Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Alternative history is always a weak argument. Always.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

In after Baud. Damn.

In my day, never was longer.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

We still have time to mess this up!

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

This really is a full service blog.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

We won’t go back.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

You are here: Home / Incoming Criminal Administration / James Fallows Isn’t Any Happier About This Than We Are

James Fallows Isn’t Any Happier About This Than We Are

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So many fucking cowards in key positions.

Obeying in Advance: The Christopher Wray Story

James Fallows

Despite these rules, eventually Trump would have found a way to fire Wray. OK. Wray should have made him do so, rather than removing himself.

Wray has done great damage with this decision and deserves to be scorned. Why?

1) Postponing the ‘inevitable’ can make a difference.

Maybe it is “inevitable” that Donald Trump would have gotten his way in controlling the FBI. But other people don’t have to make it quick and easy for him. Which is what Christopher Wray has just done.

Resistance can change the calculations of “inevitability.” An extreme example is Ukraine. In the first few days after Russia’s invasion, it seemed “inevitable” that Kyiv would immediately fall. Then President Zelenskyy and his comrades made their unforgettable “everyone is here” video. What will happen in the long run is unknowable. The price has been severe on all sides. But by resisting, Zelenskyy changed everyone’s calculations. By caving in, Wray did as well.

One of Donald Trump’s main tools, as the GOP has collapsed into subservience, is the perception of un-stoppability. He’s going to get his way in the end. So why waste your time standing up to him? Thus Lindsey Graham, Nikki Haley, “Little Marco,” and countless others have etched their role in history.

By making it slower and harder for Trump to get his way with the FBI, Director Wray might have protected the institution itself, and its dignity, and its commitment to continued leadership through changes of administration, for that much longer.² Crucially, he might have slowed down Donald Trump on other fronts, by inflicting on him another “loss.”

But he stepped aside. He gave Trump an easy and unnecessary win. Christopher Wray, please join James Comey in the ranks of FBI directors who went out having harmed the country.

2) ‘Do Not Obey in Advance.’

For the millionth time, I’ll quote Timothy Snyder, of Yale, from his best-selling book on “Twenty Lessons on Fighting Tyranny.” Christopher Wray has now given us what will stand as the classic example of violating Snyder’s Rule Number One:

1. Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.

“Teaching power what it can do.” That is the lesson Christopher Wray has given us. He magnifies Trump’s power. And demonstrates his own weakness, and by implication that of institutions more broadly.

The second lesson on Snyder’s list is also relevant:

2. Defend institutions. It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. So choose an institution you care about and take its side.

I’ve been fired myself, over a much lower-stakes difference of principle. You can survive. Christopher Wray made the wrong choice.

Reader Interactions

151Comments

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    I’m finding it helpful to have the happy calendar covers at the top of the sidebar.  Kind of like the music in Schindler’s List was the only reason I was able to get through the whole movie.

  4. 4.

    Sanjeevs

    Wray protected Trump and the GOP for any consequences for Jan 6. His job is done and he can move on.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    @Sanjeevs:

    Wray protected Trump and the GOP for any consequences for Jan 6. His job is done and he can move on.

    Yep.  I’ve always known he was a piece of shit who protects his own at the expense of justice, but now I know he’s a cowardly piece of shit.

  7. 7.

    @mistermix.bsky.social

    Perhaps if we ever have Democrats in power again, we can stop appointing Republicans to important positions.  They seem to lack spines.

  8. 8.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl:  What is the name of the beguiling dog on the cover?  Handsome pup.

    Reading Fallows now.  Have been reading the graphic novel version of Snyder’s On Tyranny earlier.  Quite sure Wray has read it and is familiar with it.  And yet …

  10. 10.

    different-church-lady

    The sure way to deter a beating from a psychopath is to ask meekly you not be beaten.

  14. 14.

    Old School

    I don’t recall Trump finding many roadblocks to firing Comey as head of the FBI last time around.

    Am I misremembering?

  17. 17.

    frosty

    @WaterGirl: Happy pictures on the front page? Rotating pet pics that got sent in for the calendars? That should be fairly easy to do.

    Also, we already get some happy landscapes etc from OTR. We* could throw some of them into the mix.

    *Ha! Who’s in charge of all this stuff? Didn’t mean to add something else to your plate.

  19. 19.

    JiveTurkin

    How about Fetterman as hard yes for Stefanik for UN ambassador?  He wants her to gut UNRWA because they are documented Hamas supporters.  Maybe he can provide evidence that doesn’t come from Israel.  Fuck him, my guess is he leaves the party within two years.  Another guy who pretty much supports anything Israel does because, well, Hamas

    And now I read that Fetterman has joined Truth Social and wants Trump to get a pardon.  Revise the two years to next year, the only question is whether he joins the Republican party.  Way to shit on the progressives who supported you.

  20. 20.

    @mistermix.bsky.social

    @WaterGirl: Yep, Wray was a Trump appointee. Every director of the FBI since Hoover has been a Republican.  Time to change that, if we can in the future.

  22. 22.

    Raoul Paste

    What are the odds that Trump still  criminally charges Wray  with some nonsense?  Just to  show others that they dare not oppose him?

  30. 30.

    different-church-lady

    So any rate, I’m just going to be prepared for everything to be insane for at least four years and hope there’s another side to arrive at.

  31. 31.

    TBone

    It hasn’t even really started yet…this phase is like when they bring you a finger bowl and hot towel before the appetizer.

  34. 34.

    delphinium

    @mrmoshpotato: Yeah, while I wasn’t that surprised by the extent of the misogyny over the past couple elections, the abject cowardice displayed by so many (especially those with lots of privilege) has been eye-opening to say the least.

  39. 39.

    TBone

    Sniveling fealty is not a real job.  Yet we taxpayers are funding so many as if it were.

    I wonder who, once the IRS is defunded and drowned in a bathtub, is gonna enforce penalties if I conscientiously object to paying another penny.

    Yes, I am aware of the possibilities.  Such a gambit would require unity by We the People.

  40. 40.

    cain

    A lot of democrats have revealed themselves. Cool

    It’s time to finally shelf bi-partisanship. It has won us nothing. Having all these Republicans onboard doesnt do shit and have actively hurt su. I don’t understand why we keep doing this.

  41. 41.

    sab

    Kavanaugh background non-check says it all. Let’s not go on too much about him being one of the serious Trump hires.

  42. 42.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @TBone:

    That’s too blatant.  Pay some miniscule amount and see if they catch it.  Or fudge (a lot) around the edges of any given return in order to reduce tax liabilities…and see if they catch it.

    That’s the key, give the appearance of doing something, massively screw it up to your benefit, and see if they catch it.

    Defunding-then-drowning the IRS will make that more than possible.

  45. 45.

    schrodingers_cat

    I am not going to get upset at every little thing. My outrage meter is broken. We had a successful incumbent president, but he was boring and old. He respected black people so the white people in the Democratic party, the media and other assorted rich bros decided that he had to go. But the POLLS…
    June polls needn’t have determined the November results.

    The voting public rightly judged if the Dems  can throw a sitting President under the bus we are nothing.

    So don’t complain now that the leopards are eating your faces, to borrow a much used phrase.

  48. 48.

    sab

    @mrmoshpotato: Apparently you haven’t lived through an abusive relationship. When the abuser is on a rampage, nothing the abused does helps. Mostly somthing totally outside the relationship set the abuser off.

    I maybe missed the snark // tags

  49. 49.

    Joy in FL

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: That (comment #32) is a magnificent image. Like Kali, dancing on the defeated and slain, their spines her necklace.

    I was thinking earlier today that a few years ago, I would never have believed that I would see Liz Cheney as a hero for democracy. But I do.

  51. 51.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Long Time San Diego Lurker:

    Fetterman is a Democrat in name only. He needs a primary opponent ASAP.

    It’s interesting in that much of the Horseshoe Left has been on Fetterman’s case (mainly about Gaza) since Day 1.  There are plenty of reasons to beat on him from across the left spectrum, that’s for sure.

    Definitely another squeeze-the-nose-hard-and-vote-for-candidate.

  52. 52.

    Miki

    Preet Bharara refused to resign, and forced Jeff Sessions to fire him

    Integrity is a thing for some of us. Never, apparently, for Rethugs.

  53. 53.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: My not born in America relative living on a green card finally decided to get naturalized after thirty years in this country, with a naturalized daughter and two born in  America grandchildren. Ceremony is next Wednesday.  I am so phucking relieved.

    He came from an authoritarian country and he often poopooed my distress. Aparently this election changed his mind.

  54. 54.

    schrodingers_cat

    @sab: I am glad. I was on a GC till the Orange One was elected the first time. I encouraged 5 or 6 people to get naturalized after 2016. The naturalization rate went up during his T’s first term. Of course NYT or prestige media couldn’t be bothered to report about this.

  56. 56.

    sab

    @Miki: Resigning was integrity for Wray. Republicans don’t fall on their swords or whatever. They just slink away. Slinking away is considered admirable. Didn’t want to work there or do that.

    Republicans win and cheer, or lose and slink.

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Some “progressives” were surprised when Democratic Majority for Israel endorsed Fetterman the day after he beat Connor Lamb and Malcolm Kenyatta in the Pennsylvania primary. But Fetterman had made no secret of his strong support for Israel. The “progressives” just saw what they wanted to see in Fetterman, and they hated Lamb as a “Centrist.”

  58. 58.

    Miki

    @sab: Slinking isn’t integrity – it’s cowardice. But you know that.

    Wray isn’t even a serious quitter. He’s just one more in a never-ending parade of losers who’ll write a book. Fuck all of them.

  60. 60.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @TBone:

    I will admit that Fetterman has a wicked sense of humor.

    You know who else did? Bob Dole.  When I was doing shift work at the alert center in the Pentagon a lifetime ago, to kill time, I’d watch a lot of CSPAN and that’s where I learned I loved Bob Dole’s sense of humor.

    Didn’t mean I’d ever vote for him.

  61. 61.

    sab

    @schrodingers_cat: I just called to congratulate, but they were in Europe and five hours ahead, so I woke her out of a sound sleep at midnight. Oops.  She loves to travel.

    I love the convenience of cell phones, but sometimes the inconvenience is a problem. What time zone might they be in now?

  64. 64.

    sab

    @WaterGirl: My dog assures me that cat poop is a delicacy because cats get better food than dogs because cats are so darn finicky about their food.

    Cats get canned peacock tongues and dogs just get roadkill. My dog firmly believes that.

  66. 66.

    mrmoshpotato

    The orange shitstain says the FBI “invaded my home.”

    Oh, you sweet summer child fat, orange, fascist, mobster shitstain!

  68. 68.

    sab

    @sab: In doctorate level study American English is now a lingua franca (i. e. everybody speaks it, or can at least read it) because we publish so many books.

    So my sister can go around the world challenging doctoral theses in many countries because she speaks Mandarin and American English.

  69. 69.

    Baud

    @sab:

    In doctorate level study American English is now a lingua franca (i. e. everybody speaks it, or can at least read it) because we publish so many books

     
    And that was before AI.

  70. 70.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    And that was before AI. 

    And now AI-produced books will cause some crazy gibberish to come out of non-native speakers’ mouths – native speakers too!

    After all, people act like “speaking to that (an idea)” is a normal thing to say.

  72. 72.

    YY_Sima Qian

    I am not at all sorry to see Christopher Wray leave. During his tenure he really leaned into the moral panic griping the U.S. (especially but not restricted to DC & the GOP) wrt the PRC, engaged in threat inflation, characterizing it as an “all of society threat” & thus justifying treating every Chinese national, every Chinese American, & everyone w/ association to the PRC (family ties, study experience, work experience, etc.) as potential spies, & enthusiastically launched the China Intiative that hounded ethnically Chinese academics in the U.S. The China Initiative failed to uncover any espionage in academia, the only successful prosecutions were for paperwork irregularities on federal grant applications that would be a slap on the wrist for anyone else, but nonetheless ruined dozens of lives & careers, & helped to drive thousands of ethnically Chinese academics to leave the U.S., most to the PRC.

    However, the manner of his departure objectively assists & reinforces the reactionary counter-revolutionary project. Then again, as did most of his tenure.

  74. 74.

    ColoradoGuy

    Maybe it’s time to end the “tradition” of appointing only GOP apparatchiks to head the FBI. And of using in-house notes with no power of law, or basis in the Constitution, as guiding policy at the Department of Justice.

    Chris Wray.

    Merrick Garland.

    Mitch McConnell.

    More than anyone else, they made sure the US legal system collapsed when put to the test. When (if) the history books are written, they will be right alongside Carl Schmitt as enablers of fascism.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Schmitt

  75. 75.

    Starfish (she/her)

    Legal Eagle is filing a FOIA request to get the DoJ to release all the paperwork related to Donald Trump’s cases now that the cases are over. Also, he wants this expedited.

  79. 79.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Miss Bianca: The difference is the replacement will probably dispense w/ any pretense of institutionalism, propriety & professionalism, & thus undermine even the basic functions of the FBI. The FBI under Wray (not that all the credit goes to him) has been uncovering Russian & Iranian influence operations, hacking campaigns from the PRC & North Korea, & actual espionage from the PRC & Russia (& even South Korea), even while studiously ignoring influence & espionage operations of the likes of Israel & the Gulf States. Under the new Trump Administration, the basic competence may degrade further.

    We might also see enforcement against organized crime suffer, given Trump’s past ties.

  80. 80.

    Socolofi

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Maybe an unpopular opinion over here, but I think the Dems need more Fettermans. Here’s why:
    – He’s all-in pro-worker / helping the poor / helping the left behind. A big chunk of the people in the Blue Wall who put Trump over are also the kind of people who like what Fetterman has to say and does.
    – He’s a brawler. He’ll get into the fight, no holds barred.
    – He gets the new rules. New rules are that the “norms” have been shattered and it’s time to throw elbows (see above, brawler). Also, while The Punditry will clutch at pearls over DT’s trolling, Fetterman just trolls back. Harder.
    – He’s still is “one of the people.” He still lives in Braddock, PA. Think “really shitty former steel town outside of Pittsburgh that turned into a hellhole when nobody had any jobs.” He could easily move into a nice neighborhood in Pittsburgh, or a nice place in Philly, but no – he’s still rubbing shoulders and eating chipped ham. Look it up.
    – He has actual opinions. That means sometimes you’ll disagree with him (see: way more pro-Israel than many would like).

    I’m no longer in PA, but if I was, I’d vote for him in a second. And host a fund-raiser for him with plenty of veggie trays. Also, look it up.

  81. 81.

    lowtechcyclist

    @schrodingers_cat:

    We had a successful incumbent president, but he was boring and old. He respected black people so the white people in the Democratic party, the media and other assorted rich bros decided that he had to go

    So the white Dems disrespected Blacks by replacing a white person, however friendly to Blacks, with an actual Black person.

    Yeah, that makes sense.

  83. 83.

    Starfish (she/her)

    @YY_Sima Qian: So I was having an interesting conversation with someone who works in cybersecurity, and she was for calling “threat actors” just that. She said that putting the country name in front of the words threat actor like “Chinese threat actor” is clearly creating bias against certain countries.

  84. 84.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Geminid: Fetterman is pretty progressive & populist on domestic policy, which the Dems could use more of. However, he is also pretty reactionary on foreign & trade policy, very “America First” w/ a heavy dose of “Israel Right or Wrong” & moral panic wrt PRC. (Not sure what in his life experience would explains this.)

    This is going to be a resorting of US politics, what w/ the reactionary counter-revolutionaries increasingly pay lip service to promoting peace & non-interventionism (however transparently dishonest, the vast majority of them are the worst kind of primacists & militarists), & present themselves as anti-Establishment change agents (again, however transparently dishonest). The Dems have been ceding the populist terrain to the reactionaries on both domestic & foreign fronts.

  86. 86.

    WTFGhost

    Of all the people who should never have stepped aside, the one in charge of national security shouldn’t have.

    We must assume Wray doesn’t care what happens to the world, because he knows Trump won’t prioritize counter-intel, especially not seeing as how they’re still probably calculating the damage *he* (TFG) did.

    Jesus, momma mary, and joseph the carpenter, these people are all-in on trusting the one man I wouldn’t trust to cash in a $1 casino chip, without demanding an 80% share.

  87. 87.

    frosty

    @Socolofi: How do you square everything you said with Fetterman saying Trump’s hush money / election interference case was political just like Hunter Biden’s? That’s the line he crossed that I consider a betrayal.

  88. 88.

    Starfish (she/her)

    @eemom: Most people under 50 were not interested in a second Biden term. Biden is doing all the speeches now, and he looks extremely old. The speeches seem rambling. There is content there, but it barely rises above the noise. The speech on Syria the other day, if you watch the whole thing, there is barely any information in it.

  89. 89.

    TBone

    @Socolofi: thanks.  I’ve been undecided about ever voting for him again in light of his recent statements on pardoning.  You made good points and I’ll reconsider again as time tells.  I was gung ho for the guy up until this past month.  I’ve written him several times.  We’ll see…

    I Vote In This Hoodie, or not…(Nominee for DOJ Civil Rights Division is gonna make it much harder to vote at all if we still have elections, says Marc Elias.)

  90. 90.

    Tony G

    @WaterGirl: I don’t know whether this is necessarily cowardice on Wray’s part.  From my perspective, it’s more like: 1) Wray is a Republican.  2) The contemporary Republican Party is a fascist organization.   3) By resigning Wray has performed his duty to his fellow fascists.  I assume that he will be rewarded for it.

  91. 91.

    Miss Bianca

    @eemom: somewhere – maybe here – someone cited a statistic about how black college-educated Americans voted for Biden in higher numbers than they had for Harris, and white college-educated Americans it was vice versa, and wondered why that was. My thought, which I didn’t express at the time, was “Maybe Black America know how to read the room of white racist America better than white people do.”

    Just a thought.

  92. 92.

    Gretchen

    When Jared Moskowitz heard that James Comey is going to be chair of Oversight again, he said « Thank you, God. »

    Some people are saying that Moskowitz is weak because he said he’s interested in working with DOGE. I think he’s interested in working with DOGE the same way he’s looking forward to working with Comey.  He’s looking forward to sitting right next to those self-important doofuses and making them look foolish, on camera. He understands that these hearings are a show, generating viral clips for tv and the internet.

  94. 94.

    Miss Bianca

    @Gretchen: I don’t know what kind of constituent service the man gives, but it’s starti g to look to an outsider like his primary interest in governance consists of trolling. I find it hard to take a person like that seriously.

  99. 99.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Starfish (she/her): Make no mistake, the PRC right now is the most significant cyber-security threat to any state not named the PRC. Just look up the Volt Typhoon & Salt Typhoon exploits. The latter in particularly is at once breathtaking & frightening, albeit falling under traditional espionage (as opposed to cyber attacks or prepositioning for cyber attacks in the event of war, such as the Volt Typhoon hack). The presumed Chinese state backed hackers are staying in the system even after discovery, & USG & the telecom operators are having trouble rooting them out.

    The reason for Salt Typhoon’s success is not just the skill of the hackers, but also the decrepit state of the US’ telecom infrastructure, the failure by the telecom operators to implement even basic cyber security procedures, & USG through D & R administrations continuing to coddle the operations.

    I do agree that hyper focusing on the PRC may shift attention away from other threat vectors, & there are plenty (including non-state actors).

    Of course, we also do not know what the NSA is doing in the PRC, where cyber security practices are also pretty sh*t, although the infrastructures are much newer & the Great China Firewall does serve as a barrier.

  100. 100.

    eemom

    @Miss Bianca:

    That’s what I was getting at, thank you.

    My comment is taken directly from the words of a friend who is a Black woman shortly after the election.

  104. 104.

    PJ

    @Tony G: Wray was appointed by Trump.  He knows which side his bread is buttered on.  Go along with what Trump wants, and he can ride wingnut welfare for the rest of his life (or maybe even be appointed by Trump to something else).  Oppose Trump, even if its only a formality, and he’ll have to find a real job.

  105. 105.

    Miss Bianca

     

    @eemom: Damn. Just read that article and now I’m thinking, “so, maybe I wasn’t crazy after all.” Shame that after so much lip service gets paid to the notion that Black women are the base of the Democratic Party, that then their opinions get blown off and ignored when it doesn’t align with what the Big Money Boyz want.

  106. 106.

    Socolofi

    @frosty: I dunno. I could make something up like he needs to appeal to more conservative voters than your average blue stater. I could say that maybe he does think those are more political than not (and the NY case was a bit of a novel use of the law). But I don’t know. He’s clearly not a fan of Trump’s so if he’s gonna call out something like that, likely there’s some decent logic behind it. Or some IC Lights. 🤷‍♂️

  109. 109.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Geminid: & the evidence of UNWRA employees being Hamas members is? Corroborated by anyone outside of Israel? & if the UNWRA is gutted, what is the organization/mechanism that Fetterman proposed to deliver aid to the Gazans?

    Israel is restricting flow of food to just above starvation levels, & letting armed gangs (how many of them do you supposed are former Hamas rank & file) seizing much of what aid does get through. The much touted USN mobile pier has been an embarrassment.

  110. 110.

    Omnes Omnibus

    This seems like a fun thread.  Then again, it is always interesting when I agree with eemom.  So there’s that, I guess.

  111. 111.

    Old School

    Slave to the attention economy, Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina had an award-winning foster youth advocate arrested for shaking her hand.

    Folks who saw the event are shocked, confused, and outraged. The story goes that James McIntyre did nothing more than shake Nancy Mace’s hand and let her know that children needed her support. Mace claimed physical assault and had McIntyre arrested.

  112. 112.

    gVOR10

    It seems relevant that Wray is a lifelong Republican appointed by Trump. He may not feel terribly motivated to sacrifice just to save small d democracy. One wonders if he’s been promised a good gig in the wing nut welfare system.

  114. 114.

    BellyCat

    ETA: I live 15 minutes from Braddock and a good friend knows Fetterman well. My friend’s perspective is: “He’s complicated”.  My sense is that he rose fast and suffered a major depressive event at the same time. I’m inclined to give him some space as he gets his legs back under him. He’s a brawler though. And we need more brawlers.

  116. 116.

    BellyCat

    @Kay: Maybe. You do know that as Mayor of Braddock he had the names of constituents who OD’d tattooed on himself?  That some hard core cosplay.

  117. 117.

    Kay

    @JiveTurkin:

    Arent the Trump charges Fetterman wants dropped state charges? Is he really so lazy and poorly prepared he doesn’t know Biden can’t get Trump off of those or is this more of his bullshit man of the people act, where he pretends he doesn’t know?

    Yuck. Another preening egomaniac.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    @BellyCat:

    Whatever. Has he done any work other than pitch a four week hissy fit about how he can’t wear the clothes everyone else wears and needs a snowflake exception?

    I read that he and Shapiro hate each other. There’s probably a good reason for that on Shapiros’s end.

  120. 120.

    TBone

    @Kay: that was hitting below the belt.  He couldn’t get a well fitting suit because of his size (we don’t have great tailors here in rural PA) and after his stroke was too depressed to wear one. I’ve been that depressed so I know.  But he does wear one when he must.  I’m not condoning what he did say, but it’s been blown out of proportion here.  That snowflake remark was ugly.

  121. 121.

    Kay

    @TBone:

    Oh please. He comes from money. He can’t go get a tailored suit from the Big City? Why not? Is it 1850 and he’s waiting on the stagecoach?

    I bet his underlings have a dress code.

  123. 123.

    Geminid

    @Socolofi: Maybe there’s some electoral strategy involved in Fetterman’s rhetoric and actions, but it could be Fetterman is just being Fetterman.

    Now I’m curious about what his approval ratings among Pennsylvanians. It may be higher among Pennsylvanians than it seems to be here. But if I were you, I wouldn’t neccesarily conclude you are in a minority just because you see a some commenters gripe about Fetterman, because that’s just what they do. Some people look down on Congessional Democrats except for a few favorites. So tthey’re always to trash someone like Fetterman.

    I actually look forward to Fetterman being “primaried” in 2028, and I expect he will be if he’s healthy enough to run for a second term. Then Pennsylvania Democrats will have a chance to weigh in on his representation. I’ll trust their judgement.

    More immediately, I anticipate a lot of primary challengers to Democratic House members in 2026, and I have no problem with that. I think this Party has some issues to air out and that’s what primaries are for.

  124. 124.

    Kay

    @TBone:

    You mean to tell me monied Harvard graduate Fetterman cannot travel to Philadelphia or NYC and get a bespoke suit? My ass.

    Get the same tailor NFL players get. Its required for his work, which is not, incidentally “trolling”. Another mid fifties man-baby.

  125. 125.

    Suzanne

    @Kay: I feel the same about my vote for Fetterman as I do about my vote for Sinema: the best thing to do in the situation, and I feel morally injured by it. I commented earlier that it makes me want to take a Silkwood shower.

  126. 126.

    WaterGirl

    @Kay: I believe that Fetterman did not ask for the clothing exception that was instigated by Schumer.

    But all I can say about what I see from Fetterman now is WTF?

  128. 128.

    BellyCat

    I’m no Fetterman fanboy. I don’t like his Israel stance either. I simply see an individual not afraid to rock the boat and am willing to wait and see. He ain’t no Sinema though.

  129. 129.

    Suzanne

    @Geminid:

    Now I’m curious about what his approval ratings among Pennsylvanians. It may be higher among Pennsylvanians than it seems to be here. 

    Two of my neighbors on the next block dressed up as Fetterman for Halloween in 2022. He definitely has a fan base.

  131. 131.

    TBone

    @TBone: since no one read the link. Gisele is also a volunteer firefighter.

    I dreamt of a place where families could go to shop for clothes, toys, and home goods, where no money would be exchanged. This dream turned into Free Store 15104 in Braddock, Pennsylvania, located in an abandoned shipping container that we repurposed into a place where people and retail stores can donate goods they no longer want or can’t sell so people can come in and take what they need.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @Suzanne:

    You poor thing. Twice you got a phony.

    My youngest graduates this year and he’s working shifts as a substitute in a public school. He did one today and called an older teacher “dude” She was pissed and said “how old are you?” He thought that was “mean”

    Thank God she has some standards. He’s 22. If no one tells him he’ll still be like that at 55. They have to GROW UP.

  133. 133.

    Gretchen

    @Miss Bianca: You think we should be sweet and polite while Oversight is showing Hunter Biden dick picks to argue that Biden should be impeached for a crime they can’t articulate? Moskowitz called for Comer to put his money where his mouth was, call for an impeachment vote if he has the evidence. Comer looked like a fool because he is a fool. That’s not trolling.

  134. 134.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @TBone: No one responded to your link.  That does not mean that no one read it.  Not every comment or every link that people post gets a reply.

  135. 135.

    Geminid

    @YY_Sima Qian: If you are really interested in the question of whether some UNWRA personnel were Hamas members, I suggest you research the question on your own, and decide for yourself if there is more to this claim than baseless Israeli allegations.

    I was not arguing that point. The commenter complained that Fetterman supports removing UNWRA from Gaza because its members are supporters of Hamas. I thought it was worth pointing out that in fact, Fetterman supports removing UNWRA from Gaza because he believes some of its personnel were members of Hamas and that UNWRA officials tolerated this.

  136. 136.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Geminid: I have looked at this when the allegations came up, & found only Israeli claims, & no independent corroboration (that I am aware of) from Western press or government (other than those regurgitating Israeli allegations as fact).

    Even Israel has only accused low dozens of members of UNWRA being Hamas members, out of a staff of well over 10K. Advocating defunding the UNWRA over these allegations, w/o any kind of replacement structure to deliver aid, is unjustifiable, & warrants criticism.

  137. 137.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Old School:

    Slave to the attention economy, Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina had an award-winning foster youth advocate arrested for shaking her hand.
     

    I have never seen “attention whore” phrased like this.

  138. 138.

    Geminid

    @Suzanne: I saw a picture a couple New Yorkers whose Halloween costume cracked me up. There was guy in a loose white T-shirt with red dye all over the front with the words “Congestion Pricing.” The dark-haired woman next him was holding a bloody knife. She was playing Governor Hochul.

  141. 141.

    Geminid

    @Old School: Nancy Mace always struck me as an extremely ambitious politician, and I figure Mace has been grandstanding because she believes Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat will open up in 2026, and she’ll do anything to win it.

    That may not be all that’s going on here, though. Stories like this one make me question Mace’s mental balance.

  142. 142.

    Bill Arnold

    @Old School:
    Reminder that Nancy Mace lied about graffiti at her home:
    CAUGHT: ‘Antifa Graffiti’ Matches GOP Rep’s Handwriting – Nancy Mace should resign for faking an “Antifa attack” on her own home. (Frances Langum — June 2, 2021)

    In this new case, she had the person arrested for assault, even though it appears that no-one present will corroborate her version of events.  IMO an arrest for falsely reporting a crime might improve Nancy Mace a bit

  143. 143.

    mvr

    My reaction was that this was bad news for just this reason when I read it earlier this evening.  While I like to have my judgement validated by someone as smart as Fallows, I’d really rather be wrong about this.  Why the fuck are so many people just giving up and giving in?  This is how the good folks lose.

  144. 144.

    Geminid

    @YY_Sima Qian: My position on UNWRA? I think it needs new management, and that when the war that Hamas started October of 2023 is finally over the UN should bring in a new set of leaders from the successful relief programs it conducts in other countries, or from UNWRA’s operations in the West Bank and Lebanon

    Ed. Now I see you asked me about my opinion on Fetterman’s position. Basically, I agree some of it and I dissgree with others. I do do agree with his contention that some UNWRA personnel were also members of Hamas and that higher-ups knew about it.

  145. 145.

    RevRick

    @schrodingers_cat: That’s an argument without evidence other than what you believed. And there is a lot of evidence to the contrary.

    First, President Biden was not forced out. Certainly, his arm got twisted by many party leaders, but if he had insisted on staying in the race, nobody could stop him. He’s a big boy, has shown evidence of a stubborn streak, and has learned how to deal with bullies from his childhood experiences. The reason he stepped down was because he heard the arguments of those who urged him to quit the race, probably saw internal polling data which confirmed his campaign was doomed, and decided that he needed to end his campaign for the good of the nation. And when Kamala Harris took over polling data showed Democratic enthusiasm soared by 20%.
    Nothing in exit polling showed the voters cared one whit about the change in candidates. They voted based on their opinions about the economy, immigration, crime, and democracy. The Trump campaign successfully lashed Harris to all the things voters hated about the Biden years. (The Wikipedia article on the 2024 election has a ton of information).
    Second, yes, Harris lost, but she lost narrowly. Trump’s national popular vote plurality was only 1.47%. And if 220,000 votes flipped in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, we wouldn’t be having this argument at all. And the evidence is that most of the fall off in votes on the Democratic side was due to the decline in turnout by minority voters… and the reasons they shifted has to do mostly with the economy and immigration. As Cornell Belcher has noted, Harris got the same percentage of white votes as Obama, Clinton, and Biden did. What changed is that there were 3 million more white voters in 2024 than 2020 — which means Harris gained 1.2 million white votes. And the number of minority voters plunged.
    Third, long range, Democrats need to come to grips with the huge Rightwing ecosystem pushing Republican arguments (and garbage). Instead of giving to candidates, we may need to give in support of our own opinion makers like Brian Tyler Cohen and Politics Girl, giving them a vast national stage. (And I’m talking about more than just Fox or Newsmax).

  146. 146.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Geminid: I don’t think bringing new management to the UNWRA operation in Gaza, especially from the WB or Lebanon, would be that controversial. However, the Repubs have turned it into another “foreign/internationalist/world government” boogeyman & are advocating defunding the organization entirely.

    Even though I have not seen Israel or anyone else offer conclusive evidence that UNWRA employees have been members of Hamas, I certainly do not discount the possibility. In fact, I would not be surprised if that was the case. After all, Hamas had been the power that be in Gaza for decades, & the UNWRA has had to operate w/ Hamas’ permission & collaboration (or at least not obstruction). So, whether it was making compromises w/ reality, or simply falling to temptations of corruption, some degree of taint is almost unavoidable. But defunding w/o replacement only makes things worse. That is, if any advocates of such course of action cared at all about the lives of the Gazans, rather than grandstanding their support for Israel “Right or Wrong”.

  147. 147.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: I missed the edit window

    I should have said that some UNWRA personnel were Hamas combatants and higher ups tolerated this. I would expect some UNWRA personnel to be Hamas members, but membership in Hamas’s military wing is a different story.

  149. 149.

    Geminid

    @YY_Sima Qian: I think UNWRA’s problems go back further than Hamas’s tenure in Gaza that began in 2006. I just look at UNWRA as an NGO that since 1948 has held the exclusive franchise for serving Palestinianian refugees. They are not performing any essential function that other UN institutions aren’t doing for refugees from other wars. I don’t think UNWRA should be defunded, but when this war finally ends I hope their operations are examined critically, and that reforms that are found neccesary are implemented.

  150. 150.

    Traveller

    Well, a hundred and fifty comments and I still don’t see a correct one on Mr Wray. But here is the right answer:

    1. By resigning as Mr Wray has, he forces this to a full Senate confirmation hearing.
    By stepping down now, as the conservative writer Erick Erickson observed, Wray has created a “legal obstacle to Trump trying to bypass the Senate confirmation process.”
    Here’s why. According to the Vacancies Reform Act, if a vacancy occurs in a Senate-confirmed position, the president can temporarily replace that appointee (such as the F.B.I. director) only with a person who has already received Senate confirmation or with a person who’s served in a senior capacity in the agency (at the GS-15 pay scale) for at least 90 days in the year before the resignation.
    Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s chosen successor at the F.B.I., meets neither of these criteria. He’s not in a Senate-confirmed position, and he’s not been a senior federal employee in the Department of Justice in the last year. That means he can’t walk into the job on Day 1. Trump will have to select someone else to lead the F.B.I. immediately, or the position will default to the “first assistant to the office.”
    In this case, that means the position would default to Paul Abbate, who has been the deputy director of the F.B.I. since 2021, unless Trump chooses someone else, and that “someone else” cannot be Patel, at least not right away.
    The bottom line is that the Senate has to do its job. Wray is foreclosing a presidential appointment under the Vacancies Reform Act, and — as I wrote in a column last month — the Supreme Court has most likely foreclosed the use of a recess appointment to bypass the Senate.
    So a resignation that at first blush looks like a capitulation (why didn’t he wait to be fired?) is actually an act of defiance. It narrows Trump’s options, and it places the Senate at center stage. In Federalist No. 76, Alexander Hamilton wrote that the advice and consent power was designed to be “an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the president, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters.”
     

    David French from the NYT above. This  is, I think, the correct interpretation of Wray’s resignation. Best Wishes, Traveller

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