At this point it’s hard to keep up with the flood of crap coming from the Trump administration, as he signs executive order after executive order pushing everything from his beloved border wall to, well, pretty much anything Paul Ryan and the Republicans give him to sign.
Meanwhile, his cabinet choices continue to sail through the Senate with minimal Democratic resistance. Democrats have been asking the nominees tough questions only to turn around and vote for them.
This is not good enough. We need to push the Dems to vote NO on EVERY Trump nomination, on EVERY Trump initiative.
So it’s time to call or write your Senators again. Indeed, this may need to become a daily habit.
You can find the name and contact info for your senators here. See my posts here and here for information and advice on how to make your calls and emails effective. If making these sorts of calls is tough for you, here’s some advice on calling politicians if you have social anxiety.
For today’s call:
If one or more of your Senators is a Democrat or Independent:
Go here to see how they voted on the nominees that have already been approved.
Call (or write) your Senators.
Here’s what I would say: If they voted no on any of the nominees thank them for that. Then tell them how deeply disappointed you are that they voted yes on any nominees. Tell them that these are not normal times and Trump is not a normal president, so normal political considerations don’t apply. Trump is a dangerous man intent on becoming some kind of American Putin. Tell them you are depending on them to stand up for democracy and against tyranny. Maybe add that you’re not someone who usually uses words like that.
If one or more of your Senators is Republican:
Here’s what I would say: Tell them you are angry and disappointed that the Republicans are essentially enabling a would-be tyrant. Mention some of the utterly ridiculous things Trump has said and done in recent days, from his bizarre and disrespectful trip to the CIA and his bizarre claims about millions of illegal votes to the ridiculous boondoggle that is his proposed border wall. Demand that they speak out against Trump. Remind them that Trump is massively unpopular already, and ask if they really want to be voted out of office because of their support for Trump.
Or something like that.
Alternately, if your Senators are Republicans but you are more interested in lighting a fire under the Democrats, call Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and ask him why his critical remarks about Trump’s nominees haven’t been followed by “no” votes for them. For more, see this Village Voice piece.
Call his office at (202) 224-6542 or send him a message through his website.
The more pressure we can put on politicians, Democrats and Republicans, the better.
Well I finally managed to talk to all three of my representatives in one single day. That’s worrisome — usually the phone lines are getting burnt up on at least two of them. Maybe I just haven’t hit them at the right times before.
Anyway, it comes to light that Trump’s staff is using the same RNC email server that the Bush administration used, and Trump himself has not given up his Android phone, so I guess the rules are made up and the points don’t count.
If you live in Pennsylvania, you might want to mention that Toomey ran a campaign ad complaining that his opponent would be a rubber stamp for Hilary, and that it is more than a little hypocritical that he’s being a rubber stamp for Squatter Orange Turd.
Nah, I’m in Tennessee.
I did mention it, though. “They’re using these private servers and personal devices and that was a big scandal this past summer that someone was doing that,” is the gist of what I said.
EDIT: I worry that I tip my hand when they ask me for my address. I’m in a not particularly conservative part of the state, although I did just find out that we do have our VERY OWN MOTHERFLIPPIN’ SKIN HEADS.
EDIT EDIT: At least a couple of Democrats have introduced bills to prevent the President from launching a first-strike nuclear assault without a declaration of war from Congress. Since that’s not something we’ve had since Korea, the bill might help, if we can overcome Trump’s inevitable veto.
That was a general thing to all Mammotheers, actually. Your comment hadn’t shown up when I posted. 🙂
Unfortunately I live in Idaho and my representatives are all Republicans who are just as bad as Trump. Anyone have suggestions on what to do in my case?
David:
But but but… what if they are playing 12-dimensional chess, and we’re just too dumb to understand? Wouldn’t want to jeopardise that, because it’s worked so fucking well up to now, hasn’t it?
@Moggie
Yeah we shouldn’t compromise the Dems’ plans, unity and all that remember? They know better after all they have our best interests at heart /s
Oh, sorry, PaganReader.
I should remember this:
Rules are for Democrats.
The usual version of that I’ve seen is IOKIYAR, or It’s OKay If You’re A Republican.
OH MY FUCKING GOD FUCKING EMAILS.
http://gizmodo.com/trump-staffers-are-reportedly-using-private-email-accou-1791625552?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
*hyperventilates*
@Kupo
Of course he is. Fucking emails. And his supporters will eat up his excuses, too.
Why the fuck are democrat representatives voting in favor of these picks? My brain literally short-circuited. I just don’t get it
@kupo
“I can’t trust Clinton they said.”
@Moocow
You see we have to extend the olive branch in order of harmony. Little give must be done before we can take.
Or put it simply cowardice+loser no fight mentality+$$$ from rich lobbyists+unaffected by these changes= Who cares!
I’m really having trouble comprehending how a coalition to stop Trump is gonna work when corporate democrats are already lying down.
I’m in the middle of my “process” (troll dissection is non-literal) on Yor and I was wondering if anyone wanted snips from what I have so far. Or what thread that might be appropriate in.
I’m trying to go through the first three sets of exchanges before I create a solid framework for how I want to standardize this thing. I’m trying to hurry but I’m hyper-analyzing something that requires days of reading and rereading with sleep in between in order to make sure I’m good with a pattern that I think that I see. I’ve gotten a little perfectionist and I’m trying to figure out where to set limits. I hate posting once a month.
Yor has several sets of behaviors that would have strategic effect if used by a large number of people. For example the functional use of the the concept of racism in society is affected by the insistence that looking at race is always racism. They include looking at the problem of racism implicitly.
And they use the feeling of racism to suggest that looking at sex and gender is “icky”.
His first comment is so short but I can’t help but to dissect up by ten different way to try to figure out what the primary and secondary best uses could be. That is what makes this so hard, the “could be” also means I need good and bad versions of a general behavior. It’s something we all do in different contexts.
I should stop there or I’ll go on and do what I’m asking about.
There’s also this little gem:
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/torture-mattis-pompeo-defense-234180
@Jenora Feuer, oh yeah, I forgot that formulation.
It’s just … not subtle, is it. One party attracts people who are responsible, who study and follow the rules, and the other party attracts people who want power for themselves. It’s not exclusive — there are responsible Republicans and corrupt Democrats — but it just plays out so many times. Over and over.
And then the Republicans flex their muscles and the Democrats’ first reaction is “Please don’t hurt us.”
Follow the money.
Trump imposed a gag order on federal twitter accounts
but uh the
National Park Service Rangers
ain’t give a damn
@Falconer
NASA and the EPA, too.
Yeah, with *crickets* from the Freeze Peach brigade.
My Senator is Ted Fracking Cruz. Think I can goad him into voting against The Don by bringing up the time he called Heidi ugly? Nah, I’m pretty sure the inevitable downfall of the Federal government Trump is bringing is fulfilling every one of Ted’s wettest of dreams.
The only vaguely-justifiable reason I can think of to vote confirmation is to keep the government running smoothly. And it’s only vaguely-justifiable partly because “running smoothly towards what?” and because I know the remaining undersecretaries are running things in the State department now that Kerry is gone.
I might cling to that vaguely-justifiable reason, because otherwise what the flippin’ hell, Feinstein?!
I think the logic here is to make the Republicans own the next two years of disasters. The Democrats anticipate that this strategy will flip enough votes in the 2018 elections to allow for the recapture of the house and sweep the senate races. Then the congressional investigations of the Trump kleptocracy can begin. Nice if it works, but that is a big if.
This was engineered by the Republicans top to bottom. Create a list of horrible people, then wait until the last possible second to create an emergency – all of these important positions vacant! They use the urgency to convince the Democrats to accept, because otherwise the Republicans will frame it as being all the fault of Democrat delays and partisan politics.
(nevermind that that’s what they’ve done to Obama for the past 8 years).
The snake-skinned Republicans know that the media will focus on the “disaster” and the “Democrat-caused delays”, so the Dems are scared of losing support. They don’t seem to get that the people want them to resist.
For the love of all that is good, Democrats, start fighting!
Fight this bullshit:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2802
172 Republicans just introduced a bill making it legal for an employer to fire someone for being gay or having extramarital sex; for landowners to throw people out for doing the same; for refusing to bake the notorious Gay Wedding Cake. This bill (as I read it) makes it illegal for the government to interfere in that execution of “religious belief” or “moral conviction”.
Set that shit on fire, Democrats.