficient.
Get Hakeem out of there. This is insane. Hakeem is begging SV donors to keep giving him money while the nation burns. Please fight for a change in leadership. Hakeem and Chuck are not up for this.
Comments
"Steal a little and they throw you in jail
Steal a lot and they make you king"
https://theconversation.com/is-elon-musk-taking-over-the-us-government-heres-how-state-capture-works-and-why-we-should-be-concerned-249471
WTF?
they wld just not be there
Hell no!
https://generalstrikeus.com?utm_source=s...
But be happy: the Trump administration put it on hold.
It is so clear some people are just against anything involving Trump or Musk, or Tesla in this case.
And don't confuse being asked about a plan to soliciting
But hey, it's on hold. Be happy.
If I have a plot of property and draw up a plan for the house. But ownership of that property passes to you, and you decide to use my plan when you could have made up your own plan. That's on you, not me.
B/c in dominionism, if you're poor, it's your own personal failure and there fore if your poor you are worthless as a human being
They WANT you to die because you are worthless
Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Aviation. 2025-02-01
Sponsors:
[- Republican: 5](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/691/all-info?titles=hide&actionsOverview=hide&allActions=hide&committees=hide&relatedBills=hide&subjects=hide&latestSummary=hide)
My Solution: Tell Musk that Mukesh Prasad wants him to give all his money to USA and keep just $1 billion. (JUST😂)
Musk may become a Trillionaire, and that requires a whole lot of doing what all other billionaires are doing.
countries. Are they insane? That's the only way women have control of their lives.
https://bsky.app/profile/peppermintjack.bsky.social/post/3li4oq2p2kc2m
Schumer is just a patsy honestly, he doesn't really have any formal powers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPtjyqgZAUk&ab_channel=WatchKalibRun1
you could be minimizing harm, delaying these confirmations, & making life miserable for the GOP
instead Sen Schatz granted UC so he could take a long weekend
#resist
"Trump gave babies AIDS"
"Elon stole $400 million"
"Trump took egg"
Pathetic
(Thanks for doing what you're doing so far, and thanks for engaging with us here on this-- you are honestly making me feel more hopeful about Dems than I have in weeks.)
FUCK PROCEDURE. STOP FOLLOWING THE RULES. STOP BEING NICE. GET ARRESTED
Did Washington say "Ooh we sent a letter to king George, what else can we do?!? tHeY haVe tHe MoNaRchY"
Get it in your head what is actually on the line here and act accordingly
There are almost enough Democratic senators that you could each take about 1 hour every two days to hold the floor. Read Richard III out loud. Read Orwell. Read Arendt.
Instead: tea
Are full of passionate intensity.
Bodies on the gears or fuck off.
Anyway, I want to give you benefit of the doubt for knowing what you’re doing, but I trust you understand why people are freaking out
Until they let some Blackwater chud say "you aren't allowed in here" and gave up
Do what McConnell did to this country for the last 20 years.
OBSTRUCT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How about no unanimous consent on anything?! Oh, that's right. If you had done that last night, you wouldn't have gotten your precious 3-day weekend.
THERE IS A CRISIS OF MORALE ON OUR SIDE, SHOW US THAT YOU'RE STILL IN THE FIGHT!
we can read the Congressional Record. we know you’re choosing not to do everything you could be doing to thwart the GOP from inflicting all this harm
It’s true that it was a UC. To have things go SLOWER.
that doesn't seem to be making things slower!
https://www.congress.gov/119/crec/2025/02/12/171/29/CREC-2025-02-12-dailydigest.pdf
Btw- rejecting unanimous consent is also about getting them on the record for every thing.
https://bsky.app/profile/jamellebouie.net/post/3liaehy3rq22n
Like seriously Brian, this is fucking ridiculous lmao.
"Well he objected to military nominations."
Like my dude. You can actually tell the truth and also be truthful.
"No, you can't have unanimous consent that ham sandwiches are made with bread and ham. We'll need to debate this."
I can't apologize for all the people who seem to have no understanding, at all, about how things work
But just want you to know that I, maybe only me, supports you and finds your critics to be, at best, ignorant
Keep doing it.
At a certain point in politics perception becomes reality. I don't think your team seems to understand how bad the perception game is going for you. I have still not seen an answer to why a Senator hasn't dragged a news crew past the rent-a-cop and into the Treasury. Will you 2/
Trump won because he saw that perception can3/
So you're right, there is no magical procedural maneuver to stop fascism, it's always taken courage and good people willing to put their skin in the game. And you know what gets people to do that? Leaders. 4/?
How many unanimous-consent agreements were required, in order to do that?
What exactly are the Dems in the Congress and Senate supposed to do?
Maybe it’s time the collective “we” stopped looking at others to save us.
The leadership is old and asleep at the switch. Veterans are getting fired from their jobs (forestry) and we hear about it from a reporter - then the AG Sec gets 12 Dem votes?
How do you explain that?
Start talking about the Thursday Afternoon Massacre.
And the Saturday Night Massacre.
Compare them. Conflate them. Mix them together.
*every* chance you get. Make them gavel you down.
Speech and Debate clause.
Thank you for responding to people on Bluesky.
So many of your colleges do not.
So again, thank you for engaging.
Stop acting like things are normal, break the glass, pull the fucking lever.
Not donating to the Democratic party until you demonstrate some kind of activity is mine.
He never cried about not having leverage.
Go push Markwayne Mullin down a flight of stairs.
Sen Tuberville interfered with defense readiness for months re abortion, something 2/3 of Americans support
Dems are allowing the Musk Trump Cabal to steamroll a fascist coup — they’re not even slow-rolling it.
There’s no authentic fight in most of you guys. The procedural mischief should be relentless and it should be bringing you joy.
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/15/1187530846/tuberville-senate-rules-abortion-military
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/democrats-drop-nuclear-bomb-so-what-happens-next-flna2d11637666
2. Obstructing Police Reform (2021)
3. Blocking Build Back Better Act (2021)
4. Filibuster on Minimum Wage Increase (2021)
5. Blocking January 6th Commission (2021)
I only did five, because I didn’t want to embarrass you for your ignorance. Be well.
I mean, if you’re useless, maybe you should just resign and let someone else take over.
The only fight from democratic leadership are the off the record attacks of your own voters for having the temerity to call your offices demanding action.
https://bsky.app/profile/andycraig.bsky.social/post/3li4tt5tiyd2d
No UC — on anything
Constant quorum calls
Taking the floor for filibusters
Sand in the gears becoming concrete to #ShutDownTheSenate
If you can't do this then it's time you step down and let someone in who can.
We no longer need some procedural institutionalist. We need someone right out of a Mad Max movie that is going to drink the blood of Republicans, take no prisoners, and treat this like the war it is.
Once the admin needs to put lower level appointments through congress by the dozens (like ambassadors) then Dems can use the same tactic.
we don’t expect a win. not sure Rocky expected to beat Drago. but he got in the ring and fought. and it won him the respect of a hostile crowd BECAUSE HE FOUGHT, NOT BECAUSE HE WON
US
FIGHT
Provide the leadership and millions will follow.
And everyone there ought to stop the fundraising emails. Embarrassing and off-putting.
Every UC is a vote even if that means you work past 3pm on fly-away Thursday.
Example: have you looked at Dem socials lately? This FB page https://www.facebook.com/electdemocrats is **beyond pathetic**. Bluesky? HA.
Leadership means using your voice to rally people. People are online. Do you not have ANYBODY who knows how to write for online?
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social @chuckschumer.com
Schumer is a worthless POS
Tuberville held up 1000s of military promotions. UC slows down things for 2 hours, effective for stretching out- & stopping- 1000s of indiv votes. Not so much for cabinet
proceedings until they are forced to physically remove you? At least it would make the news.
At bare minimum you’re legitimating their bullying if you treat this like a normal administration
Go force your way into the agencies Musk is gutting and make a huge stink about it instead
From only the headlines, us laypeople can’t understand the difference.
Even if they still get what they want, they have to work for it, and the Democrats will show their voters that they are DOING something.
Are you hitting the talk show circuit? Are you grabbing up the resigned DOJ attorneys and BLASTING what's happening with every megaphone you at your disposal.
You're right there's no magic procedural bullshit - so maybe add some MORE weapons to
Ya know, instead of taking long weekends and hitting up conferences?
We've got the entire Public Integrity section herded into a room and told "pick who ends the case or you all go"
And you're here patting yourself on the back for a 12 minute delay?
ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!?
Feckless liars, all of you
US AID was saving more than lives.
Maybe you can visit the graves of Nazi collaborators in whose footsteps you walk today
Administration is pro-EV after all
Administration submitted the Cyber truck to the same vetting as all other DOGE boys.👍
These trucks are DOGE boys’ new super-cool “company vehicles.”🕶️
I choose #1……
Anarchy will prevail at this rate
We are worried about your democracy, seems your norms are only norms by consent of the ruling party.
The reverse Robin Hood.
After firing all these civil workers and installing loyalists, they’ll need to protect them.
Putin did similar. 🤔
Tom Malinowski gets it
https://youtu.be/mjL35Ie3Rcs?si=EPSXEgox-zHedsq5
But hey everybody can feel really good about themselves when he cleans out our bank accounts too.
It's not enough. Adams sold the entire state out.
That said if someone stabs me I'm not gonna be all like "hey buddy that is illegal". That is not how social contracts work.
Tom Malinowski gets it.
Maybe he should be House Democrats Leader
https://youtu.be/mjL35Ie3Rcs?si=P40-kjETaO2JDPkc
Most Americans care abt being good ppl. They may not think abt USAID much but if you will show them what difference <$0.01 of their tax dollar makes, they’ll care.
Preserving their self-image is a greater motivator for ppl than inflation or any other issue.
He cares about nothing else than the size of his dick. Full Stop.
Congress thought putting baby bumpers of the display units was the fix for allowing that bull back in.
it's incredible how this reality of voter failure goes unclaimed
How much money does the rest of the world spend on the US?
Armored? Agile? Fearsome? Please.
Cybertruck gets stuck with ease.
It shakes, it cracks, it can’t off-road.
Yet US cash to Musk in loads?
And Musk?
get his ass to Florence ADX
We are waiting for some Senator to fight for our democracy, from someone OTHER than Senator Chris Murphy who sees this coup for what it is ffs!
It's complete garbage.
The panels literally fall off the thing.
It can't drive on dirt.
It rusts.
It's complete garbage.
And Musk has to unload it to someone.
Sounds like a bad thing.
Thats whats his "department" is really about - removing any government obstacle slowing down HIS megalomaniac goals.
I hope his inevitable demise is anything BUT efficient.
giving AIDS to babies is good since it makes Elon richer.