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Thursday’s Forum
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32 responses to “Thursday’s Forum”
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Well I guess there is a victory that is big enough for the Republican Party to say, “Eh no, we’ll just let it go.” I would have thought there would have been a blizzard of lawsuits by now. But I think everybody understands that the charge of rigged elections would seem really hollow given the margin of victory.
Obviously the difference is the fact that there weren’t a lot of things that were really close. Some individual races, sure. But the overall zeitgeist was clear and apparent. There’s still two months for some chicanery but we’ll have to see what unfolds in the next eight weeks.
One thing I was wondering about: are we still locked in with Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer? Is there any chance that the conference might say, “Hey let’s take another look at this”? I’m not sure how the conference leaders are picked, or if there’s an open election for it, or if it’s just who’s next. Unless those two people have some leadership chops that I haven’t seen before, I don’t think they’re up for the task of running the conferences.
We’re in uncharted waters here so everybody batten your hatches and trim the mizzen mast.
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One thing I was wondering about: are we still locked in with Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer?
My understanding is that the party leadership is renewed in each Congress, so every two years. I’m not sure how.
There are a lot of people in and out of Congress, especially a vocal faction of voters, who don’t want either. Jeffries declared the people “want us to get things done” and that this isn’t the time for revenge or payback. And that rubs a lot of voters and citizens the wrong way.
IMO, it’s about accountability rather than payback. ICE and related agencies under DHS have killed innocent people in broad daylight, with zero accountability. They run concentration camps with substandard, unsanitary conditions not fit for human habitation.
That’s perhaps the most obvious instance, but there’s a lot more. there’s massive corruption at the highest levels, like the usurper in the oval office pretending to be the president, plus his family, and with involvement of foreign actors. There’s the whole mess at the DoD. there’s a botched, badly fought, ill-conceived and totally unnecessary war in Iran. And the whole DOGE fiasco, which involves a lot of the above as well.
It’s not payback to hold hearings and carry out thorough investigations of these and other matters. It’s simple, elementary oversight, which is a function of Congress,
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“…are we still locked in with Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer?”
Please read this article (gift link/NYT): Inside Team Trump’s Historic Collapse
It details what leadership–in this case, Jeffries and Schumer–does to recruit and support candidates. A LOT of the candidates who won were recruited by one or the other. Sherrod Brown would not have run but for Schumer’s prodding.
This is standard. People in the comments are angry that the NYT is “giving too much credit” to them…but no, it’s SOP.
Which means a lot of the new members have a connection to leadership. That tends to be rewarded with a caucus vote.
Is it a sure thing? No. And, there are a number of candidates who got nothing from Jeffries because their races weren’t even on the board. So, yeah, there’s a chance that someone challenges him for the top spot, but honestly I doubt it.
Put another way, you dance with the one who brought you.
It’s also important to consider that the Speaker, by definition, has a different role than the Whip, or Majority Leader. He needs to have tight messaging, but also needs to work with the President, sometimes, particularly on intelligence matters.
I think there’s enough room for everyone.
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Couldn’t have said it better. I’m not a huge fan of either of those guys but also understand that their fellow Congress critters (who are ultimately the ones who vote for or against them) have different criteria than I do. Given that at least half of that has to do with helping them in their elections, and given the tsunami, a leadership challenge seems like a dead end and therefore a distraction, at best
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The Congressional Black Caucus is all-in on Jeffries being the first black speaker. Chances they are defied on this is less than zero. He has consolited support for a Jeffries speakership across the board, from Zohran Mamdani to Nancy Pelosi. An incoming DSA member commenting this week would not commit to voting against him, merely calling for M4A concessions. Anti-Jeffries peeps are simply wasting their time and giving themselves a headache. Barring death or injury, Jeffries will be the next Speaker.
Schumer’s position seems a bit more precarious; problem is there’s no challenger. Sen. Warren gives Harry Reid vibes; I called and wrote her office saying she should challenge. But she’s shown no public interest. Same with Sen. Van Hollen, both a serious person and a favorite potential candidate of the “it’s a genocide” left. But Van Hollen wants to run for president.
The caucus will also want to reward Schumer for recruiting and supporting candidates who won. The Haley Stevens mess is the big blemish, but they will dismiss it as one bad data point out better ones (and El Sayed’s petty and characteristically sophomoric victory speech did not exactly cover Abdul in glory — just left the impression Michigan Dems had no great options either way).
There’s only 5-6 known senators and senators-elect against Schumer, and some of that is also hedged on potential contingencies and concessions. Don’t see Schumer falling unless a major alternative name publicly steps out, giving permission for the caucus to break away. Where is s/he?
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Really well said. I agree with almost all of it, except I think there might be more than 5-6 against Schumer, but after his recruitment – Haley, Alex Vindman, and Janet Mills notwithstanding – and the outcome, I doubt they’ll speak up.
But if he starts with the genteel, “we all have to get along” bullshit, rather than getting right to work and passing a strong working class populist agenda – even if Trump vetos it – I’ll be calling and writing for his ouster.
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I said “5-6 known.” Of course there’s more than 5 or 6. We just don’t know who they are, and they’re not gonna ruffle feathers and speak up unless there’s a credible challenger.
Schumer people can argue Vindman was a mark in Schumer’s favor. Vindman was a much more prolific fundraiser than Angie Nixon or David Jolly, and Florida is one of the most expensive states to run in statewide. The Schumer folk would argue Vindman’s fundraising ability would’ve won that race.
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Just a thought.
When reporters ask any of the Democrats about focusing on too many things like affordability or corruption, they will say like Sen Warnock did yesterday: “we can walk and chew gum at the same time”.
They should also add: “You newspapers should hire more reporters and investigators so you can focus on more than one subject also”.
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Some thoughts from John Cole, BJ’s blogmeister:
The second thing is that we own ALL the big statehouses now with our governor race wins yesterday with the exception of Florida. Do you understand the implications for 2028? The importance of ending voter suppression and improving access to voting with more polling stations and better equipment and statehouses working to encourage rather than impede voting? Keisha Lance Bottoms and Gina Hinajosa and Amy Acton are going to have a field day. You all have NO idea how deep the rot and corruption are in Ohio.
Just amazing. I have not even looked into downballot races in statehouses but the Texas Board of Education will no longer be run by the Klan, and this is major in education not only in Texas but everywhere. Texas has an outsized influence on school textbook contents since it is such a large purchaser. LGBTQ+ are no longer going to be targeted by.their own state government.
The ripple effects of what happened last night are going to be huge, but it will take time.
Lots of voter suppression in Texas too in the past, targeting Houston
etc.ETA: Michigan and Ohio are not just close geographically, they have similar demographics and economically, yet vote very differently.
Why? methinks voter suppression in Ohio.
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Ona second OMG moment yesterday (the first was seeing the election’s results), I managed to use an AI bot for something actually useful.
We got an excel file formatted with a product listing. We need to place in prices and brands, as well as taxes, totals, and other minor matters, and format the thing further so it can be printed on letterhead paper.
But the various tabs in the spreadsheet are protected. So we can only enter prices, nothing more. I tried various tricks I know, and nothing worked. Next I uploaded the file to Gemini and sked if it could produce an identical spreadsheet but unprotected.
It did.
That’s great, but the downside is we need to check the content, lest the bot made changes without telling us.
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I, like Aaron Rupar, am wondering what the heck is going on with the White House trotting out Melania as a peacekeeper/deal maker.
It’s…weird. Is it to push Natalie out of the narrative? Or is this some strange attempt to Eleanor Roosevelt her as her husband declines? Shrinking circle of who he trusts? Is anyone else curious about this?
ETA: here’s the clip of her talking about Ukraine: https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mzlbr2tnkn2u
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No matter whether the Constitution follows the flag or not, the Supreme Court follows the election returns. – Finley Peter Dunne’s character Martin J. Dooley
In his Substack Steve Vladeck points out that the famous “switch in time that saved nine”, the conservative SCOTUS’ switch from opposing FDR’s New Deal initiatives, forestalling FDRs court packing plan, actually occurred before FDR proposed the plan. He says it was really a reaction to FDR’s 46 state landslide reelection in ’36. Vladeck hopes Roberts/Kavanaugh/Barrett’s concern for the reputation of the Court will similarly result in a change of attitude.
If it does, history will rhyme, and rhyme unusually closely. The Chief Justice who switched in early ’37 was Owen Roberts.
Vladeck also says Alito and Thomas won’t resign during the lame duck Senate for the same reason, fear for the reputation of the Court. I hope he’s right, but I can’t help feeling that if either of those two cared about the reputation of the Court they wouldn’t be such puppets.
I’m eagerly waiting for all the pundits who declared a vibe shift in ’24 to do so again.
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Tech stocks are falling hard and fast as our tech overlords face the terrifying possibility that they may not be gods after all, but can still be chastised by the people.
Elon thought he ruled Texas. Sorry, freak, ya don’t. And there are half a dozen subpoenas waiting for you come January.
As for Kushner and Don Jr.? May be time for them to expat their corrupt asses to the UAE. Congress has two years to build the file for the new AG to be appointed by POTUS Jon Ossoff. I want to see Kushner and Don Jr. in prison.
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So Los Angeles has a new Mayor. Just saw this news on the NYT app..
I will grit my teeth and ride out the stock slump because it is a long term play for me. Hopefully the election results make some of the Billionaire Class accept a much needed insertion of a bit of humility in their lives.
On the other hand, the billionaire tax initiative in CA failed but the sentiment that the hyper wealthy need to step up and contribute more to society is not going away.
One last thing, standard Democrats and the GOP need to fairly quickly learn to get along with folks who are members of the Democratic Socialist wing of the Democratic party. The Democratic Socialists are springing up like weeds in the body politic, and this is key, winning elections. They are not going anywhere and treating them like second class members of Congress will just harm the Democratic Party as a whole and prevent stuff from getting done.
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