Keep it up Democrats in Congress ...
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We have to rid ourselves of the pestilence that is running this country. The only option is to vote blue. The only option. I used to be one who though both parties were the same. Until 2016. When I voted for Hillary, which is something I never thought possible. Our current destroyer of our country made me do it and I would do it again to try to prevent someone like him getting elected anywhere in the government. The republican party has proven over the past 10 years to be incapable of doing anything correct for the people of this country. Not so the democrats. We wouldn't even have the ACA without the democratic party. And now we don't have it because of the republican party.
I know the democrats are not perfect. Nothing in this world is perfect. But at least they would not be doing 1/100th of the crap that the republicans have done to destroy this country.
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I think most every democrat agrees there’s no higher priority than to defang Trump. That’s going to happen in the midterms if at all. The optimal strategy is therefore one that make taking the house and senate most likely. Everything else is preening.
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You’re ready to leave the party when 7 out of 213 democrats disagree with you mostly about tactics? That’s 3% of the dems in Congress.
It seems unlikely that one could expect a national party to agree with them with more than 97% fidelity on pretty much any issue AND the right approach to achieving victory on it.
@jon-nyc No. And good point. However, "pretty much any issue" misses the mark. This isn't just any issue. Government sponsored murder and kidnapping--that will only escalate. Geeze. It's easy to see, now that we're living through it, how Hitler was able to do what he did. The oligarchs fund the regime, the capitalists cower and crawl, men and women of standing fall over themselves placating a tyrant.
The issue is party leadership. Jeffries is acting as if the time we are living in is the same as any other. These are extraordinary times and they call for extraordinary measures. If he can't muster the where with all to even try to get his party coalesced (the article states he had no intention of doing so) around the most appalling abuses against American citizens, he needs to go. And one measure of anyone running for Congress is whether or not they continue to support the "leadership" of Jeffries and Schumer, If so, they won't get my support.
As for leaving the party, yes, a real possibility. But not just over this unbelievable shitshow.
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We have to rid ourselves of the pestilence that is running this country. The only option is to vote blue. The only option. I used to be one who though both parties were the same. Until 2016. When I voted for Hillary, which is something I never thought possible. Our current destroyer of our country made me do it and I would do it again to try to prevent someone like him getting elected anywhere in the government. The republican party has proven over the past 10 years to be incapable of doing anything correct for the people of this country. Not so the democrats. We wouldn't even have the ACA without the democratic party. And now we don't have it because of the republican party.
I know the democrats are not perfect. Nothing in this world is perfect. But at least they would not be doing 1/100th of the crap that the republicans have done to destroy this country.
@Mark It is certainly true that the Democrats have the right intentions, at least on paper. And it's also true that no party is perfect.
But I, for one, am not seeking perfection. I am looking for a fight. Time and again, in the last year, we've seen weak kneed responses from Jeffries and Schumer. They are not up to the task.
Re, ACA. The ACA never had a public option because of a Democrat (Joe Lieberman) who was beholden to the same interests as the other side of the aisle.
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Don't bring a knife to a gunfight.
Perhaps they realize that there really isn't much they can do in this situation - as much as we would like to think otherwise. Cut funding? When has that stopped the current Republicans from just taking money from somewhere else? Make laws? To an administration that ignores most every law that doesn't help them?No, the only hope (slim though it may be with tampering of votes) is to get enough folks in the house and senate to actually take their co-equal branch of government seriously. I would bet there are many that are tangled in the pedo rings and are being blackmailed..
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@Mark It is certainly true that the Democrats have the right intentions, at least on paper. And it's also true that no party is perfect.
But I, for one, am not seeking perfection. I am looking for a fight. Time and again, in the last year, we've seen weak kneed responses from Jeffries and Schumer. They are not up to the task.
Re, ACA. The ACA never had a public option because of a Democrat (Joe Lieberman) who was beholden to the same interests as the other side of the aisle.
@Bernard said in Keep it up Democrats in Congress ...:
@Mark It is certainly true that the Democrats have the right intentions, at least on paper. And it's also true that no party is perfect.
But I, for one, am not seeking perfection. I am looking for a fight. Time and again, in the last year, we've seen weak kneed responses from Jeffries and Schumer. They are not up to the task.
Re, ACA. The ACA never had a public option because of a Democrat (Joe Lieberman) who was beholden to the same interests as the other side of the aisle.
@Bernard said in Keep it up Democrats in Congress ...:
@Mark It is certainly true that the Democrats have the right intentions, at least on paper. And it's also true that no party is perfect.
But I, for one, am not seeking perfection. I am looking for a fight. Time and again, in the last year, we've seen weak kneed responses from Jeffries and Schumer. They are not up to the task.
Re, ACA. The ACA never had a public option because of a Democrat (Joe Lieberman) who was beholden to the same interests as the other side of the aisle.
This is true. If you're going to play the fall guy then of course you're going to lose. The Democrats were supposed to be a counter-weight. What counter-weight have they been? They might be trying (some of them) but they are not doing a good job.
On the other hand, I was wrong. Looking back, vote blue no matter who was the best. Yes, I was wrong about Trump.
I've never been as wrong in my life.
I mean, really, I have a strong political science background, and I lost the plot.
I don't think anyone expects a perfect world, but the phrase-- "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition."-- exists for a reason.
In any case, what a horrific state of affairs.
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I think most every democrat agrees there’s no higher priority than to defang Trump. That’s going to happen in the midterms if at all. The optimal strategy is therefore one that make taking the house and senate most likely. Everything else is preening.
@jon-nyc said in Keep it up Democrats in Congress ...:
I think most every democrat agrees there’s no higher priority than to defang Trump. That’s going to happen in the midterms if at all. The optimal strategy is therefore one that make taking the house and senate most likely. Everything else is preening.
I'm in board.
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Just saw this explanation - sounds reasonable.
A lot of people are angry that Democrats didn’t force a shutdown to defund ICE. And being in Minneapolis, I get it. I’m living this horror every day. But here’s what actually happened, and why it’s more complicated than it seems.
ICE got $75 BILLION last summer in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. That money isn’t touched by this week’s vote.
With $75B in the bank, ICE can operate for YEARS without new funding. A shutdown wouldn’t stop them—not even for a day.
Meanwhile, every other agency in DHS would close: FEMA, TSA, Coast Guard, Secret Service. Workers wouldn’t get paid. Disaster relief would stop.
And ICE would keep raiding communities with that $75B.
So what were Democrats actually voting on?
The regular annual DHS budget ($10B for ICE). Here’s what they negotiated:
WINS:
All anti-LGBTQ+ riders stripped (bans on trans healthcare & school support)
ICE enforcement cut by $115M
5,500 fewer detention beds
Border Patrol cut by $1.8B
Body cameras required for ICE
FEMA funding UP $873M for disaster relief
Election security funding UP $40M
Coast Guard pay raises & sexual assault prevention funding
New restrictions on DHS moving money around
Training required on right to record police
These aren’t huge wins. But they’re real guardrails that a shutdown or continuing resolution would’ve eliminated.
Here’s the brutal truth about a shutdown:
It would’ve hurt working families right before an election, given Republicans perfect attack ads and most importantly, it would have NOT stopped ICE.
The IRS is already buried from the 43-day shutdown last fall. Another one means:
• Tax refunds delayed for millions
• TSA workers at airports unpaid
• Coast Guard families unpaid
• FEMA disaster relief frozen
• ICE keeps operating with $75B
The real fight was last summer when that $75B passed. Now? Democrats are stuck choosing between bad options in an election year where we NEED to win back the House. So they chose the Dems in vulnerable red or purple races to vote for the bill.
And don’t get it twisted, it’s ABOLISH ICE on this page- but in order to do that, we have to win the midterms. Pushing a government shutdown right now, would be a gift to Trump and Republicans.
Kerry Robertson -
Just saw this explanation - sounds reasonable.
A lot of people are angry that Democrats didn’t force a shutdown to defund ICE. And being in Minneapolis, I get it. I’m living this horror every day. But here’s what actually happened, and why it’s more complicated than it seems.
ICE got $75 BILLION last summer in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. That money isn’t touched by this week’s vote.
With $75B in the bank, ICE can operate for YEARS without new funding. A shutdown wouldn’t stop them—not even for a day.
Meanwhile, every other agency in DHS would close: FEMA, TSA, Coast Guard, Secret Service. Workers wouldn’t get paid. Disaster relief would stop.
And ICE would keep raiding communities with that $75B.
So what were Democrats actually voting on?
The regular annual DHS budget ($10B for ICE). Here’s what they negotiated:
WINS:
All anti-LGBTQ+ riders stripped (bans on trans healthcare & school support)
ICE enforcement cut by $115M
5,500 fewer detention beds
Border Patrol cut by $1.8B
Body cameras required for ICE
FEMA funding UP $873M for disaster relief
Election security funding UP $40M
Coast Guard pay raises & sexual assault prevention funding
New restrictions on DHS moving money around
Training required on right to record police
These aren’t huge wins. But they’re real guardrails that a shutdown or continuing resolution would’ve eliminated.
Here’s the brutal truth about a shutdown:
It would’ve hurt working families right before an election, given Republicans perfect attack ads and most importantly, it would have NOT stopped ICE.
The IRS is already buried from the 43-day shutdown last fall. Another one means:
• Tax refunds delayed for millions
• TSA workers at airports unpaid
• Coast Guard families unpaid
• FEMA disaster relief frozen
• ICE keeps operating with $75B
The real fight was last summer when that $75B passed. Now? Democrats are stuck choosing between bad options in an election year where we NEED to win back the House. So they chose the Dems in vulnerable red or purple races to vote for the bill.
And don’t get it twisted, it’s ABOLISH ICE on this page- but in order to do that, we have to win the midterms. Pushing a government shutdown right now, would be a gift to Trump and Republicans.
Kerry Robertson@Rontuner As jon-nyc notes above, 213 House members thought it was worth a fight. 7 didn't. Jeffries, once again, dropped the ball. As long as we continue to give up before the fight even happens, cold blooded murder of American citizens will continue. As long as we continue to justify not putting up a fight, there will be blood. Today is further proof. ICE is wildly unpopular. Democrats getting into good trouble would have shone a spotlight on the republican congress. What a crying shame. We have lost the country. It's over. Not enough people in power (in all sectors, not just the government) would fight. Biden's four years were a colossal waste of time. That's when the bud should have been nipped. Merrick Garland dropped the ball big time. Yes, I have reached the belief that it's too late now. It's over. I would like something to happen to change my mind, but it's been getting increasingly difficult to see how we get out of this while the powers that be succumb to the easy way out.
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Ron points out the fight would have been performative. We can't afford noble defeats. We have to win in 2026. Everything else is an instagram pose.
@jon-nyc Your talking pipe dreams. If you think the Democrats are going to be allowed to win this fall, dream on. Reality is going to be very harsh.
Since when is performative a bad thing? It is, literally, one of the very few weapons we have.
There is a glimmer of hope, I will admit, that the Democrats in the Senate will do something about the funding bill next week. I'm writing my two traitorous Senators pronto.
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@bernard I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for Schumer and Jeffries to stand on principle either. They keep folding. Why would they stop now?
I used to write letters and call the offices of people in Congress, governors, and people in state legislatures.
In all honesty, the only result I got from it that had any good outcome or any pleasant result was a heartfelt reply from a Florida State Senator after I thanked him for his vote on making my alma mater an independent part of the State system.
I once expressed my dissatisfaction with a bigoted statement Hawaii Governor Lingle made by leaving a voicemail.
I wrote to my alumni association about advisory votes they took several times. Each and every time they voted for the benefit of their careers instead of what would be the right thing to do for the College, its values, or any values.
I excommunicated them, and to have a "vote" in their metric of % of alumni who give $1 or more, I ignored them. They sent me mail for a few years asking for $1 saying why it was important to them. We paid a lot of attention to data in those days. It might sound petty but it was the only action I could take.
I won't have anything to do with them. They are unforgiven.
Good luck. After everything I wrote, please don't think I intend this as sarcasm. I don't.
