Sarah Christopherson

Not to be glib, but it was always going to trend this way. People hated Trump the first time and he's even less competent now. There was never a reason to think Rs would outperform 2018

Which is part of why the preemptive surrender of so many elites has been so f*cking annoying

Vibes are an underrated aspect of free speech. The First Amendment hasn't changed, but the vibes from this administration are that the gov't has the power to chill press freedom via threats. And so I'd expect these kinds of casual threats to continue until or unless courts emphatically quash them.

I genuinely think sometimes rather than explaining or arguing these totally made up controversies people should just be shamed for pretending not to know basic information about the world

They’re convinced that all of those young men will keep shooting up schools and movie theaters instead of chasing the stardom of Luigi Mangione. And maybe they’re right. But maybe they’re wrong.

SNAP’s Contingency Reserve Is Available for Regular SNAP Benefits, as USDA and OMB Have Ruled in Past The Administration must use all available options to fund November benefits for the 1 in 8 people in the U.S. who need SNAP to afford their grocery bill.

Let's be clear: the Trump administration has access to a contingency fund that would keep food assistance benefits going next month. Is the administration really going to let millions of families go hungry when it can prevent that from happening? #snap #shutdown

I'm not a Maine voter or a major donor so my opinion is pretty irrelevant, but he's one of the only candidates I've ever heard talk about the need to organize people on the ground to *build a lasting movement* instead of a campaign that swoops in every few years and disappears.

When the leading lights of the Democratic Party can endorse Andrew Cuomo after he sexually assaulted his subordinates, it's hard to clutch my pearls over any of the Platner revelations. (Ofc, I also didn't give a shit that Obama smoked pot in his youth, a crime punishable with jail time.)

Am I shocked that a 20yo jarhead got a scary tattoo w/o knowing its associations? Or that a millennial man said some stupid shit on the internet?

Having met w/Graham, I'd still take him over any of the perfectly curated 70+ year olds whose major selling pt is they came of age before the internet

My lukewarm take is that none of the bombshell scandals involving Graham Platner thus far have been disqualifying. POTUS is a corrupt sexual predator who empowers sociopaths to trample on American freedoms and the staid, feckless Dem gerontocracy is a key reason we're here at all.

I'm not sure you can get more marie antoinette than taking away food stamps before thanksgiving while you build a gold and marble dance hall so the other crooks can bring bribe you over a badly-cooked (argentinian) steak

True, but the study population being Swedish patients may make that less of an issue than if the patients came from somewhere with sporadic and grossly unequal access to care… like the U.S.

True, and yet there’s clearly a through-line. Perhaps the fact that there were no significant consequences for any of the major players after Iran-Contra is why we’re here now. Why bother with *hiding* one’s lawlessness if there are no negative consequences when it’s uncovered?

Opinion | Democrats shouldn’t bail out Trump as the shutdown drags on The best time for the opposition to take a stand, rather than settle for untrustworthy promises, is right now.

If you take the Trump/MAGA/GOP threat to US Constitutional democracy seriously—and I really think you should—then things getting worse faster, before Trump has consolidated authoritarian power, is beneficial, not detrimental.

If Democrats don't fight now, they might never have another real chance.

Opinion | Democrats shouldn’t bail out Trump as the shutdown drags on The best time for the opposition to take a stand, rather than settle for untrustworthy promises, is right now.

The White House is blatantly violating the Constitution, ignoring Congressionally-allocated spending. Approving any budget would put a stamp of approval on the end of checks and balances.

It'll hurt, yes, but it's time for opposition. The political costs will mostly fall on the people in charge.

The Trump administration’s deployment of ICE and others in the mass deportation effort has led to more violence and turmoil, and less safety and security for all, including US citizens. But that’s a feature not a bug. The chaos justifies further authoritarian crackdowns. The chaos is the point.

Leading to further market consolidation as small and family-owned firms are gobbled up by massive ones backed by politician investors…not unlike the effect of tariffs on family farms right now.

But maybe that’s the point.

As a small business owner (LLC ftw!), I am *keenly aware* of how the GOP refusal to extend the expiring ACA expansion—in the megabill, when they could have done so easily, or now in the shutdown fight—is going to screw over millions of small businesses.

@markpocan.bsky.social: “They broke their agreement by letting the president steal funds through rescission… That’s not a continuing resolution. That’s called a Republican wet dream, and I’m not giving in.”

This lady sounds super smart, we should listen to her

The same is true w/the Gingrich shutdowns and the various fights over the border or PPFA or the zillion other times when we shut down or came close to. The nominal excuse draws the fire power; the concessions are won in places where the public—and most MOCs and advocates—are too exhausted to track

They lose on their nominal excuse, but they win lots of other spending cuts or poison-pill policy riders that they would never have gotten otherwise.

Going into the 2013 approps fight, Dems were focused on repealing sequestration. That got totally sidelined by having to defend the ACA.

Screen capture reads: Even if minority leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries recognize that shutdowns are political losers that never achieve their policy goals, they may judge

This bit of conventional wisdom is repeated everywhere as gospel truth, but if you dig a little deeper, the shutdown party often wins significant concessions below the radar.

The same is true w/the Gingrich shutdowns and the various fights over the border or PPFA or the zillion other times when we shut down or came close to. The nominal excuse draws the fire power; the concessions are won in places where the public—and most MOCs and advocates—are too exhausted to track

They lose on their nominal excuse, but they win lots of other spending cuts or poison-pill policy riders that they would never have gotten otherwise.

Going into the 2013 approps fight, Dems were focused on repealing sequestration. That got totally sidelined by having to defend the ACA.

Screen capture reads: Even if minority leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries recognize that shutdowns are political losers that never achieve their policy goals, they may judge

This bit of conventional wisdom is repeated everywhere as gospel truth, but if you dig a little deeper, the shutdown party often wins significant concessions below the radar.

I cannot emphasize enough that this administration shouldn’t get 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦 from the Dems until they start obeying the law.

Not. One.

Optics matter: if you want people to turn out next election despite troops in the streets, then show them it matters.

Do your goddamn jobs and hold the line.

In 2025, it’s impossible to argue that the filibuster has limited Republicans’ worst impulses in any practical way.

It’s like the living embodiment of the quote about the “law binds but does not protect” the enemies of conservatism.

Politico article: Democrats on Capitol Hill are furious with the Trump administration and their Republican counterparts for undercutting government funding negotiations, but they aren't showing a unified strategy for forcing the GOP to change course 10 weeks out from a shutdown deadline. In the House, Republicans are ignoring Democratic priorities in government funding bills, moving forward with deep spending cuts and conservative policy riders — including to restrict abortions, block enforcement of a slew of gun regulations and snuff out federal hiring efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. In the Senate, Democrats have more leverage, where 60 votes will be needed to move forward and GOP leaders are already advancing funding bills with buy-in from across the aisle. But so far Democrats are stopping short of flashing the most powerful tool they have to ensure the end result is to their liking: threatening a shutdown come Oct. 1 if they don’t get their way. Democrats can shame administration officials who are openly dismissing the need for bipartisanship in funding talks — and the Republicans backing them up. Yet Democrats have little power to ensure they get to shape whatever legislation Congress passes to keep federal cash flowing beyond September, or stop President Donald Trump from freezing, canceling and now clawing back funding Congress already approved. “To be blunt, I don't think there's one tactic or approach that is going to solve this from any individual Democrat,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a top appropriator, said in an interview. “The Republicans have to decide whether they want to be totally lobotomized or not.” The dynamic underscores the bind that Democrats could find themselves in once again, after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took intense heat from across his party for helping pave the way for passage of Republicans’ government funding extension in March. And despite pressure to play hardball, Democrats at this moment a…

Since we often use shorthand—eg “need 60 votes to pass a CR”—it’s easy to lose sight of the reality: Senate Dems don’t actually have the power to shut down govt, bc Rs could kill the filibuster

Instead, Ds are *protecting the device that hobbles their own power* when they’re in the majority

Or they could do us all a (long-term) favor and nuke the leg filibuster. Dems don't actually have the power to shut anything down in a GOP trifecta.

What? No, sequestration was the holdover from the 2011 debt limit fight. But there are numerous examples where losing on the marquee issue still left the shutdown party better off on below the radar fights