Today's @GOP: Torn between those who advocate for intolerance and hatred and those who see is purely as a wedge issue to win an election. Almost none willing to simply acknowledge #loveislove and LGBT rights are human rights. politico.com/news/magazine/…
And this ain't just "Trumpworld". Only 8 Republicans voted for the Equality Act to ensure that the LGBTQ community has equal rights under the law. That should never have been controversial in a nation dedicated to equality. rollcall.com/2019/05/17/the…
When we passed that bill on the floor, the final @GOP amendment was to protect Title IX, on the bizarro-world theory that boys would otherwise change their gender to compete in women's sports. That's not serious policy. It's homophobic / transphobic dog-whistling.
The idea that a teenage kid is going to go through all the social stigma and mental stress that trans kids go through every day on the hope they could be a little more athletically competitive. You have to be utterly devoid of empathy to believe that.
(And, it should be noted, have never watched women's sports. After all, there isn't a single member of the House, male or female who could last a round in the ring against @RepDavids.)
But at a larger level, how do you pursue public office in a country dedicated to the proposition that that we are born with the inalienable right to pursue happiness and then see people who are struggling to be accepted for who they are and decide to punch down?
The answer is you have to yourself be a hateful person, or simply too venal to care. So single-mindedly focused on winning an election regardless of the consequences to burn down hope and love in your wake. It is mean. It is immoral. It is the opposite of leadership.
(Except, I suppose for that group of @GOP officials who are so filled with hate and intolerance that they are actively using their positions of leadership to bend public will towards their paleolithic, hateful views.)
We shouldn't accept this. Fighting for equal rights should not be partisan. Asking elected officials to call out our better angels rather than our lesser demons should be a bare minimum requirement of the job. And yet the @GOP does neither.
Anyway, with all the serious problems in the world, from pandemics to economic meltdowns to global warming it makes me angry that a once-great party wants to re-litigate the culture wars. They need to grow up before we let them eat at the big kids table again. /fin
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Because a number of folks keep asking, let’s talk about why the Democrats overwhelmingly voted to table Al Green’s motion to impeach Donald Trump. TL;DR: if you want Trump to be out of office ASAP, this was the right call, right now. Read on for the explanation…
1. Shortly after my wife and I got engaged we took a vacation to Wyoming. In the course of a horseback trip, our guide, upon learning of our upcoming nuptials, prior to offering me some advice said “I’ve been married 5 times, so I think I know a little something about women”.
2. In that vein, in my 6 years in Congress, I’ve seen 3 house impeachments (Trump 2x where I voted yes, Mayorkas 1x where I opposed). None were removed. So I think I know a little something about removing people from office…
This is not about the merits of Iran’s nuclear program. No president has the authority to bomb another country that does not pose an imminent threat to the US without the approval of Congress. This is an unambiguous impeachable offense.
I’m not saying we have the votes to impeach. I’m saying that you DO NOT do this without Congressional approval and if Johnson doesn’t grow a spine and learn to be a real boy tomorrow we have a BFing problem that puts our very Republic at risk.
To be clear, I do not dispute that Iran is a nuclear threat. That’s why Obama negotiated the JCPOA. But whether that is better resolved through diplomatic or military measures is not a decision that the executive branch has unilaterally.
This is the reason why our Constitution has an emoluments clause. And every day that the House GOP refuses to do any oversight of the Trump family's grift is another day that our Republic gets a little more fragile. Thread: ft.com/content/13a6ce…
1. I've been raising a stink about Sun and Trump ever since he fronted $30M to World Liberty Financial, Trump's shady AF defi platform. thedefiant.io/news/tokens/ju…
2. That "investment" triggered provisions in the initial World Liberty financing documents that allowed the Trump family to take cash out of the business. In exchange, Sun got a stake in tokens that cannot be sold and are controlled by the Trump family. Literally nothing.
Liz Truss lasted 49 days as Prime Minister. For context, that's less than 20% of the time that Kevin McCarthy lasted as speaker. And yet she - like him - thinks she has some wisdom to offer from that experience. (TL;DR: she's learned nothing.) washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/…
As I said on the floor earlier this week, mediocre businesses hate competition for the same reason mediocre politicians hate DEI. Because they can't win in a meritocracy. But economic growth depends on competition - in labor and energy markets.
Under Bessent's watch, investors have fled US equities and treasuries for other countries. Saying that he should pro-growth is fine. But you should praise him (or Brexit supporters) for it in the same way you praise me for my ability to win the NBA slam dunk contest.
Watching the Senate cloture vote on the (highly misnamed) Genius Act and keep thinking back to a conversation I had with a Senior official in the Biden WH 4 years ago. I asked him what he thought about crypto and he said “how do you define money?” Thread:
1. It was a very Socratic process, but goes to the heart of the rot in the crypto space. The whole thesis is that it’s currency. But it isn’t, and never will be, for the same reason that gold, fine art and pork bellies aren’t money.
2. “A store of value” isn’t the definition of money. After all, you can go back thousands of years in human history and dig up coins minted in precious or semi-precious metals with the Caesar / Emporer’s face. Why bother making that money if the metal had value?
This is scary and highlights something that's painfully obvious in DC: smart people either don't want to work in this administration or are being turned away. But effective government - esp when crisis strikes - depends on having smart people around. washingtonpost.com/business/2025/…
And that's huge own-goal. There is a deep pool of talent in DC that wants to work in the WH. Not the electeds (no disrespect intended) but the people they hire. Because while winning an election depends on a whole host of factors, hiring staff is an embarrassment of riches.
Some of the smartest people I've met in my life are the career hill staffers, and the just-below-cabinet level tier in the WH. Thousands of people want those jobs and the WH gets to pick the best.