The article was quite clear that they were told by a particular someone in the “Republican Establishment”, which right now is a subsidiary of Trump.

No, they don’t need to be told to hold the partisan line, but I wouldn’t put it past Trump (or even Stephen Miller) to treat them like employees. Which must be a bit humiliating for a Member of Congress…

Instructed by whom, exactly? The article doesn’t say. It just says “a source in the Republican establishment”. That could be anyone.

My money is on Stephen Miller. It sounds like a thing he would say…

As I recall, though, the Harris campaign raised a shitton of money. What good did it all do? A huge war chest is no guarantee of anything.

Getting out votes always beats fundraising. If you can vote in the US, don’t let anything stop you. (Particularly doomers on Lemmy, hah!) If you have a friend who can’t get to the polls, help them.

"The DHS Inspector General first realized this when he overheard Noem refer to him several times as ‘Cricket’. "

~(not a real quote)~

That’s the rub: that whole time everyone thought he was a business titan? He wasn’t really rich at all. Not only are real estate ventures heavily leverages to begin with, but he also ran his businesses into the ground by grifting money out of them. When the E. Jean Carroll verdict came in, there was a very real chance he would not have been able to meet it without significant pain.

However, since then, he found his Crypto religion, and then once he won the Presidency the second time, he has been inviting right foreign interests to bribe him through Crypto. So he is actually rich now, based solely on selling influence via meme tokens.

He literally faked it until he made it. And needed two tries to get it right. No wonder he also needs to grift his name into existing things.

You just don’t understand, what choice did they have? The only other choice was a lady!

Um Ackshually, he doesn’t seem to be taking in big $, at least according to his financial disclosures (PDF). Most recent estimates of his net worth are in the $7 million range, but that also counts his house in Park Slope, which is probably worth over $3mil now but I doubt he paid that. And a bunch more is in his retirement account. He’s not struggling by any means, but he doesn’t have “Fuck You” money like Elon has.

There are a lot of memes going around about how rich some of these politicians are but they are mostly fake

It’s too bad Penn only has 21 tracks, I could see them naming Track 34 for him

Republicans have decided they don’t care if the President overstep his authority anymore, as long as it hurts people they hate. A category which includes Palestinians, I guess.

Sorry, NYC doesn’t get to disown him. He grew up in Queens, went to Molloy for HS, and got his undergraduate degree at Fordham.

Doubtful. Cuomo couldn’t even win in his hometown. He’s toast.

He might decide to run, though, and live off campaign funds for a year or two, then decide he is “throwing his support” to Newsom right before Super Tuesday, just to make a Newsom nomination inevitable.

That’s the way these Democratic “primaries” work: start out with several establishment candidates to prevent any one alternative candidate from breaking out. But all of those establishment candidates secretly back the Next One Up, and gradually concede during the first few weeks of the primary so that the establishment candidate gets all the backing.

The only time Democrats didn’t do it this way was 2008, when Obama beat out Clinton. Democrats want to ensure a more qualified and charismatic candidate never beats out the establishment choice again!

Keep an eye on that Mayor in Minneapolis. People are getting to know him nationally, and he seems to have the right tone when dealing with fascists. And Minnesota DFL Democrats seem to be less corporate than the rest of them.

He’s still young, though, and with the Governor there not running again Frey might decide to run for that seat first.

He also looks the part, which never hurts. And he has the main quality that candidates like Harris lack: a penis.

Oh yes, he will. But he’s the Next One Up!

Someone needs to give an inspiring concession speech after Gavin clinches the nomination…

Maybe I’m oversimplifying it, but “Money is Speech” is less of a problem than “Corporations are People” from Citizens United. Because the latter takes rights that this country historically reserves for humans and gives them to organizations (that are themselves composed of humans).

Simply reverse that, and you can restore limits on these organizations. Billionaires can still spend money how they are fit, but unless the billionaire does it all himself, at some point he will need an organization to do it, and that organization can have constraints.

Yes, there is a direct line from “Money is Speech” to “Corporations are People”, but it’s that second one that does more harm.

Why is that city under attack from an orbital space laser?

In most states, if a Senator leaves office for any reason, the state’s governor would be empowered to appoint a replacement until a special election can be held. Kentucky, however, has two powerful Republican Senators, and a Democratic Governor. So after some back and forth, the legislature passed a bill (over the Governor’s veto) that said the Governor could not appoint anyone, but could only schedule the special election, letting the seat remain vacant.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/05/how-are-us-senate-vacancies-filled-in-kentucky/78253161007/

However, it is possible the governor might ignore the law and appoint someone anyway, and let the Senate deal with accepting the appointment.

Lol, no. I’m just old enough to realize why the “tear it all down” approach can only ever work for the side that wants to abandon Democracy, no matter who uses it.

“Fascists want to destroy the country. Quick, let’s do it first! That’ll show 'em!”

No, it’s that Republicans don’t give a shit about the Federal Government and want to drown it in the bathtub. So a shutdown actually plays into their long term plan.

On the other hand, Democrats find value in the Federal Government, and are acutely aware of how damaging a shutdown in, both due to the temporary interruption in services and the damage to morale of Federal workers. All stuff Republicans don’t care about either. They view Federal workers as the enemy. They want them to all quit, and probably wish much less charitable things on them in private.