Elected Democrats showed up at the USAID building today to demand that Trump and Musk stop committing crimes.
Good. Trump and Musk won’t stop committing crimes because Democrats asked them to, but showing up at the scene of the crime and calling it a crime in progress is important. People need to know what they’re doing, so showing up with cameras is a good first step, as are the lawsuits currently being filed (according to the speakers at the event).
Maybe they should show up at the Treasury building next since that is also a crime scene. And frankly, Americans probably care more about juvenile delinquents like these asswipes accessing their financial and health data than they do about foreign aid.
Josh Marshall tackled the more general question of what Democrats are supposed to do in today’s newsletter. Here’s a gift link. Here’s an excerpt:
Right now in Washington, DC Donald Trump and Elon Musk are dominating literally everything. That will start changing quickly, at least in a limited way in the courts. But the overriding need for Democrats is to get a seat at the table. And they can do that in several ways. The biggest way is that Republicans will need help to pass a budget and raise the debt ceiling. The rubber starts meeting the road on that front next month. Real soon. You can talk as much as you want. But the White House and congressional Republicans absolutely need that help. And Democrats need to be crystal clear that the answer is absolutely no help – without meeting their conditions. That’s where you get the seat at the table.
Marshall thinks the conditions should include shutting down the DOGE operation. He believes the messaging piece of the fight — the terms of the political argument — should be that an unelected billionaire has no business destroying federal agencies that were established by acts of congress and seizing control of the U.S. government payment systems.
The crisis part of this is that Trump needs to stop breaking the law. The nonsense of trying to unilaterally shut down whole parts of the government, cancer research and everything else has to stop. The whole Musk operation. No more breaking federal laws. There’s a budget. The President can’t ignore the law. How to make that argument? Musk gave a bunch of kids access to your monthly Social Security check and all your financial data. They can stop anyone’s check at any time. That’s the central message. That has to stop. The larger political message is that Trump is taking away your health care and starting a trade war to jack up your prices all so that he and his billionaire friends can get huge tax cuts. Remember that the clearest poll data we’ve gotten since the inauguration is that “billionaire advisors” are super unpopular and Musk specifically is very unpopular. That’s the outline of the whole message. You’re about to lose a lot of stuff – your health care coverage and a bunch of money to inflation so Elon and Trump and their pals can get a tax cut.
If you watch the clip up top, that’s basically what Dems at the USAID building were saying too. Good.
I would add that I think Democrats in Congress should block unanimous consent, use debate time, deny quorum, refuse to vote for any Trump nominee, etc. A former Hill staffer on Bluesky recirculated a memo congressional Repubs got in 2009 that directed them to use their minority caucus powers to delay progress on passing a healthcare bill.
When I was a Hill staffer in 2009, a Dem trifecta was trying to pass universal healthcare. In response, Senate GOP released a memo detailing all of the tactics they in the minority could use to delay the effort as much as possible. I’m recirculating that 2009 GOP memo here. Take inspiration from it.
— Ezra Levin (@ezralevin.bsky.social) February 2, 2025 at 12:33 PM
It should be updated to reflect any rule changes and implemented across the board by Democrats, IMO. This is a national emergency. If that wasn’t obvious to every Democrat in Congress on 1/20, it sure as shit is now. So no business as usual.
But here’s a question I have on our main point of leverage, the debt ceiling: What if Repubs are willing to default? It would be insane, but all of this shit is insane.
Open thread.
ETA: Here’s a clip of Senator Murphy’s remarks at USAID.
Murphy: “This is a constitutional crisis that we are in today. Let’s call it what it is.”
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 3, 2025 at 1:26 PM
WTFGhost
I wouldn’t trust there to still be a sanity caucus, but if so, they already know they’re crazy cuz’s are going to play chicken with a blindfold on.
rikyrah
Get their azzes over to TREASURY 😡😡😡
Suzanne
Brian Schatz said he will place a “blanket hold” on all of Trump’s State Department nominees until USAID is back up and running.
That’s more in the vein of the resistance we need to see.
VFX Lurker
Glad to see PBS reporting this. I’d read that media ignored this event, but PBS proves that’s not true.
Republican voters don’t elect the best and brightest these days, so I’m wondering this, too.
Marcopolo
Just to note: that former Hill staffer is one of the founders of Indivisible. Also, on the call last night he & others made a point of inviting anyone with the ability to make it in to DC to come to an action at the Treasury building tomorrow. Will look for the info & append to this.
5 pm tomorrow @ the Treasury Building. Here’s a Salon piece that after providing a lot of situational context gives the time: https://www.salon.com/2025/02/03/solidarity-is-the-antidote-to-fascism-progressives-organize-treasury-over-musk-takeover/
Shalimar
I assume at this point that it doesn’t matter what Congress does on the debt limit. The Trump administration will just pretend there isn’t a limit. Problem solved for them.
Galento
That was my main question in response to Josh Marshall’s thing this morning. Why does he think making R’s reponsible for default would stop them from forcing that default? We’re in another universe now–they want to break things. In their minds it will be easier to create Lord Elon’s Bro-vana if they destroy the old.
JM’s attention to all of this, and the writing of several of you here are helping to keep me sane, so thanks.
Captain C
The FTFNYT will blame Biden. Or Obama. Or Harris. Or all three. They’ll have a front page Pinch the Lesser and Joe Kahn-authored front page editorial to this effect, with enormous headlines. It will completely contradict the 100% accurate and factual reporting on the actual causes (Republicans) and effects (disaster) on page A18.
Betty Cracker
@Suzanne: Excellent!
@Marcopolo: Good to know — thanks!
MomSense
I called Collins and King’s local offices. Long has been pretty good in terms of public statements
MomSense
@Suzanne:
Cory Booker has featured Schatz on his series Shit That Ain’t True. He’s a good communicator.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Upping this from below
jackmac
Glad to see reports that lawsuits are being filed. But I’m wary about courts — especially partisan judges — will muck things up and allow these crimes and coup to continue.
Lobo
To reiterate, tell Senators to do the grand slam steps of opposition.
Not rocket science, Senators.
Steve LaBonne
@Shalimar: They think. Our creditors, and the people and institutions and central banks we need to keep buying Treasury bonds, are unlikely to be reassured. Reality has a way of puncturing ideological delusions.
Marcopolo
@Suzanne: Just as importantly he said he will use all the other tools in the Senate box (no unanimous consent for anything so roll calls baby) to slow things down as much as possible. Happy to see it, not sure why it’s taken so long to get here. I mean weren’t any folks wargaming ahead of time how to deal w/ as many possibilities as they could?
70 here in StL. Hope everyone else at least can go outside & enjoy nature to de-stress just a little.
Steve LaBonne
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I think we all saw this coming a mile off. Interesting times. Edited to add: the arguments cited fall well short of a claim not to be bound by court orders in general, but I believe we will get there.
Belafon
@rikyrah: Can we take the “Democrats did the right thing”?
Right now, all moving to the treasury will mean is that the Treasury is behind them.
Old School
Wouldn’t it be easier to just ignore the debt ceiling? I mean, if you’re going to go full executive power…
Betty
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I understand Ed Martin has said he will defend all of Musk’s actions. War with Congress has been declared. Who will honor their oath of office?
Belafon
@Marcopolo:
There are 45 Democrats and two independents in the Senate. That means there are roughly 70 different opinions on this side that needed to get together and figure things out.
Steve LaBonne
@Old School: But will investors feel assured that they are legally protected? I can’t see such a proclamation as being anything but an invitation to utter chaos and plunging demand for Treasuries.
Suzanne
@Marcopolo: I was really not encouraged by Schumer’s statement that Dems basically need to hold tight while Trump screws up. I always think that’s playing fast-and-loose with other people’s lives. I appreciate Schatz’s proactivity in this regard!
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Dorothy A. Winsor: This is the point where a judge demands that whatever official gave that order present himself before the court to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt … and advises that person to bring a toothbrush and a change of underwear with him (with these bastards, almost guaranteed to be a “him”).
Scout211
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Judge signals plan to further block Trump spending freeze
(web archive version)
Marcopolo
I have life to get to but a couple other things:
1) the St. Louis paper of record (post-dispatch) is not, afaik, covering any of this. Maybe a quick hit on the funding freeze last week but nothing else.
2) I’m assuming that the current criminal administration plans to ignore any court related stuff. Like a normal person doing what Musk’s minions are doing would be open to lots of charges (they don’t have authorization to be looking at our private info for ex.) but the old Trump pardon is overhanging everything.
okay have a day everyone
mrmoshpotato
How Tariffs Work editorial cartoon
Belafon
@Marcopolo: He was fond of Andrew Jackson for this reason.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Scout211: To quote Sir Terry Pratchett, the truth has got its boots on, and it’s about to start kicking.
TBone
The “Who Are These Little Boys?” image has been appropriated for appropriate distribution amongst my comrades, thank you!
Old School
@Steve LaBonne: Possibly, but I’m not sure why a proclamation would have to be issued. The Treasury Department stops tracking how close we are to the ceiling.
Even now it’s “sometime in June”. I guess investors would eventually think, “It must have been passed by now.”
WTFGhost
@Shalimar: The problem is, the debt limit is when the government is out of money – it can’t write new checks, without issuing new debt. Trump could mint a trillion dollar coin, and Rs wouldn’t give a damn, but, the administration can’t just ignore the debt limit.
rikyrah
@Suzanne:
Why just State?
Defense too
Itinerantpedant
You have to ask the right question about the debt limit increase. It’s not, “Would failing to raise it and defaulting be bad?” Of course it would. The question is, “Would defaulting be worse than what Trump is trying to do?”
Even if Ds do get blamed (and that is not a forgone conclusion) if we cripple the government is that worse than leaving it capable, given what Mango Mussolini wants done?
Suzanne
@rikyrah: Agree! I think he just made this announcement today, I hope it is the tactic they all use for all of these roles. Grind it to a halt.
sentient ai from the future
@Steve LaBonne: also emergency increases in interest rate, mahybe?
Alce _e_ardillo
@Captain C: Cancel our subscriptions.
The biggest headline won’t matter if nobody sees it.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Lobo:
I’m guessing tomorrow when we descend on Bennett and Hick’s offices here in Denver, that’ll be the basic bullet points we tack onto their front door.
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/752784/
Another rally is being scheduled on Wed at noon on the Capitol grounds. MM and me will be there.
The Thin Black Duke
I think Tim Walz spoke for all normal people in this country when he called Musk “a dipshit”. Outside of the neo-Nazi techbro Incel bubble, Musk isn’t popular and the more people see of him, they’re creeped out. Apartheid Clyde is doing a great job deflating the myth that he’s the embodiment of John Galt. Musk is the asshole boss who lays off his employees the week before Christmas.
Belafon
@Alce _e_ardillo: “Normies”, people who don’t have politics as a hobby, don’t know to go look for other news sources. They read the NYT, the Washington Post, and listen to NPR.
ExPatExDem
Knowingly giving classified materials to non-cleared personnel is a felony punishable by 10 years in prison.
The two USAID officials were literally fired for not committing a crime.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@The Thin Black Duke:
CNN cable did a quick piece on this last week showing that Edolph’s favorability rating was something like -13 whereas the Orange Fart Cloud’s was 0.
Whoever CNN’s in-house ‘data person’ was went onto say how Edolph was actually pulling Hair Furor’s numbers down and he seemed amazed at that.
Timill
@WTFGhost: Their solution is to stop writing checks. For anything, but especially SS.
No checks, no debt limit problem.
beckya57
@Dorothy A. Winsor: judge in that case is threatening a restraining order in response.
Marc
Only one of these kids was a Thiel Fellow, I was expecting more:
Elon must also be buying kids out of high school or college.
Jay
https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/bc-critical-minerals-being-diverted-away-from-united-states-david-eby/
Lily
Scout211
Emphasis on MAY break numerous laws. What laws? Secret laws!
zhena gogolia
God, they were nostalgic for empty grocery shelves. We’re all going to get it.
FDRLincoln
Musk wants a default. It won’t hurt him personally and he wants to destroy the system and put everything under the X umbrella.
So the question is, will Trump listen to the Chaotic Evil Musk or other Lawful Evil advisors who want their portfolios to stay intact while they go about their racisms and transphobias.
ExPatExDem
@Jay: What I’d really like to see is for Canada to cut electricity to all of its US customers right as the game kicks off on Super Bowl Sunday.
Come on Canucks. Fight dirty.
The Thin Black Duke
@Jay: Congratulations, Trump. No matter what happens next, one of our most dependable allies will never trust us again to do the right thing ever again. As a bonus, Trump gave Trudeau his “Mission Accomplished” moment. So. Much. Winning.
Geminid
This situation has a different dynamic than the one in 2009, when McConnell was jamming health care reform. He was using the legislative process to block legislation.
Now Democrats want to block executive action. I’m not saying Democrats shouldn’t use these methods, just that the efficacy is not so clear.
I think of this with regard to delaying confirmations. For instance, somebody’s doing damage to the FBI right now. They’re not waiting for Kash Patel to be sworn in, they’re doing it now and I don’t know who the fu*k they are.
So I’m of two minds on that one. It might be better to delay Patel’s confirmation as much as possible, but I think the votes are there. So it might be better to get him in that post sooner rather later, so we at least know who is responsible.
Chief Oshkosh
@Lobo:
Called both Senators and Congresswoman in DC and home offices – all lines busy, all voicemail boxes full except for one. Left the message above there and in their online contact forms.
The Audacity of Krope
As recently as last week, I was reluctant to have Democrats doing this sort of blanket opposition. Now that I see the lawless way they’re operating at these agencies, no, we can’t approve anyone to work for this administration if it’s acting in such a brazenly lawless manner right out of the gate.
Christ, at least the last time they had the decency to try to hide it.
Lobo
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Great! As always, keep it simple. Some senators want to over complicate it.
FDRLincoln
Today’s phone call report, main topic the Musk Coup. I am in Kansas.
No answer from Roger Marshall’s senate office.
Tracey Mann’s congressional staff still has no guidance on what to tell people but he is supposed to return to DC tomorrow. Maybe then.
Spoke with one of Senator Moran’s senior staffers. She told me they are getting a lot of calls, that the “political situation is very volatile” and the senator and his lawyers are examining the legality of Musk’s actions. I told her they better hurry up and do more than that, that his job is to defend the Constitution but at least they acknowledged my concerns more directly this time.
They are all Republicans of course. Mann and Marshall are MAGATs so I expect nothing there. Moran is GOP but sometimes quasi-sane and has special interests in medical research and veterans affairs, so there could be pressure points there.
Steve LaBonne
@The Audacity of Krope: As I always say, tactics are only effective when they are in service to a strategy. There had to be specific actions by Trumpreich, that normies could understand and fear, to be opposed. Now we’re there and we’re still only 2 weeks in. And more and more Democratic politicians are figuring it out.
Quinerly
Here’s some background on “the best of the best” working for Musk.
“Musk is currently legally threatening anyone who names them, but I don’t rely on X for traffic and, also, it’s not illegal to name government employees, even if they’re 19. So their names are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran.
Coristine (aka ‘BigBalls’) is a 19-year-old former camp counselor and bike mechanic who interned briefly at Neuralink and is currently working in some capacity at both the OPM and the General Services Administration (GSA). Farritor is a Thiel Fellow and former SpaceX intern, Shaotran and Killian both worked at AI startups, Bobba interned at Meta and Palantir, and Kliger rolls the sickest blunts and knows all the liquor stores near the White House that don’t card — jk lol, he was a software engineer at pre-Musk Twitter. He also has a Substack, obviously. And shares Nick Fuentes posts on X. Leading OPM is Amanda Scales, who came from Musk’s xAI. And working as the general counsel for OPM is Andrew Kloster, who spent years blogging about how consent is bad is and slavery is good.”
https://www.garbageday.email/p/musk-s-superteam-of-former-ipad-babies
Steve LaBonne
@Geminid: The answer to the question of who is responsible is always the same: Donald Trump.
Rusty
I’ll take it as a good sign i can’t get through to either of my Democratic senators from NH, I’m hoping that many like me are hammering the two of them to respond. I did get through to my Democratic, first term, representative. The nice person that answered the phone pointed she issued her first press release of what was likely to be many on the issue of Musk, privacy, financial controls, illegal action and more.
Alce _e_ardillo
@Belafon: Then a smaller soapbox.
Scout211
Sometimes you just gotta laugh:
From Garbage Day.
“A Coup D’Twitter” by “Musk’s super team of former iPad babies.”
Quinerly
I’m in moderation at #59
Steve LaBonne
@FDRLincoln: I agree that all contact with Republicans should focus on the illegal actions by Co-President Musk and the oath they have all sworn to uphold the Constitution.
NeenerNeener
Was it here or on Bluesky where I saw the Musk nickname “Pee Wee German”?
Alce _e_ardillo
@Rusty: Thank her, and politely say, then what? Press releases end up in the shredder too often.
Lily
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Next step in authoritarian takeover: The courts don’t matter. Rule of law does not have higher power.
(Makes me wonder if this dovetails w Christian Nationalist belief? Some men’s club interpretation of Dog’s will should be law o’ the land not the courts.)
Quinerly
@Quinerly:
Ok, poof….my comment and link on Musk’s “team” disappeared.
Here’s the link. Has background Musk’s boys. Not rewriting my comment and synopsis
https://www.garbageday.email/p/musk-s-superteam-of-former-ipad-babies
FDRLincoln
@Steve LaBonne: right. The Musk thing is not a policy dispute. It is foundational.
Steve LaBonne
@Alce _e_ardillo: Marshall just had a post in which one of his correspondents blasted Warner for his press release fixation. We know some of these people are always going to be useless, but we really just need a few of them to be like Schatz. And I think we will end up with more than a few.
Starfish (she/her)
The EEOC is getting spicy:
I think the “Happy Black History Month!” was a nice touch.
Marc
@Quinerly: At least with Firefox, attempts to reply to the current last comment now quietly fail.
Scout211
@Quinerly: Posted link also at #
62#63But you posted more about the content. It’s a very interesting read..
Kay
I’ve given up on elected Democrats. If they get serious I’ll be thrilled but I frankly don’t have the energy to engage again on whether one or another institution is up to the challenge of opposing this.
I took this approach with the DOJ the last 4 years and found it helpful. Hope for the best, expect the worst.
My hope resides in one or another group of people leading some kind of resistance. I’ll be happy to help with that and I assume elected Democrats will get behind it to a greater or lesser degree after it is created.
In the meantime, still a Democrat as the best rational option, but putting most of my faith in whatever group of Americans come up with an approach to oppose this. I’m actually confident that will happen, oddly enough.
Alce _e_ardillo
@Chief Oshkosh: me too….
ExPatExDem
@Kay: You’re one bad day away from being me.
Suzanne
I called Fetterman’s and McCormick’s offices today and left messages. I got the weird, choppy, almost static-y connection that others have described. I wonder if they’re getting a lot of calls.
Betty Cracker
@Quinerly: It probably went into moderation because of all the links. I approved it. Can’t remember what the max number of links is.
Starfish (she/her)
@Betty Cracker: It’s three.
AM in NC
@Steve LaBonne: REPUBLICANS. REPUBLICANS are responsible. They brought us Trump. They blocked us from putting him in prison for his crimes. They brought him back. His policies are theirs and always have been. And they won’t do anything differently after he’s gone. Just find the next person the billionaires think they can maneuver into the position.
REPUBLICANS have wrought all of this.
Didn’t mean that to sound harsh toward you. I just think the Republican brand has to be destroyed like they trashed our brand so effectively.
lowtechcyclist
Well sure, but the point isn’t which agency Musk shut down on his own say-so, it’s that if he can do it to one of them, he can do it to any of them.
It’s not like USAID has some murky legal status that makes it easier to pick off. If he shuts down three or four agencies before shutting down one that will make even a lot of MAGAts unhappy, it’ll be too late then. So the time to say “No Fucking Way, bucko” is now. And I’m very glad my senior Senator was out there saying it.
Scout211
I think it is seven. I’ve been sent to moderation before and I think I remember WaterGirl saying that it was seven. I typically break almost all of the links in a block quote before I post the comment.
@Starfish (she/her):
I stand corrected.
FDRLincoln
If Trump and Musk defy court orders and the DOJ is just an arm of MAGA, then the social and political contract is broken and the Constitution is effectively nullified and the Union is dead.
If that is true, ironically extra-constitutional means may be the only way to restore the rule of law.
The choice will come down to tyranny or freedom. Will people accept the boot of Trump and Musk if stopping it disrupts the SuperBowl?
Starfish (she/her)
@Scout211:
I was pretty sure that I have gone to moderation for 4.
https://www.mybogusurl.com
https://www.mybogusurl2.com
https://www.mybogusurl3.com
https://www.mybogusurl4.com
https://www.mybogusurl5.com
https://www.mybogusurl6.com
https://www.mybogusurl7.com
https://www.mybogusurl8.com
I would expect this to go to moderation because technically replying to you is a link. Oh, the number may be greater than I thought.
Geminid
@Steve LaBonne: Well, that certainly is a simple answer and it is true in the broader political sense.
But I was thinking more of what is actually happening at the FBI and who specifically is accountable for that. I never saw Joe Biden testify to the Judiciary Commitees about FBI matters, but I saw Chris Wray testify before Congress plenty of times.
Steve LaBonne
@AM in NC: For a while we may have to hold our noses and hope a meaningful number will defect, enough to stop a little bit of the bad shit. (The Senators from Kentucky are not sounding happy about their state being crushed by the Canadian ban on its booze.) But when the 2028 campaign gets closer, total war. My real point though is that it doesn’t matter who is nominally in charge of agencies, they are all puppets and Trump is pulling their strings, and we need to say so every day.
Kay
@ExPatExDem:
lol
I think there are some non governmental actors who can and will help – federal employee unions (excluding those of LEAs, who are captured) and plaintiff’s lawyers – the civil justice system.
I actually don’t worry about the military. I think they’re really well trained and mission- driven and will NOT turn on us.
ICE and the FBI and most local police will though. Trumpists. Sadly.
Suzanne
Just as a side note, I’ve been a jackal long enough that I remember the days of “Hoot-Smalley” and fuck, that was so funny.
KatKapCC
@NeenerNeener: Amusing but I don’t want the illustrious character tarnished by association with this sack of shit.
Ryan
If they’re willing to default, well guess what folks, Trump controls 2 of the 3 branches of government. And I know how much pain that will conflict, but we’re talking about the least of bad options here.
Gloria DryGarden
@Dorothy A. Winsor: this judge is selling out the courts, saying they can’t make it stick?
Oh I guess I have to click and read it, but it pisses me off already..
Suzanne
Susan Collins is going to vote to confirm Tulsi Gabbard.
Scout211
No, it was the DOJ who argued in court today that the judge the couldn’t block the freeze. She was clear that she can and signaled she will likely extend it. She’ll release her decision this afternoon.
KatKapCC
@Suzanne: She needs to retire. Useless.
Scamp Dog
@Steve LaBonne: The buck stops there, whether he likes it or not.
Scout211
@Scout211: And she has released her decision:
. . .
Redshift
@Suzanne:
Nor I, but someone (former Hill staffer, I think) was pointing out that Schumer’s leadership style is mostly being where the median of his caucus is. Point being, it’s probably not Schumer who is holding anyone else back, it’s that there aren’t enough senators who are sufficiently alarmed to make maximal obstruction the preferred leadership position. And that means that the place to apply pressure is on everyone’s own senators, not on Schumer.
Betty Cracker
@lowtechcyclist: I agree, but if you want to get normies pissed off (and we do), it can’t be abstract. “Musk’s feral toddlers have YOUR health and financial data.” That sort of thing.
Quinerly
@Scout211:
Thanks.
I had to step away. Making killer Hungarian Mushroom Soup.
Betty Cracker
@Quinerly: oooo, mushroom soup!
Quinerly
Deleted
Quinerly
@Betty Cracker:
I got some really nice paprikas from Penzey’s. 3 kinds.
Betty Cracker
@Quinerly: Sweet! Let us know how it turns out!
Ohio Mom
@Belafon: I don’t think normies read the NYT or the Washington Post or listen to NPR. I think they listen to talk shows like Morning Joe and The View (I’ve never seen Morning Joe and only saw The View during the unfortunate period the periodontist had televisions playing during teeth cleanings, I was stunned by how stupid it was).
Ohio Mom
@Quinerly: I’m a little amused that they are an ethnically diverse group.
Ohio Mom
@Suzanne: Also got that choppy static thing when calling my Republican Senators. Last week and today. I called two offices in D.C. and three local offices in Ohio. Very weird. Should we be paranoid, wondering if this some Musk-adjacent sabotage?
Ended up writing them to make sure my message got through.
Glory b
@Ohio Mom: Im not. There are always POC willing to uphold white supremacy in the mistaken assumption that they’ll be different.
Like Vivek. And Usha. And Byron.
From an interview with a former slave, there was always somebody on the veranda, serving the master his julep and whispering in his ear about what was going on in the slave quarters.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Ohio Mom:
I have a ton of liberal or liberal-leaning friends who listen to Totebagger Radio as their primary source of news. Tons.
They think I’m a freak when I start to dissect their reporting semantics.
Betty Cracker
@Ohio Mom: The diversity of the fascist coalition is fully a thing in Florida and has been for a while. We have to take that onboard, imo.
m.j.
Why isn’t this being seen as a huge national security issue? I have every faith that Musk’s operation has been infiltrated by foreign intelligence.
ExPatExDem
@Redshift: I would say that Schumer’s leadership style is non-existent.
Marc
That’s a normal Silicon Valley diverse group, whites and Asians, predominantly male. Asians did not become “honorary whites” in SV until the 90s after rich Asians started showing up with cash.
BellaPea
IMHO, Musk needs to be deported. NOW. He is interfering with the political process, threatening to throw elections and now this unprecedented assault on these government offices. He is a dangerous man and a megalomaniac who thinks he is untouchable. Send the MF back to South Africa ASAP.
Geminid
@Ohio Mom: I think normies watch The View, but far more watch the evening broadcast news than watch Morning Joe. A lot of people still get their news from “old” media like network TV and radio.
Then there are Democrats like my friend Stephanie, who is probably the most “normie” of all my friends. She will watch the most mediocre sportsball game before she’ll watch the best political show.
But Stephanie is a Lesbian who worked 35 years for a male-dominated company, and she helped raise her partner’s biracial grandchild. Stephanie votes in every election, and she votes Democratic because her learned experience has taught her who the assholes are.
dww44
@Suzanne: I called my 2 Dem Senators and my Republican Rep. same issues you’ve described with the Senator calls but none whatsoever with the Rep call. Hmmm……. ?
schrodingers_cat
@Glory b: History of European colonialism is replete non-white people being the enforcers of white supremacy.
See for example, India 1857-1947 under the British Crown. Its by no means a novel or a new phenomena.
RaflW
The version of Amy Klobuchar that I pretty much loathed a dozen years ago has come roaring back. She has apparently interpreted Trump winning 46.68% of the vote in Minnesota as meaning that she should just be a doormat for most of his Cabinet choices.
What the fuck is this shit? I’m so angry. And yes, I know the Republicans are the central problem. I have very little reach with them. I do not believe that Amy thrownig her votes away like this gets her squat from her “friends” across the aisle. They’d just as soon shove her down a flight of marble stairs as help do anything to cross their Dear Leader.