For those still thinking about voting for Donald Trump in November, a few questions to consider:
1/ If Donald Trump offered you the opportunity to invest in his next private business, would you take it?
2/ If Donald Trump offered to deliver an envelope of your cash to the bank on your behalf, would you trust him?
3/ If Donald Trump offered to write a condolence card to a deceased family member, would you expect it to be thoughtful or empathetic?
4/ If Donald Trump wanted to join your book club, would you expect him to do the reading, or suggest any good reads?
5/ If Donald Trump offered to baby sit your daughters, would you let him?
6/ If Donald Trump applied to be a beat cop in your neighborhood, would you expect him to treat all citizens equally?
Now ask whether any of those questions make you as squeamish with any other recent President or Presidential candidate.
A man who you know you would not trust with even the most basic human courtesies and trusts should never have access to the wealth and power of the United States. Now go vote. /fin
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A couple thoughts on this. First, it's good that they're pushing back on Medicaid cuts. Because it means that all the pressure they're getting at the townhalls they decided to stop holding is working. Keep the pressure up. BUT...
...they all voted for the budget bill that included those $880B of cuts and they KNEW this implied massive cuts to Medicaid. They hoped people wouldn't do that math at the time, and figured they could avoid pissing off Trump and kick the can down to the road for the next vote.
IOW, they aren't principled defenders of Medicaid. They toed the party line, got heat at home and are now SAYING that they want to do this right. But watch their feet and ignore their lips. These are not people with a history of standing on principle, or for their constituents.
Something I've been thinking about, inarticulately for a while that I want to try and put to paper: why our judicial branch is - and should be - political. Thread:
1. Last week, some constituents were in town and we hooked them up with a White House tour, a Supreme Court tour and then I gave them a tour of the US Capitol. They joked that they did all three branches in one day.
2. In the course of the day, we got to talking about the architecture of the 3 buildings, and how they distort our understanding of democracy. The White House is open to the people (at least the 1st floor). It's a house, designed for welcoming guests, entertaining, etc.
Let's give some color here. Johnson is pretzelling himself to try to make him and his leadership team look less incompetent than they are. Here are the facts:
1. First, for those not familiar with House procedure, before you can vote on a bill in normal order you have to vote on the rule that sets things like time for debate, amendment procedure, etc. It is normally a formality but necessary as a matter of parliamentary procedure.
2. If you are in the majority, you write the rule. Which means that you should never lose a vote to pass a rule. And yet Johnson loses them with some frequency - because his caucus doesn't respect him, or his whip Mr. Emmer.
Ok so here's where we are on a government shutdown. We have 3 options in front of us: (a) shutdown, (b) shutdown or (c) dont shutdown. Thread:
1. Option (a) shutdown is to pass the @HouseGOP CR. Because we are already in an illegal shutdown caused by the White House ignoring Congressional law and their text substantially weakens the ability of courts to enforce the law.
Quick thread on ANOTHER bill the GOP is bringing to the floor this week. Specifically, to repeal the DeFi Broker Rule that the IRS issued under the last administration. The ONLY reason to support this bill is to facilitate tax evasion and money laundering.
1. A bit of jargon first. This is a bill under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). If it passes, it would not only repeal the rule but prevent this or future White House from offering substantially similar rules.
2. “DeFi” is decentralized finance. Don’t get intimidated by the words. Just think about it as the website or the app that lets you buy and sell crypto.
I don’t know whether the GOP will get the votes on their disaster of a bill this week. But I do know that majorities of Republicans voted against similar bills for all of the last 2 years. So what is making them strap on the ball gag and climb into Trump’s dungeon now?
1. As usual, don’t speculate on motive until you understand what they’re doing. Because this bill is really, really bad. A small selection of what they’re doing…
2. First, Congress has the Constitutional power of the purse and has reaffirmed it through multiple laws (Impoundment Control Act, Anti-Rescission Act) that are being used by multiple courts to block the WH’s over-reach. This bill has language that would weaken those cases.