Chuck seemed more interested in the Selling His Book part of that interview. Which...fine, I guess. But if your main interest is opining on certain longterm cultural trends, why don't you accept a university appointment--and leave the whole congressional leadership thing to those with more of a Big-Picture picture of this mess.
Schumer doesn't know how to deal with this new reality that says the Democrats were so badly trounced in 2024 that they have nothing left to fight with. It's a failure of leadership not to even try to rally the Democrats together. Waiting for the midterms is not a solution this time. At the rate Trump and Musk are destroying things, there may be no midterms.
I do not see any alternative to great destruction followed quickly by great pain. If Republicans get their bill passed, there will be great destruction followed quickly by great pain as the bill is enacted. If Democrats stop the bill from passing, there will be great destruction followed quickly by great pain as Republicans in the Executive Branch continue to smash the People's Insurance Company (a.k.a. the federal government), sell it off in chunks for profit, and dare the Judicial Branch to stop them.
Whatever Republicans do -- and they are going to do what they are going to do, no matter how chummy they pretend to be in the Senate exercise room -- the Democrats must now use this as a TEACHABLE MOMENT. This means explaining to the US-American people, early and often and in front of video-recording devices, that everything bad that is happening to them now is the FAULT OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ALONE.
There is no non-political way to fight against fascism. The political system will not right itself if one party destroys it and the other party sits on its hands because to stand up might be seen as "political" and unseemly. Science will not defend itself. Human rights will not defend themselves. The truth will not defend itself. The social contract will not defend itself. The rule of law will not defend itself. And it is not "somebody else's" job to defend these things when they are under attack; it is EVERYBODY'S, and it is most particularly the job of our elected representatives, who, even if they are in the minority in the US Congress, have power and influence that poor desktop scriveners like me can only dream of.
I cannot emphasize enough to dinosaurs like Senator Chuck Schumer that this is NOT THE TIME to be seen as "bipartisan" or "co-operative" with the fascists who are now gleefully making people suffer as much as they can. As I have written before, if elected Democrats SHARE CREDIT for ANY of this sh*t now, they will SHARE THE BLAME for it in the next election, and if this happens, I cannot see how our Republic can POSSIBLY recover, as most ordinary (ignorant) US-Americans just won't know what to do.
I was reading something yesterday that struck me as probably the only successful course of action the country can take. Partisanship and division will only make it easier for Trump to completely take over. To stop him and Project 2025, Democrats and Republicans who oppose Trump absolutely must band together. Saving democracy is not a partisan issue but a survival issue.
He needs to go- he isn’t strong enough to fight. Democrats certainly need better messaging but they also need a coordinated response and a shadow government. Each democrat needs to be assigned a topic and then let them flood the media with responses on that topic. Ie senator A is assigned veterans topics. Senator B environment and so on. Let them just hammer their message home over and over. Americans are mostly stupid but they do well repetition as we have seen from the GOP.
I’m tired of getting solicitations from the democrats- they won’t get one cent ( AOC will) until they actually fight
No, leadership is the problem that got you into this mess. You need to modify your power structures so they are less dependent on leaders. Spread that power around.
Pluralism is the solution here, not the search for the best big strong manly man to hide behind while you do nothing yourself except mindlessly obey your chosen overlord.
letting the govt shut down right now would have been insane...yes, the dems need someone soon to kick some republican ass, but 1) they're in the minority, they cant do shit, 2) shutting the govt down now would enable the trumpnazis to wreck the everything even faster, with no check on them by the courts, and leaving that ignoramus trump and fascist fuck musk to pick and choose which agencies to close...g'bye IRS at tax refund time!...so long soc sec!....and we ALL know who would carch the blame for ALL of it...because 'murrikans are fucking stupid, and the best the FNYT and the rest of the court stenographers can manage is to BOAFSIDES! the duck out of everything
gillibrand (who i'm not a big fan of, either) launched into a screaming match (heard thru the caucus room doors by EveryFucking DC pool reporter) w the rest of the senate D caucus to keep the govt at least minimally functioning...schumer covered for her (as a D minority leader will always do) and the rest of the senators she convinced--it doesnt seem like fighting back now, but it will when the reconciliation bill comes around, and the Rs arent as united--this is schumer's (and co) only play, and it really was the lesser of two evils (which is ALWAYS LESS EVIL!)--it doesnt feel as good as taking a ballbat to a certain S African's knees would feel, but grab a bat and step up into the box kids...not every pitch is a sinker in the dirt
I get that shutting down government meant that federal judges may not have been able to continue to try to block fpotus's power grabs, but fpotus is ignoring judges right and left anyway. As for the argument a shutdown would empower MuskX to wreak worse damage, he is doing that now. Worse and worse every day. We are in effect enduring a shutdown now. The purging of federal employees is causing national parks and recreation areas, SSA offices, and myriad other government functions, to cease operating. We are in a meltdown. We need fearless Democratic voices leading us, not "working across the aisle" appeasers. We need Democratic voices calling out this fascist coup loud and clear 24/7.
I'll say it again... if shutting down the government meant giving republicans the keys to the kingdom, why didn't they just shut it down? They had no obligation to put a bill on the floor. Or, if they didn't want to seem that intransigent, they could have put a poison pill in it. Someone please ask Schumer that question. I'm open to being convinced, but make it make sense.
they (Rs) have to do their kabuki version of 'governing' for the DC stenographers and politics nerds...and head-faking the Ds into not voting for the CR gives them a shot at blaming everything on the Ds (again)...schumer and co stumbled into doing the right thing--for now
poison pills were not going to be allowed...they werent in the house, the R senate has an even bigger majority to shoot them down
*They are targeting "enemies" who just happen to be among the most vulnerable and least likely to be able to defend themselves.
*They are gutting the government in the name of "efficiency" which is a cover for destroying anything they see as ideological competition.
*They are disregarding the rule of law while fellating the orangehyena as their new king.
*They are ignoring the courts while saying they are not ignoring the courts.
*They are going after lawyers to silence any legal dissent.
*They are calling anyone who disagrees with them "terrorists" while laying the groundwork to imprison, deport, or execute them.
But yes, let's "keep our powder dry" and "play the long game" while the Fascist Authoritarians amass ever more power in hopes that at some mythological point in a future which is guaranteed to be even more dictatorial than it is now, we may possibly, perhaps, hopefully, be able to mount an even weaker and more impotent defense than we have done up to this point.
ok then...so...give us some realistic ideas about what to do about all your bullet points... that is, other than randomly spraying a whole lotta bullets at a rapid rate
https://open.substack.com/pub/anganashah950275/p/q-wtf-chuck-a-follow-the-money?r=1ll6q5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web. On Wednesday, he says he's standing up to them. Publicly. Then, Thursday, he says it would be too dangerous. I don't buy it. He got calls from his donors. I did some shallow snooping into the campaign donation records and my theory is at the link.
Chuck seemed more interested in the Selling His Book part of that interview. Which...fine, I guess. But if your main interest is opining on certain longterm cultural trends, why don't you accept a university appointment--and leave the whole congressional leadership thing to those with more of a Big-Picture picture of this mess.
To those with more balls.
Schumer doesn't know how to deal with this new reality that says the Democrats were so badly trounced in 2024 that they have nothing left to fight with. It's a failure of leadership not to even try to rally the Democrats together. Waiting for the midterms is not a solution this time. At the rate Trump and Musk are destroying things, there may be no midterms.
I do not see any alternative to great destruction followed quickly by great pain. If Republicans get their bill passed, there will be great destruction followed quickly by great pain as the bill is enacted. If Democrats stop the bill from passing, there will be great destruction followed quickly by great pain as Republicans in the Executive Branch continue to smash the People's Insurance Company (a.k.a. the federal government), sell it off in chunks for profit, and dare the Judicial Branch to stop them.
Whatever Republicans do -- and they are going to do what they are going to do, no matter how chummy they pretend to be in the Senate exercise room -- the Democrats must now use this as a TEACHABLE MOMENT. This means explaining to the US-American people, early and often and in front of video-recording devices, that everything bad that is happening to them now is the FAULT OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ALONE.
There is no non-political way to fight against fascism. The political system will not right itself if one party destroys it and the other party sits on its hands because to stand up might be seen as "political" and unseemly. Science will not defend itself. Human rights will not defend themselves. The truth will not defend itself. The social contract will not defend itself. The rule of law will not defend itself. And it is not "somebody else's" job to defend these things when they are under attack; it is EVERYBODY'S, and it is most particularly the job of our elected representatives, who, even if they are in the minority in the US Congress, have power and influence that poor desktop scriveners like me can only dream of.
I cannot emphasize enough to dinosaurs like Senator Chuck Schumer that this is NOT THE TIME to be seen as "bipartisan" or "co-operative" with the fascists who are now gleefully making people suffer as much as they can. As I have written before, if elected Democrats SHARE CREDIT for ANY of this sh*t now, they will SHARE THE BLAME for it in the next election, and if this happens, I cannot see how our Republic can POSSIBLY recover, as most ordinary (ignorant) US-Americans just won't know what to do.
I was reading something yesterday that struck me as probably the only successful course of action the country can take. Partisanship and division will only make it easier for Trump to completely take over. To stop him and Project 2025, Democrats and Republicans who oppose Trump absolutely must band together. Saving democracy is not a partisan issue but a survival issue.
He needs to go- he isn’t strong enough to fight. Democrats certainly need better messaging but they also need a coordinated response and a shadow government. Each democrat needs to be assigned a topic and then let them flood the media with responses on that topic. Ie senator A is assigned veterans topics. Senator B environment and so on. Let them just hammer their message home over and over. Americans are mostly stupid but they do well repetition as we have seen from the GOP.
I’m tired of getting solicitations from the democrats- they won’t get one cent ( AOC will) until they actually fight
I finally understand why Bernie is an Independent.
When Schumer said they were aiming to drive Trump's poll numbers down, my jaw dropped. Polls? Like he's trying to hurt Trump's feelings? What a joke.
Exactly. Manufactured BS. He did this for his securities and investment industry donors, who probably called him "alarmed" Wednesday night when he said he's stand up for the country. So, Thursday he changed his mind. https://open.substack.com/pub/anganashah950275/p/q-wtf-chuck-a-follow-the-money?r=1ll6q5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Fuck you Chuck. You should be dragged out of your position and horsewhipped.
I do not condone violence, except when I do.
Hakeem agreed with Schumer, that surprised me, probably naive of me.
I watched that interview, Chris is my blue eyed boy and challenged Schumer over and over.
"when the nation is in need of leadership."
No, leadership is the problem that got you into this mess. You need to modify your power structures so they are less dependent on leaders. Spread that power around.
Pluralism is the solution here, not the search for the best big strong manly man to hide behind while you do nothing yourself except mindlessly obey your chosen overlord.
letting the govt shut down right now would have been insane...yes, the dems need someone soon to kick some republican ass, but 1) they're in the minority, they cant do shit, 2) shutting the govt down now would enable the trumpnazis to wreck the everything even faster, with no check on them by the courts, and leaving that ignoramus trump and fascist fuck musk to pick and choose which agencies to close...g'bye IRS at tax refund time!...so long soc sec!....and we ALL know who would carch the blame for ALL of it...because 'murrikans are fucking stupid, and the best the FNYT and the rest of the court stenographers can manage is to BOAFSIDES! the duck out of everything
gillibrand (who i'm not a big fan of, either) launched into a screaming match (heard thru the caucus room doors by EveryFucking DC pool reporter) w the rest of the senate D caucus to keep the govt at least minimally functioning...schumer covered for her (as a D minority leader will always do) and the rest of the senators she convinced--it doesnt seem like fighting back now, but it will when the reconciliation bill comes around, and the Rs arent as united--this is schumer's (and co) only play, and it really was the lesser of two evils (which is ALWAYS LESS EVIL!)--it doesnt feel as good as taking a ballbat to a certain S African's knees would feel, but grab a bat and step up into the box kids...not every pitch is a sinker in the dirt
listen to longman, he knows...
I get that shutting down government meant that federal judges may not have been able to continue to try to block fpotus's power grabs, but fpotus is ignoring judges right and left anyway. As for the argument a shutdown would empower MuskX to wreak worse damage, he is doing that now. Worse and worse every day. We are in effect enduring a shutdown now. The purging of federal employees is causing national parks and recreation areas, SSA offices, and myriad other government functions, to cease operating. We are in a meltdown. We need fearless Democratic voices leading us, not "working across the aisle" appeasers. We need Democratic voices calling out this fascist coup loud and clear 24/7.
I'll say it again... if shutting down the government meant giving republicans the keys to the kingdom, why didn't they just shut it down? They had no obligation to put a bill on the floor. Or, if they didn't want to seem that intransigent, they could have put a poison pill in it. Someone please ask Schumer that question. I'm open to being convinced, but make it make sense.
they (Rs) have to do their kabuki version of 'governing' for the DC stenographers and politics nerds...and head-faking the Ds into not voting for the CR gives them a shot at blaming everything on the Ds (again)...schumer and co stumbled into doing the right thing--for now
poison pills were not going to be allowed...they werent in the house, the R senate has an even bigger majority to shoot them down
Ta, Gary. Schumer needs a strong primary opponent.
not gonna happen...he'll likely retire anyway, he'll be 77-8 in 2028, and it's fairly obvious he's had enough o this bullshit
I'll be shocked if he decides to retire. He;s one of the most arrogant people in the Senate. He'll run again but probably won't win.
Chuck (verb) Schumer (noun).
Ana Marie Cox 🤩
*They are targeting "enemies" who just happen to be among the most vulnerable and least likely to be able to defend themselves.
*They are gutting the government in the name of "efficiency" which is a cover for destroying anything they see as ideological competition.
*They are disregarding the rule of law while fellating the orangehyena as their new king.
*They are ignoring the courts while saying they are not ignoring the courts.
*They are going after lawyers to silence any legal dissent.
*They are calling anyone who disagrees with them "terrorists" while laying the groundwork to imprison, deport, or execute them.
But yes, let's "keep our powder dry" and "play the long game" while the Fascist Authoritarians amass ever more power in hopes that at some mythological point in a future which is guaranteed to be even more dictatorial than it is now, we may possibly, perhaps, hopefully, be able to mount an even weaker and more impotent defense than we have done up to this point.
ok then...so...give us some realistic ideas about what to do about all your bullet points... that is, other than randomly spraying a whole lotta bullets at a rapid rate