Lincoln ignored the court, and you can too 🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧

i think the argument the cavers should’ve made/should make is “i couldn’t let people starve - we made a run thinking they would fold on aca, but trump really is that psychotic”

that’s an argument i think people could respect, but the won’t even make it

this was basically a defeatist capitulation in the name of harm reduction

The complete lack of interest in slightly covering up the fact that this was a top-down decision to make 8 people who won't be up soon the villains is genuinely insulting. They think we are morons

Our leadership class is being outfoxed by a bunch of whiny babies

Some thoughts on the CR/minibus.

1 The Dems negotiating with Rs were not freelancing. They coordinated with Sen Schumer. A few were ready to give in on day one, others worked to maximize appropriations wins.

Those voting for the 'deal' are the ones furthest away from electoral consequences.

The RIF provision is solid but doesn’t go as far as it should (no real teeth to enforce it or federal law re: employees, to protect federal employees, or constrain Vought).

Then your actual ask has to be something that doesn’t demoralize the base and make you look like weak losers, and that actually, as far as possible, gets the majority to reassert Article One, or at least trips up the WH. And we seem to have gotten neither that or the ACA subsidies.

If this was a kayfabe glonzo, then the real fight is (a) drawing voter attention to the majority’s program and hitting Trump/the GOP and (b) using what little leverage the minority has to reinforce (frankly, reestablish) the constitutional order.

chosen for hardball in the first place (unless you subscribe to the view that it was a purely cynical ploy for the elections/because healthcare polls well for Democrats; but even then, why start the fight in the first place?)

Or, Thune is forced to scrap the filibuster or create some form of carveout for this bill. Forcing the GOP to further own their majority-passed legislation.

Further, while I agree an ACA reversal was unlikely, I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a nonstarter. That’s partly why the issue was

With all due respect, nowhere did I say or imply they can “magically make everything better.”

Wouldn’t denying the majority party support on unpopular bills/policies it can’t pass alone qualify as ‘what they can, where they can’?

To repeat: I have studied a lot of cases of autocratization over the past 15 years. Wrote about them, taught about them, consulting about them.

I do not recall an opposition so apathetic, ignorant, and inept as the @democrats.org. They cling to their power, rather than fight for democracy. Shame.

Doing a therapeutic(?) dive into Civil War history has really underscored how unprincipled modern federal politicians are, particularly moderate Senators.

Politicians have always been calculating, self-serving bastards. But a lot of those bastards historically *also* had genuine convictions.

which clearly includes Schumer. If tonight convinced me of anything it's that Senate brain isn't a psychological disposition, but an active infectious, parasitic agent.

My original comment referred to Congressional Democrats, I think it's clear which I meant.

It is important to note that anyone other than probably CCM who has any interest in being relevant in dem party politics and isn't retiring soon noted out of this deal.

This was a grenade fall, which means leadership almost certainly blessed it.

Schumer either planned it or lost control of the caucus. It doesn’t matter. He needs to be out as leader now, and primaried now. Primary all of them with people who will one day vote to abolish the senate.

The elections will be in 2026.

I don't understand your point. My earlier post was referring to the fact that Democrats won't be able to reassert the constitutional order until they control Congress, which will be in 2027, and restore healthcare subsidies until they control the whole gov, in 2029.

The next Congress opens on January 3, 2027.

honest question, do we just not fight back then? Congressional Democrats sit silently and let the constitution sit in abeyance until Jan 2027? The healthcare system collapses until Jan 2029?

If only one actor in the political system has an agenda they're willing to use the levers of power available to them to advance, & no one else is willing to shoulder the costs to stop them using the leverage they have, then that actor is sovereign—king in all but name—and his will is law.

This is why this surrender isn't just about this narrow issue but is rather the whole constitutional ballgame:

Democrats are affirmatively signaling they do not want political power at the same time Trump is transitioning the political system into an autocratic one wherein they're denied it forever

Basically: I think the political point scoring arguments right now are missing the point pretty seriously. We absolutely have to assert the constitutional order, and you cannot open the government if the other party refuses.

if you genuinely think Schumer and Democratic leadership opposed this & Republicans coincidentally got exactly the number of votes they needed to avoid a filibuster and none of those votes are from Democratic Senators who are up for reelection in the midterms next year, I have a bridge to sell you.

Unless they remove Schumer, primaries for everyone in 2026:

Booker - NJ
Coons - DE
Hickenlooper - CO
Lujan - NM
Markey - MA
Merkley- OR
Ossoff - GA
Reed - RI
Warner - VA

A no vote is not enough

The coordinated nature of this—none are facing voters in 2026—means that either Schumer approved it or failed in his job as Senate Majority Leader to stop it.

Dems voting "no" get zero credit until they demand a change in leadership. Schumer out as Leader, Durbin out as Whip.

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

and the aforementioned tuned-in voters and activists know it's not just these eight senators. All of this puts Warner, Booker, Hickenlooper, and others in career jeopardy as well. You only need to knock out one or two high-profile moderates to scare the rest into line.

Liar.