martyalen

Disarray is way too mild a word to describe what we are seeing in the DC GOP now…..

I swore an oath to the Constitution in 1986. I've upheld it through 25 years of service and every day since I retired.

If Trump's trying to intimidate me, it won’t work. I’ve given too much to our country to be silenced by bullies who care more about power than the Constitution.

Setting aside for a second the lunacy and authoritarianism surrounding the Trump/Hegseth threat to court martial Mark Kelly, it is also politically moronic. No military court or jury would uphold this, and you only do Kelly a tremendous favor by making him more popular than ever.

***Two more weeks! Two more weeks! Two more weeks!***

Imagine picking fights about duty and honor with this man.
They’re so fucking stupid.

Sen. Mark Kelly has released a statement.

"If this is meant to intimidate me and other members of Congress from doing our jobs and holding this administration accountable, it won't work. I've given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies..."

The Atlantic is clear: No one will out-Nuzzi us!

MAGA dimwit Pete Hegseth thinks he's pleasing the Audience of One by "fighting back" but all he's doing is drawing more attention to the question of whether Trump is issuing illegal orders, which was the whole point of the Dem video in the first place.

Let's build sustainable power! Run for Something elects young diverse progressives to local office to help Democrats build permanent power for the long haul — no matter who’s in the White House.

This is exciting: A generous @runforsomething.net supporter is matching all donations up to $300,000. If you've been waiting for the right time to give, your support will go twice as far. secure.actblue.com/donate/2025g...

CNN's Pamela Brown to Jamie Raskin: "Are Democrats losing the moral high ground on the Epstein issue by defending Stacey Plaskett?"

PAMELA BROWN: Texting with the president is different than texting with a pedophile, right?


RASKIN: Are you saying would I want to censure someone just because they had a phone call with a convicted felon and an adjudicated sex assailant? Because that's what Donald Trump is

PAMELA BROWN: Are Democrats having discussions about how to handle it if more members are embroiled in anything having to do with Epstein?

RASKIN: I literally have not had one Democrat in the House or Senate come to us and say, 'Hey, you better slow down, that might embarrass one of our people'

Hellsite is toast.

‘That doesn’t exist’: Doge reportedly quietly disbanded ahead of schedule Statement by Trump administration confirms longstanding suspicions that Musk-led agency is on its way out

If DOGE has been dissolved, we’re left with a bigger mystery:

What happened to its records, and what became of the agency databases it stole/copied, including Social Security's?

Does OPM have them? Were they destroyed?

Only DOGE’s own files can tell us. And right now, we don’t have them.

Brooke Rollins: "What we inherited was an absolute economic mess ... Americans we believe will see real relief very, very soon."

RFS feel-good update (11/24): 43 red-to-blue flips! Get the details on some of our amazing wins

The point about transparency was actually staggering once we ran the data. 90% of our campaigns that flipped seats *explicitly* talked about how to restore trust & accountability into the process, bringing decisions, budgets, & policy convos into the community in modernized ways.

RFS feel-good update (11/24): 43 red-to-blue flips! Get the details on some of our amazing wins

A few of the toplines:
- Affordable housing is a winning issue
- Flip GOP-coded language on its head
- Transparency matters
- Honor the place!!
- Lived experiences relevant to today's problems
- Know the community issues
- Listen, reflect, respond.
rfsfeelgoodupdates.substack.com/p/rfs-feel-g...

Run for Something has always been tight on values, flexible on message, and above all else, centered in community. These flips are the result of much more than an anti-Trump backlash. They are a celebration of candidates who are good fits for the place and people they ran to serve. They are the result of people with lived experiences that resonate with voters — and authentic connections to their communities — stepping up to lead. We flipped seats with former Republicans, veterans, housing advocates, moms, dads, teachers, renters, ambitious college students – young people who were done waiting their turn and ready to bring real solutions to the issues their voters feel at a hyper-local level. Some fast facts about our red to blue flips: Represent 10 states 70% municipal races 23% school board 7% state legislative seats Biggest swing from Trump’s election: Andrew Harbaugh in Clarion, PA – a district Trump won 70/30. Flipped the overall balance of power on three municipal boards and two school boards.

Better sidewalks are a winner – or at least, represent a winning idea. Know the actual community issues. Understand what people are talking about at the local diner counter,grocery store aisle, or school pick up line. Go beyond the typical “tested messages” and dig into the authentic concerns and ways to make life just a little bit easier. And then shape talking points that reflect what you’ve heard. Listen, reflect, respond…It should be obvious, but most establishment politicians aren’t great at this. People want to be heard, not told what they care about because of a beltway consultant’s focus group or poll.

Some trends we saw that helped propel our red to blue candidates (now elected alums!) to victory: Affordable housing is a winning issue. While the national establishment is just catching up on this news, our local candidates have been beating this drum since they filed to run for office (and oftentimes, for years before they ran). Flip Republican-coded language on its head. Fiscal responsibility, accountability, students’ rights, budgeting with taxpayer dollars in mind, increased support for public safety are all threads found in most of these campaigns. How those policies showed up, however, were rooted in solutions, not aggrievement. As one candidate put it, “prevention, preparation, and compassion– not fear.” Transparency matters. As trust in politicians and government is at a national all-time low, local candidates inherently understood how tired people are of feeling like the government is not working for them – and bringing decisions, budgets, and policy conversations into the community in modernized ways was central to 90% of the campaigns that flipped seats. Honor the place. Whether born and raised or transplanted with intention, a love, respect, and understanding for the nature of the place, its history, and its people matters. People vote for people – and people want to have elected officials that genuinely feel like good neighbors. Lived experiences relevant to today’s needs are important. The candidates that represent RFS flipped seats have real and recent stories that connect to issues many in their communities may face – from growing up in public housing or with food assistance to being caregivers, losing parents, struggling with childcare – having the first person ability to connect the dots between real life and policy impacts resonates.

This week's @runforsomething.net feel-good update: A deep-dive into our 43 (!!) red-to-blue flips, including trends we identified & what's scalable to everywhere in 2026 & beyond. rfsfeelgoodupdates.substack.com/p/rfs-feel-g...

Trump Is a Weak, Failing President, and the Media Is Finally Saying So As Trump’s downward spiral starts producing harsher media coverage, a writer who regularly dissects MAGA and political media explains why he’s entering a tailspin that will be very hard to reverse.

Finally, the media worm is turning on Trump:

*NYT reports Rs quietly looking beyond Trump
*Axios says "red alert" time for Trump/GOP
*Politico reports MAGA culture-war now failing
*Trump clearly declining in many polls

On the pod we parse through all this evidence:
newrepublic.com/article/2035...

If Trump doesn’t give illegal orders, why is JD Vance, and not Mike Pence, the VP?

Wanna know how bad the Arizona legislator's petition forgeries were? Here's the examples from the Austin Smith indictment.

s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24...

One immediate winner to emerge from the encounter has been Jack Posobiec, a far-right podcaster and activists who was recently credentialed as a member of the White House press pool. As Mr. Trump and Mr. Mamdani fielded questions from reporters, Mr. Posobiec, pressed the mayor-elect on his campaign policy proposals, asking whether Mr. Mamdani intended to increase property taxes for “white people” in New York City.

What a strange framing and characterization. How does one describe his blatantly dishonest, racist question about taxes as “press[ing] the Mayor-elect on his policy proposals”? In what way does this lying troll emerge as a “winner“?

KERNEN: Do you see the administration getting down to 2% w/inflation?

ROLLINS: The structure of what's happening is incredibly positive. We're already down to 2.9%

K: That's about where it was when Biden left though

R: That's right. It's continuing to come down though

K: It's ticked up a little

Brooke Rollins responds to a Fox & Friends graphic showing farm earnings down 6 percent this year by ranting about Joe Biden

U.S.-Russian Peace Plan Would Force Ukraine to Cede Land and Cut Army

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/w...

U.S.-Russian Peace Plan Would Force Ukraine to Cede Land and Cut Army The 28-point proposal, which comes as the Trump administration tries to restart settlement talks, includes demands long rejected by Kyiv as nonstarters. Listen to this article · 5:23 min Learn more

Trump is once again playing the role of Putin’s puppet—pushing a backroom deal that would force Ukraine to surrender territory it holds, slash its military in half, give up long-range weapons, and bar foreign peacekeepers. That’s not peace. That’s Putin’s wishlist.

Hey bozo, the average pay is higher in blue states than red states. Did you think of that? Stop this plutocratic gaslighting.

I would never recover from this.

House committee unlikely to interview Ghislaine Maxwell after her lawyer said she wouldn't answer questions House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars to send staff to Texas after her lawyers said she would not answer questions.

Looks like “Club Fed” Ghislaine Maxwell knew her visit by Trump lawyer/“DAG” Todd Blanche was going to be a “softie interview,” never asserting Fifth Amendment rights she now asserts faced with House questioning.

Kinda impressive how Miller doesn't understand how weak this makes the president look.