27 Comments

Beware, however—Johnson tried to claim the Republican town halls were packed with paid Democrat demonstrators on Kaitlin Collins’ CNN show Wednesday night. That will be the new narrative—Democrats are harassing reps who are trying to work for you in Congress. 😕

Expand full comment

When Republicans lie the next question should be "Prove it". Demand evidence and don't move on until they admit they don't have any.

Expand full comment

Absolutely! Right on the money (theirs, not ours, although we’re paying for it).

Expand full comment

Yes, I've already heard that "Antifa," whatever that is, is involved.

Expand full comment

And probably BLM …

Expand full comment

The usual bullshit. And your use of "Democrat" is grammatically incorrect. They would be "Democratic demonstrators."

Expand full comment

"One rattled Republican, speaking anonymously, told Axios, “It would be more helpful if some of those DOGE folks showed more sensitivity to the people who are being terminated this way ... who didn't do anything wrong."" This sentence clearly demonstrates how Republicans feel about hurting people - don't stop the hurt, just speak softly and say how sorry you are for their pain. Thoughts and prayers ad nauseam.

Expand full comment

My sense of Schadenfreude at the political difficulties the Republicans are heading full steam ahead into is rather swamped by the knowledge that millions of people are going to suffer from it. Maybe they'll learn never to trust the Republicans again.

Expand full comment

Unfortunately, you're right. People will basically go along as long as they don't personally experience any hardships, but the Democrats feel they should protect people by fixing whatever the GOP breaks.

I think inflation is going to be Trump's undoing. It affects the middle and working classes the most, and immediately. If only they understood how the rest of Trump-Musk's economic policies will also tank the economy, and quickly, within a few months.

Expand full comment

In the picture, I believe that's Benjamin Franklin's bust frowning down on this gathering of lunatics.

Expand full comment

I just couldn't resist: https://youtu.be/phOhCChynIA

Expand full comment

f'Elon Muskrat

Expand full comment

Yes, Democrats should absolutely do this, but not the way they normally do. Quit talking about cuts to Medicaid, Food Stamps or Medicare in the abstract, because that doesn't do much to move the needle.

Instead, start rolling out stories day after day from real people who have benefited from these programs and/or those who suffered from past cuts to create a counter-narrative that government programs can actually help people.

This approach undercuts the relentless narrative from GOP that government is only ever the problem, never the solution, and that all of this spending is wasteful, in a way that infinite Democratic talking points never could.

Expand full comment

This would be much more heartening if we could be sure that we'll actually have elections going forward.

Expand full comment

The Constitution, that quaint thing, on its way to a bankers box in a Mar-a-Lago bathroom.

Expand full comment

To be used as toilet paper, probably.

Expand full comment

No, those would be the Benjamins.

Expand full comment

The question begged: Just how much more money do these Billionaire Boyz need? They can’t possibly spend the money they already have! (Except for Musk who wants to buy America … perhaps AfD, too … with a side-bribe to China to facilitate the battery factory.

Expand full comment

I call for testimony under oath and certified cost and pricing data to underpin Republican’s promised budget cuts in the $ trillions. This is a reasonable request to a convicted felon. We either get that, or all rural hospitals will soon be gone, lost due to $833 billion in Medicaid cuts. Farmers are going to lose $230 billion. Rural America dozes. Democrat leaders are not asking for testimony or certified data. They must subpoena dodging Musk and DOGE. That is as we all watch the lies day after day.

https://bit.ly/4hUbbWU

Expand full comment

Unfortunately, the Ways and Means Committee is MAGA.

Expand full comment

All committees in the Republican-led House are weighted to the Republicans to my knowledge. It is a matter of viscosity. Too viscous and a stick won’t standup up in the mud.

Expand full comment

"Republicans in Congress this week staggered a step forward to passing a brutal budget that would strip healthcare from those most in need, in exchange for (another) massive tax cut for the wealthy."

Make Aristocrats Grotesque Again!

https://bsky.app/profile/justinsg.bsky.social/post/3lj3zshog7k2q

Expand full comment

Make the Assholes Go Away.

Expand full comment

Sure, put Musk in the background, but he has no actual power without Trump.

Trump is MAGA. You might be able to defeat a budget bill by associating it with Musk, but Trump is the one who the Republicans in congress truly fear. He has trained them well.

Remember, at any moment, trump can throw musk under the bus. Trump can fire him with a post on Truth Social, or even 'X', and insult, attack, make Musk an enemy of MAGA, disowning everything he wants and keeping the rest, or more likely do both. Attack unpopular things but somehow never 'fix' them. yes Trump is a feeble, stupid vain old man, but he, like most, has good days and bad, plus he has people close enough to 'handle him'. In other words, making it all about Musk is giving Trump a gift. Instead show Musk in the background, as Trump's attack dog. Dumb but useful to his master. Make Trump OWN all his choices, and make the complicit Republicans in Congress and all the various department heads own it all too.

Even if Republicans are too weak to allow Trump to be convicted in an impeachment trial, even if SCOTUS is too weak to declare Trump unable to hold office (per the 14th amendment), people will still vote in the 2026 and 2028 elections and allow for a recovery.

Musk is a distraction AND the point of the spear, but remember trump gave doge 18 months. In other words, to be done before the 2026 midterm elections. Musk has an expiration date.

Expand full comment

As Dean Baker writes, in essence, What good is a budget if Trump decides how money is spent?

Expand full comment

Maybe it is time to think about the potential relevance of 5 U.S.C. 3331:

Any "individual" who is "appointed" to any "office of honor or profit in the civil service" must "swear (or affirm) that" he "will bear true faith and allegiance to" our Constitution, including by "support[ing] and defend[ing] the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

I have to wonder whether Musk and those of his minions who are rummaging through the personal information of federal employees (and applicants for federal employment) have violated that law.

Expand full comment

Yes! Democrats should also challenge - and loudly - the whole rationale behind DEI fear & loathing: Exactly why whites are superior; why people of color deserve less (if anything) than whites; what benefits do Americans get by picking on the less advantaged? Why, precisely, was America greater before?

Expand full comment