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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Everybody saw this coming.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

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

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Republicans do not trust women.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

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

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

When I was faster i was always behind.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

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You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Republican Politics

Republican Politics

Friday Morning Open Thread: Pathetic, Yet Ugly

by Anne Laurie|  May 2, 20256:56 am| 345 Comments

This post is in: Republican Politics, Trump Crime Cartel

it is fun to read profiles of this guy which play him up as some diabolical mastermind and then watch him in action and see a huge loser

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— jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) May 1, 2025 at 9:59 AM

This is a cheapjack revival of a show nobody much enjoyed the first time. Stephen Miller has his current position precisely because he salves the senile insecurities of his “boss”… and those of the Oval Office Occupant’s voting base, as well.

I wouldn’t be shocked to hear Miller prattling on about those beatniks & flappers living a life of sin, just hopping trains & traveling to pool halls to smoke opium & drink moonshine with negroes & anarcho-syndicalists

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) May 1, 2025 at 3:50 PM

Stephen Miller to John Roberts on Fox News: "It is our opinion that Fox News needs to fire its pollster."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) April 29, 2025 at 1:15 PM

Maybe Stephen Miller will demand the House fire THEIR pollster, too. ??
punchbowl.news/article/whit…

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— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) April 29, 2025 at 1:59 PM

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Someone should ask Stephen Miller why Trump appointed a liberal judge who was willing to perform a judicial coup against him.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) May 1, 2025 at 1:01 PM

Even the Trump appointees say Stephen Miller is breaking the law.

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— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) May 1, 2025 at 12:12 PM

Reminder:

Stephen Miller Is an Immigration Hypocrite.

I Know Because I’m His Uncle.

If my nephew’s ideas on immigration had been in force a century ago, our family would have been wiped out.https://t.co/Z6ZZ9kDOIR?

— Randy Bryce (@IronStache) April 30, 2025

Friday Morning Open Thread: Pathetic, Yet UglyPost + Comments (345)

Friday Saturday Morning Open Thread: Waiting for the Next Doc Dump

by Anne Laurie|  April 12, 20258:40 am| 320 Comments

This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads, Republican Politics

This Politico piece makes the fighting within the Trump administration sound like something from the Clinton or Reagan administrations, when instead it’s a bunch of incompetents, grifters, & lunatics doing their own thing w the senile president not controlling them www.politico.com/news/2025/04…

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 3:31 PM

We're told FDA Commissioner Marty makary has now greenlighted a plan to address at least some of agency's steep layoffs: hire contractors to replace laid-off federal employees
"It's a waste," one laid-off FDA official said
www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-rep…

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— Alexander Tin (@alexander-a-tin.bsky.social) April 11, 2025 at 9:36 PM

Something that may be worth saying is that with agencies floating contractors, Elon seeming less important, spending continuing to go up and the GOP senate plan..

The vought/elon "completely destroy state capacity" wing seems to be losing power quickly.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) April 11, 2025 at 10:26 PM

Florida's economy is so fucking screwed rn

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) April 11, 2025 at 9:50 PM

The silly thing about all this is that there simply aren't that many "criminal illegal aliens." That's why these guys are upping the volume.

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— Cheryl Rofer (@cherylrofer.bsky.social) April 11, 2025 at 5:10 PM

It’s too late to keep out ideas from South Africa

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM

<del>Friday</del> Saturday Morning Open Thread: Waiting for the Next Doc DumpPost + Comments (320)

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Catching Up

by Anne Laurie|  March 15, 20256:05 am| 132 Comments

This post is in: Democratic Response to Trump 2.0, Open Threads, Religion, Republican Politics, Science & Technology

All over but the shouting… which [*sigh*] will not be over for weeks, or months…

The Senate has passed a six-month spending bill hours before a government shutdown, overcoming sharp Democratic opposition to the measure. The bill now goes to President Donald Trump to be signed into law. pic.twitter.com/Tz82of6W8C

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 15, 2025

Please don’t spend time right now on primaries. Durbin is 80 & has <$2m COH; he/Peters/Shaheen are retiring. Gillibrand/King aren’t up until 2030. 2028 Schumer will be 78; he’ll prob retire. So that’s only Hassan/Schatz/Fetterman/Cortez Masto, in 2028
There will be a lot of work for us before then…

— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 5:47 PM

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that few of the Y votes could lose a primary over this, & none next year. Looks to me like a lot of Sen Dems were afraid the CR would fail, but were also afraid of the Dem base if they voted no. So Dems who mostly can’t be punished by Dem voters did the dirty work /2

— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 5:56 PM


 

Millions of people celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival of colors https://t.co/66s1IQO9vV

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 14, 2025

Millions of people in South Asia celebrated Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, on Friday by smearing each other with brightly colored powder, dancing to festive music and feasting on traditional sweets prepared for the occasion.

The raucous spring festival sees Hindus take part in a kaleidoscopic celebration of the end of winter and the triumph of good over evil. The festival is a national holiday in India, while in Nepal it’s a two-day event that began Thursday. It’s also observed in other South Asian countries as well as among the Indian diaspora.

Holi has its origins in Hindu mythology and lore and celebrates the divine love between the Hindu god Krishna and his consort Radha, and signifies a time of rebirth and rejuvenation.

Across the country, people, mostly dressed in all white clothes, celebrated the festival by hurling colored powder at each other. Children, perched on rooftops and balconies, flung water balloons filled with colored pigments at passers by.

Groups of young men also used water guns to chase people down in public parks and on the roads, while others danced on the streets to music blaring from speakers…

Photos to put Mardi Gras to shame.

With a kaleidoscope of colors and music, the Hindu festival of Holi signals the arrival of spring https://t.co/Y9XZfS3Vff

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 14, 2025

Everybody gets a colorful badge!

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A dog on a scooter with Holi powder on its forehead shows how much Indians love their pets https://t.co/UTYdVvs6lS

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 14, 2025

 
Speaking of cheerful Spring festivals: Happy Albert Einstein’s birthday!

What's Pi Day all about? Math, science, pies and more https://t.co/YDn8nAVWYJ

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 14, 2025


 
And in ‘No sooner than time’ news…

BREAKING: Helicopter route permanently closed on route near Washington airport where 67 died in midair crash https://t.co/ysZmKeEvK5

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 14, 2025

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Catching UpPost + Comments (132)

Monday Morning Open Thread: Budget Crunching the GOP’s Dishonest Continuing Resolution

by Anne Laurie|  March 10, 20256:17 am| 252 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Politics, Trump Crime Cartel

Republicans are determined to shut down the government and crash the economy.
We will not be party to their toxic scheme.

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— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social) March 9, 2025 at 9:51 AM

The Hill reports that “Dozens of major conservative activist leaders and organizers are urging conservatives in Congress to support a clean continuing resolution (CR) to avert a government shutdown in a memo organized by the Conservative Action Project”, which is a pretty good indicator Rep. Jeffries and his fellows are correct that it’s a very bad offer.

Per the Washington Post, house news for the town whose monopoly industry is politics, “Republicans unveil another extension to try to avert government shutdown” [gift link]:

With less than a week to go before a March 14 shutdown deadline, President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) are pushing a bill that would extend current funding levels until the end of the fiscal year in late September.

The measure unveiled Saturday, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, would stave off a politically costly shutdown if it passes.

But it would also mean that Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House, would largely keep funding set by President Joe Biden last year, rather than allow the appropriations committees to set new spending levels — hardly the win they were hoping for.

It is also not guaranteed to pass the narrowly divided House, where Republicans have a 218-214 majority and have had to rely on Democrats to pass previous funding measures to keep the government open. As it is, House Republicans can afford to lose only a single vote if all lawmakers are present. [see below]

The House Republican plan trims spending from the 2024 fiscal year by $13 billion in nondefense spending. It would increase funding for veteran health care and defense in an attempt to assuage defense hawks. And it includes more flexibility for the White House to direct funding, according to House GOP leadership aides, including a request by the administration for more money to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement…

The bill does not include disaster relief for fires in California earlier this year or funds that legislators take back to their districts for community projects. It also does not raise the debt limit, which Congress must address in the coming months.

By bypassing the yearly appropriations process, Congress would cede some of its power to dictate how money is spent — which is exercised through that process with more specificity — and give the Trump administration more leeway over federal spending. Democrats argue that a continuing resolution would make it easier for Elon Musk, who oversees the U.S. DOGE Service, to drastically slash the size of government because it continues current funding levels without as much specificity about how the money should be spent…

As a possible government shutdown looms this week, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) says he hasn't decided his vote on a continuing resolution to avoid the shutdown, and Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) says "right now, I'm a no," because "there's been no outreach on a bipartisan basis." pic.twitter.com/I6IFOxRJzp

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 9, 2025

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.@AOC: "They're saying cut $880 billion from the Energy & Commerce Committee. I sit on that committee. Almost the entire budget that Energy & Commerce explores is Medicaid and Medicare. There is no way that they can make their math square without enormous and devastating cuts to… pic.twitter.com/nuzwmYfY6F

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) March 8, 2025

House Republicans just published the text of their continuing resolution. 99 pages.
docs.house.gov/meetings/RU/…

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— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 1:08 PM

If it were that easy / generous, the Oval Office Occupant wouldn’t be sending out ‘PLEASE‘ plaints already. SAD!:

I held this post up to the light.

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— Ivan the K ™?? (@ivanthek.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 1:51 PM

When I think of budding dictators about to institute thousand year reichs, I think of a man who has to ask his own party to pretty pretty please not shut down the government and humiliate themselves.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) March 9, 2025 at 12:04 AM

Hate to get into an Appropriations nomenclature argument, but straight up, the Republican "continuing resolution" is not a "continuing resolution."

This looks a lot more like a partisan omnibus.https://t.co/xhzYjZE0L4

— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) March 8, 2025

GOP funding patch boosts defense and deportations, cuts other programs…
It's doubtful that Democrats would support this Continuing Resolution (CR)…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-funding-patch-boosts-defense-172021485.html

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— Fighting Liberal Texas Dem🌈🌊💙🦋Congress Switchboard 202-224-3121 (@fightingliberal.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM

TELL THE TRUTH.
The Republicans’ proposed continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown has a bunch of poison pills.
Example:
It zeroes out the Toxic Exposures Fund to care for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances.
Heartless MONSTERS who HATE our vets.

— Nick Knudsen (@nickknudsenus.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 3:10 PM

Punchbowl‘s Jake Sherman is very much in favor, which IMO is a clear indicator that it’s bad for Democrats and for the country…

A “clean continuing resolution” is an unchanged continuation of previous spending levels. Republicans are increasing spending on things they like (defense) and cutting it on things they don’t, while Trump is refuses to abide by enacted funding levels. None of that is a clean CR

— Aaron Fritschner (@Fritschner) March 8, 2025

My beloved senior Senator has a counter-offer: Four weeks. If you can’t get your sh*t together in a month…

“We need a short-term continuing resolution, maybe four weeks, in order to finish the budgeting process and get that done,” Warren told Semafor’s @burgessev.bsky.social.

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— Semafor (@semafor.com) March 6, 2025 at 11:36 AM

Remember ‘they can only afford to lose one Republican vote’? GOP Rep. ‘Sand in Every Gear’ Massie has already put down his marker:

I’m not voting for the Continuing Resolution budget (cut-copy-paste omnibus) this week. Why would I vote to continue the waste fraud and abuse DOGE has found?

We were told the CR in December would get us to March when we would fight.

Here we are in March, punting again!

WTFO

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 10, 2025

Monday Morning Open Thread: Budget Crunching the GOP’s Dishonest Continuing ResolutionPost + Comments (252)

Late Night ‘Beyond Parody’ Open Thread: Tucker Carlson Interviews Sam Bankman-Fried

by Anne Laurie|  March 8, 20253:18 am| 123 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads, Republican Politics

Looks like Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto kid who made a fortune playing digital Monopoly with OPM, found the rich-guy survival handbook: "I've seen the light, & the light is Republican!"

People used to find Jesus in jail. Now, they find Trump. https://t.co/7HwfNoloBw

— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) March 7, 2025

Effective altruism, they call it. Per the NYTimes, “Sam Bankman-Fried Ramps Up Effort for a Pardon From Trump” [gift link]:

Consulting with a lawyer who has ties to President Trump. Reaching out to Washington lobbyists. And sitting for a jailhouse interview with Tucker Carlson.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced cryptocurrency mogul who was once a top Democratic donor, has embarked on a long-shot campaign to secure a pardon from the Trump administration, six people with knowledge of the matter said.

The effort has been driven by a small group of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s supporters, including his parents, Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, who are trying to help their son escape the 25-year prison sentence he received after he was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering in the collapse of his crypto exchange, FTX.

There is no indication that the Bankman-Frieds and their allies have reached Mr. Trump directly or discussed a potential pardon with his White House advisers.

But the push appears intended to capitalize on Mr. Trump’s transactional approach to clemency. The president has favored pardon seekers with connections to him — either personally or through lawyers and lobbyists — and claims of prosecutorial misconduct that echo his own grievances about the cases against him.

As part of the clemency effort, Mr. Bankman and Ms. Fried, who are Stanford University law professors and longtime active Democrats, are consulting with Kory Langhofer, an Arizona lawyer who worked for Mr. Trump’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. Politically connected businesspeople and Washington lobbyists have also received outreach from intermediaries who claim to be allies of Mr. Bankman-Fried, three people with knowledge of the situation said…

So far, the push does not appear to have gained traction, the people with knowledge of the matter said. The only indication that Mr. Bankman-Fried may be making headway came this week, when he got an audience with Mr. Carlson, who is close to Mr. Trump. On Thursday, the former Fox News host published a 43-minute interview with Mr. Bankman-Fried that was recorded via video call…

… Mr. Bankman-Fried does not fit the profile of someone Mr. Trump would instinctively pardon. The former crypto mogul not only donated to Democrats, but also voiced opposition to Mr. Trump. His conviction was celebrated by Elon Musk, the president’s close adviser.

Still, Mr. Trump has shown a willingness to grant clemency to people whose causes have resonated with him or who have access to his circle of Republican allies. During the election campaign, he was enthusiastically backed by crypto executives, who urged him to act on several policy priorities. Among them: a pardon for Ross Ulbricht, a cult hero in the crypto world who was serving a sentence of life in prison for running the online drug marketplace Silk Road. Mr. Trump issued the pardon within days of his inauguration…

You can buy Trump’s love — but you need a really big sum to do so.

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Even the paleoconservative Angry Baseball Head Guy understands this is a bad idea!

While Bankman-Fried is a fool, he's also a guy who got crazy rich by being able to spot a mark.

He looked at Tucker Carlson and saw a mark. https://t.co/QOMlpRW0St

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) March 7, 2025

A confused Tucker asks SBF why his donations to Democrats didn’t keep him out of jail.

Because Democrats believe in the rule of law! He thinks everyone is like Trump.

Conspiracy theorists never consider maybe their worldview is wrong. They just start looking for more elaborate… pic.twitter.com/HrGoCnocKv

— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) March 7, 2025

[*Sad trombone coda*]

Tucker Carlson's interview with Sam Bankman-Fried was not approved by the US Bureau of Prisons, which placed him in solitary confinement after it was published, per NYT. pic.twitter.com/AtMtsYQCUb

— Jacob Shamsian ⚖️ (@JayShams) March 7, 2025

Late Night ‘Beyond Parody’ Open Thread: Tucker Carlson Interviews Sam Bankman-FriedPost + Comments (123)

Response Team Trump Open Thread: ‘Inoperative Statements’ Wetware Upgrade

by Anne Laurie|  February 5, 202510:56 pm| 260 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Politics, Trump Crime Cartel, Trumpery

It’s the hair-flip at the end that makes it… up to the moment. Sure, Elon has his trash-talking code kiddies, but can *they* dismiss their God-Emperor’s most inflammatory / insane statements in front of a room full of baying presstitutes with such sneering elan?

“None of us knew he was going to say that, there’s no way to make it sound not-crazy, so next question”

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) February 5, 2025 at 1:34 PM

Ron “This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative.” Ziegler — to whom Leavitt is compared more often than I, for one, would be entirely comfortable with, in her place — would be proud. Or at least envious.
***********

I’ve been looking for a slot to use this for the last week. From the Guardian, “Trump’s press chief shows she’s more than capable of going full North Korea”:

“Clear a path!” shouted the big shots of TV news as they tried to squeeze their way through reporters packed like sardines into the White House briefing room to get to their front-row seats. Tempers frayed, foreheads perspired and necks strained similar to those of passengers itching to get off a plane.

The first press briefing of a new administration is always a standing-room-only event. This time, it was the second Donald Trump administration and the debut of Karoline Leavitt, who pointed out that she is the youngest person to serve as White House press secretary. The 27-year-old beats the record of Ronald Ziegler, who was 29 when he was Richard Nixon’s spokesperson.

If you’re loyal enough, you’re old enough. On Tuesday, Leavitt showed the media hordes and TV viewers that she is more than capable of going full North Korea. Smoothly, serenely and pugnacious-enough-but-not-too-much, she defended her boss’s federal funding freeze and draconian immigration crackdown. She also talked him up as a sort of Renaissance man and Goat (greatest of all time) rolled into one.

In Leavitt’s telling, Trump is “the most transparent and accessible president in American history” and there has never been a president who communicates “as openly and authentically”. He is “the hardest-working man in politics” and “there is no negotiator better”. His policies are “wildly popular” and he is responsible for a new “golden age”.

Her slick delivery style, with almost no “ums”, “ahs” or verbal stumbles, was a radical departure from the way Trump’s first ministry of untruth began…

… Leavitt, who worked at the White House in Trump’s first term and ran for Congress at the age of 23, is the most finely honed version of all. She personifies the Trump 2.0 upgrade: faster, smarter, leaner, meaner, better organised and less chaotic. Executive actions have been more ruthlessly targeted and leaks have been fewer. In the struggle between incompetence and malevolence, malevolence is winning…

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She said the first questions would duly go to “new media members” but stretched the definition somewhat with Mike Allen of Axios and Breitbart’s Matt Boyle. Breitbart was once described by its then executive chair Steve Bannon as “the platform for the alt-right”, a movement associated with efforts to preserve “white identity” and defend “western values”.

Next up, Leavitt was asked about her loyalty to the president versus her loyalty to facts. She insisted: “I commit to telling the truth from this podium every single day. I commit to speaking on behalf of the president of the United States.” When the president is Trump, who still hasn’t admitted he lost the 2020 election, are those two statements reconcilable?

Yet Leavitt sought to turn the tables with a chilly warning: “We know for a fact there have been lies that have been pushed by many legacy media outlets in this country about this president, about his family, and we will not accept that.”…

(I did wonder how much Musk’s emphasis on the extreme youth of his current shock’n’awe team was intended as a response to the White House Occupant pushing Leavitt’s ‘youngest press secretary EVAAAR!’ credentials… Elon’s always prioritized the ‘youthful’ immediacy of his least attractive tactics, but getting into a semi-overt contest with the aging monarch seemed reckless even by *his* standards.)

Starting off on the (far Right) foot…

We passed a law. They don’t get to force people to petition the king for mercy. We are still a democracy and this will be found illegal.

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— Brian Schatz (@schatz.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 1:53 PM

This is not a retreat.

It is a tactical retrograde.

4-D chess. pic.twitter.com/zYPDke4TRz

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 29, 2025

Trump press secretary announces that Trump will be issuing an order “ending funding for public schools” if they teach about history in a way he doesn’t like

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— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 10:16 AM

Remember, never take this White House at its word and report it as fact right off the bat.
They are now conceding that they made up the whole "$50 million of condoms to Gaza" thing that Karoline Leavitt peddled from the podium yesterday.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a…

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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 1:26 PM

But then — more inconvenient facts that weren’t sufficiently noticed in the gish gallop of bulls*t — Leavitt had already established her credentials with the Very Important People actually running the WH Occupant’s maladministration. She’d violated a slew of campaign finance laws running her half-baked New Hampshire campaign (and accrued six-figure fines that were not paid off by her political sugar daddy until after Trump anointed her)…

Please tell me that some journo asked @karolineleavitt today about her congressional campaign's failure to disclose spending of $200k in illicit donations…https://t.co/pN020dppa9

— Lauren Windsor (@lawindsor) January 29, 2025

… And, despite her extreme youth, she was already part of the GOP Global Grifter Network of which Steve Bannon is such an important node:

Note that Donald Trump thinks that Karoline Leavitt, who hid the full extent of her campaign finance debt for years and who had ties to convicted fraudster Guo Wengui, is worthy of security clearance, but not military hero Mark Milley.
Here's her tie to Wengui.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202…

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— emptywheel (@emptywheel.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 7:06 AM

This, let it be said, is a chick who will be going places. Quite possibly places that don’t have extradition treaties with the United States, in a better timeline.

Response Team Trump Open Thread: <em>‘Inoperative Statements’</em> Wetware UpgradePost + Comments (260)

Montana State Senate Republicans in Disarray!

by WaterGirl|  January 12, 202511:21 am| 39 Comments

This post is in: Politics, Republican Politics, Republicans in Disarray!

Things aren’t going smoothly in the Montana State Senate.

I don’t pretend to understand exactly what they’re fighting for or what they are fighting about, but I still like what I’m seeing!  9 Republicans apparently took a principled stand and didn’t vote in lock step with their party leadership.

Are there any Montana peeps who have more information?

I hope we see more of this in response as the extremist Republican party tries to rule!

Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, said Thursday night that he has “big concerns” about the remaining 86 days of the 69th Legislature after his fractured Republican majority failed to coalesce around leadership’s preference for the chamber’s rules.

“When you have, at the very beginning of session like this, a group that says, ‘Hey, we’re not going to affirm the majority’s decisions, the voters’ decision that the majority Republicans made back in November,’ it strains things,” Regier told reporters following a failed vote to take up a resolution on rules governing the body. “I mean the vote’s right there — going to the Democrats to buck the majority.”

The vote on the fourth evening of the Legislature was to adopt comprehensive rules governing the operations, decorum, and committee functions within the chamber, which became controversial.

On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, made a successful bid to change the rules Republican leadership wanted.

The change called for limiting a new Executive Review Committee in order to redistribute the small number of minority party members to other committees.

Nine Republican lawmakers, including former Senate President Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, joined the Democrats to pass those rules.

Republican leadership tried this week to revert to their initial plan, but failed Thursday night, as the same nine Republicans and all Democrats voted down an amended proposal from leadership.

Republican leaders stressed the amendment included concessions to the nine defectors.

“At some point you just say, ‘We’re going to move on with business, and I guess if you guys and the Democrats want to control the floor, that’s your prerogative,’” Regier said to the nine.

“I mean, we’ll be back. We’ll have permanent rules, we got to keep moving and get this squared away,” he added. “But in the meantime, there’s going to be committee meetings happening and we’ll get things ramped up here.”

ON MONDAY, the Senate approved temporary rules in order to begin functioning, and the Senate will continue to operate under them and may do so indefinitely.

h/t realbtl

Open thread.

 

Montana State Senate Republicans in Disarray!Post + Comments (39)

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