The article was quite clear that they were told by a particular someone in the “Republican Establishment”, which right now is a subsidiary of Trump.

No, they don’t need to be told to hold the partisan line, but I wouldn’t put it past Trump (or even Stephen Miller) to treat them like employees. Which must be a bit humiliating for a Member of Congress…

Instructed by whom, exactly? The article doesn’t say. It just says “a source in the Republican establishment”. That could be anyone.

My money is on Stephen Miller. It sounds like a thing he would say…

As I recall, though, the Harris campaign raised a shitton of money. What good did it all do? A huge war chest is no guarantee of anything.

Getting out votes always beats fundraising. If you can vote in the US, don’t let anything stop you. (Particularly doomers on Lemmy, hah!) If you have a friend who can’t get to the polls, help them.

"The DHS Inspector General first realized this when he overheard Noem refer to him several times as ‘Cricket’. "

~(not a real quote)~

That’s the rub: that whole time everyone thought he was a business titan? He wasn’t really rich at all. Not only are real estate ventures heavily leverages to begin with, but he also ran his businesses into the ground by grifting money out of them. When the E. Jean Carroll verdict came in, there was a very real chance he would not have been able to meet it without significant pain.

However, since then, he found his Crypto religion, and then once he won the Presidency the second time, he has been inviting right foreign interests to bribe him through Crypto. So he is actually rich now, based solely on selling influence via meme tokens.

He literally faked it until he made it. And needed two tries to get it right. No wonder he also needs to grift his name into existing things.

You just don’t understand, what choice did they have? The only other choice was a lady!

Um Ackshually, he doesn’t seem to be taking in big $, at least according to his financial disclosures (PDF). Most recent estimates of his net worth are in the $7 million range, but that also counts his house in Park Slope, which is probably worth over $3mil now but I doubt he paid that. And a bunch more is in his retirement account. He’s not struggling by any means, but he doesn’t have “Fuck You” money like Elon has.

There are a lot of memes going around about how rich some of these politicians are but they are mostly fake

It’s too bad Penn only has 21 tracks, I could see them naming Track 34 for him

Republicans have decided they don’t care if the President overstep his authority anymore, as long as it hurts people they hate. A category which includes Palestinians, I guess.

In most states, if a Senator leaves office for any reason, the state’s governor would be empowered to appoint a replacement until a special election can be held. Kentucky, however, has two powerful Republican Senators, and a Democratic Governor. So after some back and forth, the legislature passed a bill (over the Governor’s veto) that said the Governor could not appoint anyone, but could only schedule the special election, letting the seat remain vacant.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/05/how-are-us-senate-vacancies-filled-in-kentucky/78253161007/

However, it is possible the governor might ignore the law and appoint someone anyway, and let the Senate deal with accepting the appointment.

He looks (and acts) like a grown up Caillou

“It just looks on its face to be fraudulent.”

“Can I prove that? No, because it happened so far upstream,” Johnson added.

What a little shit

A lot will depend on the new President / former VP. One would think they would be eager to start their new gig. But what if the VP is complicit? What if he says “Yeah, I know you all impeached him, but I need him for stuff. He gets to keep his security clearance and will be my special advisor” Who’s gonna stop that?

Presumably, none of this happens unless Democrats retake at least the House. And if the office of the VP is ever vacant, the position can only get filled through a vote in both houses. So, Democrats will likely invoke the “McConnell Rule” to never bring it for a vote. Which means that no Republican will vote to impeach President Vance, when that will lead to President Jeffries.

The problem is that while the Courts can still rule on the legality of a President’s actions, that takes time. And Republicans have set up a system where a President can keep taking illegal actions, with impunity. The only check on this is impeachment. So if “your guy” is in office, you can just simply not impeach and then he can do all sorts of shit.

So, the Constitution doesn’t really constrain him, at least over the short term. The elections will happen on schedule, since States administer them. But there is nothing preventing him from mobilizing troops to “monitor” polling places for people voting “illegally”, using the same app they use to determine if a person has legal authority to be here. And his troops will be ordered to believe the app over that person’s documentation. States will file immediate injunctions and judges will rule quickly, but not quickly enough.

He won’t be able to do this everywhere, just like he is not able to storm every city with ICE all at once. But his fixation on voter data means that his AI bros think they can tell him where to go for the maximum effect on the House races.

I read that he directly stated he just needs “about 15 places”. That’s no accident. I bet Elon told him that if he ratfucks just a few thousand votes in 15 districts, he can stem off the impending Blue wave.

Donald Trump thinks “offshore wind” is when he sharts on a boat

“Trump Goons”? I bet he does.

I am convinced that the #1 problem in this country right now is the notion that having a primary challenger is somehow a sign of weakness. Yes, even more important than the creeping fascism, because it directly enables it. Even the opposition may be inclined to keep the creeping fascism creeping along if it guarantees they can keep their job.

The House, in particular, is meant to be the body that is most responsive to the people, because they are theoretically accountable to them every two years. But if you are in a heavily gerrymandered district, and can ensure that you never see a Primary challenge, then it is essentially a lifetime appointment.

I don’t particularly mind if there folks keep their jobs into their 70’s, as long as they really are the best person for that district. But if they never get any meaningful primary challenge how would we know?

I’m sure he thinks all of Jeffrey’s girls “asked” for it, too.

That article reads like the dumb “two truths and a lie” game, except they’re probably all true

ICE Skating has a whole new meaning