Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Books are my comfort food!

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

In after Baud. Damn.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Consistently wrong since 2002

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

So very ready.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

You are here: Home / 2025 Activism / Call and Thank Your Democratic Senators (If You Have Them)

Call and Thank Your Democratic Senators (If You Have Them)

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Last night, Senate Democrats unanimously stopped the transgender athlete sports ban from advancing to the floor for a vote. They held the line at last, and did it in defense of one of the nation’s single most persecuted minorities. If you have a Democratic senator (or two), call or e-mail to tell them you appreciate this, and that you’d like to hear them stick up for transgender folks even more, regardless of what the messaging consultant dipshits have to say. I am going to ring Fetterman’s people shortly. I’m pleasantly surprised.

Not even Fetterman?! I should send that lummox a fuckin’ fruit basket.

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— Rose Judson (@rosejudson.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 7:15 AM

Also, I thought the novelty of learning I was on the same side of an issue as Bloody Bill Kristol—a thing that has happened many times in the Trump Era—had long ago worn off. But no:

Stand with trans Americans. You don’t have to understand everything about the transgender experience to know that Trump’s acts of humiliation and dehumanization are unjust and dangerous.

www.thebulwark.com/p/stand-with…

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— Bill Kristol (@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 2:14 PM

(The actual article is by Marc Solomon.)

The Senate Democrats did the right thing here. Encourage them to keep doing it.

Reader Interactions

54Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    This was on sports, too, which is probably the trans issue we’re weakest on in terms of public opinion.

  2. 2.

    Chief Oshkosh

    This is a good thing. My family is savoring it.

    Here’s hoping for more to come. And yes, call your Senators. If they’re Dem, to thank them. If they’re Reptilian, to tell them them “Fuck off asshole. Die in a fire.”

    Boy, THAT took a turn (our nerves are pretty frayed over this issue…)

  3. 3.

    Butch

    From the blog Erin in the Morning:

    “Democratic Senators Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Peter Welch of Vermont, as well as Republicans Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, did not vote for reasons unknown.”

  4. 4.

    Rose Judson

    @Chief Oshkosh: It sounds like you are in the same boat as a few members of my extended family (parents of trans kids).

    If I get a minute later, I’ll ring McCormick’s office and tell him to fuck off for you. Least I can do.

  5. 5.

    Lobo

    Encouraging Action:

    Please thank your Senators.   Also let your representatives know about this:  Trump’s Plan for a permanent shutdown through an EO(From TPM).

    This gives both a clear view of what the plan is and a map to let everyone know about it. What will it be like after they’re done? It will be like a permanent shutdown. That’s not hyperbole or a metaphor. It’s literally what they say in the executive order.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    No Democratic senators to thank but I will add “fuck off, asshole” and “die in a fire” to the talking points for my next call to Senators Scott and Moody. Kudos to Team Donk in the senate for denying cloture.

  10. 10.

    rodwell

    Call both mine senators (Andy Kim and Corey Booker) to thank them for their vote. I just sent it to voice mail.  We need to constantly encourage our elected officials, so they know we have their back.

  13. 13.

    TONYG

    @Chief Oshkosh: That’s right.  I think that the full phrase is “Die in a fire, in a Tesla whose doors won’t open due to idiotic design.”.  Somewhat less catchy though.

  16. 16.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Thanked my Senators, Van Hollen and Alsobrooks re this vote and asked them to wear an armband or similar with Ukrainian colors tonight if they attend the SOTC (not going to reject them if they choose to go).  I’m an old and, while cisgender, have always been non conforming re appearance, interest in sports, and attitude.  My late spouse was totally into me.  I hate this current “gender” cultural policing of everyone.

  17. 17.

    ArchTeryx

    @Baud: Isn’t if you use a nonconductive/teflon chain, but noooot many average joes have access to that kind of equipment. Whoever they are, carry on setting fire to them.

  18. 18.

    Tim C.

    @TONYG: Owner of a Chevy Bolt here.   It also went though a fire problem.  The difference is Chevy made things right by figuring out the issue, swapping out battery packs for free, and the issue was solved.    Tesla is…. not handling things in the same way.

  20. 20.

    laura

    Kudos for Senate Dems who collectively stopped this Bill in its tracks, but it is merely one battle in the ongoing “show us your pussy” war.

  23. 23.

    PST

    Given that two democrats and two republicans failed to vote, they may have had pairing agreements that allowed them to be absent without consequences. I hope so, since I want to think well of Slotkin and Welch.

  24. 24.

    beckya57

    Called Murray’s last night to thank her for this and for declining to attend tonight’s spectacle.  Will call Cantwell’s tonight.

  25. 25.

    hedgehog the occasional commenter

    Done (Bennet and Hickenlooper). Also encouraged them to continue pushing back on anti trans legislation.

  26. 26.

    A Ghost to Most

    My Senators and Rep are doing just fine. I see no reason to badger them. Especially Petterson, who just had a baby.

  28. 28.

    MattF

    Evidently, the R Senate leadership thought Dems could be stampeded into doing the wrong thing. Nice to hear otherwise.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    @MattF:

    Or they just wanted a show vote, knowing it would fail.

    Dems did that too, although heightening the contradictions never really worked for us.

  32. 32.

    H.E.Wolf

    Thank you for the reminder to call and thank Democrats on this issue! Done and done.

    My US Rep has also been a voice of leadership on this topic, so I called and said thanks there as well.

  33. 33.

    A Ghost to Most

    @Baud: I gave up on public facing jobs decades ago. I was always the guy in the back, making things and fixing things.

  34. 34.

    JML

    God, it’s still weird to be on the same side as Bill Kristol.

    But just because he’s a right wing reactionary douche on so many issues doesn’t mean he can’t do the right thing from time to time. and he’s 100% a Never Trumper. (I’m never going to forget that he’d rather spend all his time ripping democrats and is frequently wrong about so many things, but the enemy of my enemy and all that…)

    But good god it’s weird.

  35. 35.

    Ramalama

    Done and done. Left messages (state and DC) for Liz Warren giving her mad props in general and for this blocking of the transgender whatnot sports dealie. Also to urge her, if she’s going to show up for the State of the Onion tonight, to please be there and then walk out in the middle of it.

    Thanks for the reminder.

  36. 36.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: Yes, it’s the wedge. Crackdowns on trans rights (at least going by pre-2025 polling) are very unpopular, but the sub-issues for which they have the most support are anything to do with minors, and anything to do with sports. So the Republicans hit those hard expecting to get bipartisan support, and things could get worse from there on.

    I’m struck by how Trump’s EOs just went to the maximum eliminationist position right out of the starting gate–that is not something most people were on board with, though Trump going there may well have made some of them get on board because they take their talking points from him. Just doing blanket firings of trans people is not popular.

  37. 37.

    JoyceH

    @Tim C.: You know, originally I’d hoped that the boycotts and protests would damage Tesla, drive the stock price down, etc. But now that’s not enough. I want the company destroyed. Bankrupted, doors shuttered, obliterated.

    Tesla is Musk’s largest corporate holding, a significant chunk of his wealth. I don’t want to just teach him a lesson, I want him to be ruined, in case other billionaires start thinking that what he’s doing looks like fun.

    And BTW, what the heck is wrong with Musk? Put USAID through the wood chipper? USAID feeds the starving and  heals the sick – what is it about that mission that makes Musk so freakin’ ANGRY?

  38. 38.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JoyceH: USAID opposed apartheid in South Africa and is also the subject of right-wing conspiracy theories somehow connecting it to COVID being a Chinese bioweapon. Those are probably the main reasons.

  39. 39.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Betty Cracker:

    No Democratic senators to thank but I will add “fuck off, asshole” and “die in a fire”

    Makes you wonder what category of response that’s put under by the staffer taking the call. :)

  42. 42.

    zhena gogolia

    Called Murphy — voicemail full in DC, left a voicemail in Hartford. Called Blumenthal in DC and got a person!

  46. 46.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Thank you for highlighting this Rose. And please thank (or harangue) your senators as appropriate. Also, please let them know you’re opposed to throwing trans people out of the military and ask them to speak out against this was well. After all we’re gonna need a full-strength fighting force for invading Canada, Greenland, Panama, and Mexico. /s

  47. 47.

    azlib

    @JML:

    Kristol is more a libertarian and that particular political persuasion should always oppose this kind of bill.

  48. 48.

    sauron496

    Not being a good impromptu speaker, I write down what I plan to say and just try to read it out loud when I make the call. Here’s the message I left Senator Schiff today.

    I am calling as a voter, a Californian, an American, and a firm believer in the importance of democracy for all humanity. In the past few days, President Trump and his administration have betrayed both the principle of democracy and the interests of the United States by first staging an insulting conference with President Volodymir Zelensky of Ukraine, and then subsequently in cutting off American aid to Ukraine as it struggles against Russian aggression.

    In addition to helping the tyrannical Russian government of Vladimir Putin, this action is also one more illegal impoundment in so many practiced by this administration and its allies in the face of Elon Musk and his misnamed D.O.G.E. The Ukrainian aid has been appropriated by Congress last year, and some of it is yet to be disbursed — and unless Congress revokes it, the aid must continue — and I believe it must continue and even increase, to ensure Ukrainian victory. Any choice to stop fighting must be up to the Ukrainians, and the United States, with the Trump administration at the helm, has behaved shamefully in attempting to force the Ukrainians by cutting off the aid. The only way the United States can restore a portion of honor and right to call itself part of the free world is to resume the aid, either by forcing the Trump Administration to comply with the law or by impeachment.

    We cannot purchase our own liberty or prosperity at the expense of Ukrainians, or anyone else; all will lose if we try. The Trump administration and the Putin regime do not understand this, but I hope you do.

    I thanked him for the vote against the transgender athlete ban in a separate call.

  49. 49.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: And they are surely getting calls from asshole MAGAs, so it’s important to run up the numbers on our side.

  50. 50.

    sauron496

    BTW, I’ve settled on calling the muskrat org by the initials rather than either the full name or the meme word — no cuteness, and no mention of the word “efficiency” where it doesn’t belong, just a cold, unfeeling initialism wrecking ball just like the org itself. Plus, you can consistently prepend “misnamed” to it.

  51. 51.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Sister Golden Bear: oh ! A terrible thought just flashed. We hit some dust bowl type depression, as discussed today. And nearly the only job left, is to work for the military. So all this is prerecruitment, prior to these bizarre invasions.
    i really hope this is a very wrong guess, in the horror prediction genre. Please may I be wrong!
    sorry!

    meanwhile, of course let anyone who desires to work in the military continue, or join up. No matter their gender, or orientation, or status. This dei crap seems to defy the concept of competence.

  52. 52.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @sauron496: your comment and phone script, #48, belongs in watergirl collection of sidebar letters and scripts. Thanks for sharing

  53. 53.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yes! This is what we need from Congressional Dems. Through up as many procedural hurdles as they can, delay, obstruct, burn through the legislative calendar. They may fail most of the time, but they have to try, & be seen trying.

  54. 54.

    A Ghost to Most

    The fascists may be afraid of town halls, but I just got an invite to a town hall by Rep. Petterson. She’s more useful than Ed Perlmutter ever was.

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