Failure to stand up to him is how we got here. Did Godzilla stop fighting Mothra or did he say “standing up to Mothra doesn’t work.”

We’re Not Asking For Much, Angus "Standing up to Donald Trump didn't work."

Had to write about Angus King's declaration that "standing up to Trump didn't work" because I've never heard anything bleaker in my life.

badfaithtimes.com/were-not-ask...

UPDATE — Here are the at least 10 congressional Democrats, 5 Democratic-aligned organizations, and 6 Democratic Senate candidates calling for Chuck Schumer to resign as leader:

These folks don’t represent the center.

No they aren’t. Weak Dems orchestrated a ruse where 8 members would cave & the rest would play really angry about it. Angus King went on TV the next morning claiming standing up to Trump didn’t work. Dems did this when they had the most leverage showing that are weak. They pissed off their voters.

This was sooooo good.

time.com/7096209/brea...

Winter is coming…

I can guess two.

Kids in the 70s loved it.

There was better messaging. When you make the party irate you’ve done something wrong.

Now that Dems have capitulated, at the very least they should now make every future extension of funding contingent on Trump following the law. Any lawbreaking must be met with: No more votes from us, period.

My exchange with @brianbeutler.bsky.social on that point:

newrepublic.com/article/2029...

www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/tuesday-november-11th-we-cave

Shutdown Deal Lets GOP Senators Personally Sue Over Jack Smith Probe $500K For Election Subversion Tucked into a spending bill that is part...

Shutdown Deal Lets GOP Senators Personally Sue Over Jack Smith Probe talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo...

“Trump is harming the American people. It’s about to get cold. Our cherished family holidays are coming. People are hungry. Our Fed workers need their pay. We will end the shutdown now but may have to shut it down on February 1 if Republicans don’t start working for the people.”

I agree with everyone on being mad about this vote. If the party was smart they would have positioned this as a tactical retreat. Staying they did not want people to starve and freeze over the holidays. This leads to a pivot to affordability. We need now to hold the majority party accountable.

Nope.

Dems Reward the Hostage-Taker Perhaps ending the shutdown was the responsible thing to do. But by caving, Democrats risk legitimizing Trump’s maximum-pain shutdown tactics.

"There is a non-zero chance we repeat this all over again at the end of January when the funding deal will run out. There’s a reason you’re not supposed to negotiate with terrorists." www.thebulwark.com/p/dems-rewar...

They got what they wanted. Screw the people.

This is why they shouldn’t have caved.

100%

Respectfully, it’s not “centrists vs progressives.” That’s the old way of thinking. It’s “institutionalists/establishment” vs “populists/fighters.”

DONALD TRUMP: [asleep, drooling on long red tie]

SENATE DEMOCRATS: fine, we give in

The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali | Substack A political, cultural, and intellectual playground for the rest of us with writer Wajahat Ali. Click to read The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscriber...

Lincoln Project co-founder and former Republican strategist @stuartpstevens.bsky.social joins me to discuss how the majority can reject Vichy Democrats and MAGA Nazis, and use their righteous rage to imagine a better life.

2 pm ET.

No paywalls.

Join us.

thelefthook.substack.com

LIVE TODAY AT 2 PM ET - MORE STEVENS: @stuartpstevens.bsky.social sits down with @wajali.bsky.social!

Just love this…

I've taken the paywall off this eulogy I wrote for my magical, mysterious ex-stray cat George - who died last year - in case anybody would like a read: www.tom-cox.com/lots-of-peop...

We are not the leadership in Congress.

Pressure.

thinking back to when eric cantor got knocked out in a primary in 2014