"What if it’s the ideologues who are able to get things done, & it’s the centrists who stand in the way of solving problems while they knuckle under to special interests who don’t have the welfare of the country at heart?"
~@paulwaldman1

#BuildBackBetter
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
"Joe Biden wasn’t [the progressives'] preferred candidate in 2020, but they worked tirelessly to get him elected, and now they’re laboring to pass his agenda.

The centrists... might want to see the bills pass, but for them, failure is an option."

#BBB
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… Image
"That’s because from where centrists sit, the status quo is not so bad...

That’s why progressives haven’t been able to get the centrists, especially Sens. Joe Manchin III and Kyrsten Sinema, to say specifically what they want"

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Centrists are "much more susceptible to influence by special interests, whose primary goal is often to keep change from happening.

While a lack of ideological rigidity is often portrayed as a virtue, it’s also just the kind of open-mindedness corporate lobbyists are looking for" Image
"Perhaps [centrists] find the lobbyists’ arguments persuasive. Perhaps all those donations just give them a gentle nudge in that direction. In the end, it doesn’t really matter."

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… Image
"we need legislators for whom the status quo is unacceptable, who actually care about whether bills pass and progress is made on urgent problems.

... the idea that the centrists are the ones who get things done is plainly wrong."
~@paulwaldman1

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Zhi Zhu

Zhi Zhu Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @ZhiZhuWeb

3 Oct
"However horrifying the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol appeared in the moment, we know now that it was far worse."

#Jan6
#Jan6th
nytimes.com/2021/10/02/opi…
"The country was hours away from a full-blown constitutional crisis — not primarily because of the violence and mayhem inflicted by hundreds of President Donald Trump’s supporters but because of the actions of Trump himself." Image
"the country faces a renewed risk of electoral subversion by Trump and his supporters —

only next time they will have learned from their mistakes."

#Jan6
#TrumpCoupAttempt
#DemocracyInDanger
nytimes.com/2021/10/02/opi…
Read 6 tweets
1 Oct
"In a normal world, the “Eastman memo” would be infamous by now, the way “Access Hollywood” became the popular shorthand in 2016 for the damning recording of Donald Trump’s bragging about groping women."
~@Sulliview

#EastmanMemo
washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/medi…
"But it’s a good bet that most people have never even heard of the #EastmanMemo.

That says something troubling about how blasé the mainstream press has become about the attempted coup in the aftermath of the 2020 election — and how easily a coup could succeed next time." Image
"In other words, how to run a coup in six easy steps.

Pretty huge stuff, right? You’d think so, but the mainstream press has largely looked the other way."

#EastmanMemo
washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/medi… Image
Read 8 tweets
30 Sep
"this ugly saga will ... separate Democrats who take their role as public servant seriously from those who are operating with such epic levels of bad faith that they are essentially insulting the intelligence of their own constituents."
~@ThePlumLineGS

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
"Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) just delivered a sharp dressing down to @SenatorSinema (D-Ariz.) that ... captures something essential about what we’re seeing from Sinema, and by extension, about the crossroads that Democrats now face."
~@ThePlumLineGS

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… Image
Sinema and Manchin refuse to explain:

"Which of those provisions designed to provide a lift to millions, secure a more habitable planet, and make the tax code fairer to working people and less prone to elite chicanery — which would they throw out?"

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Read 4 tweets
30 Sep
"Right-wing donor interests have spent hundreds of millions of $$ to stack the Court w/ anti-abortion justices...

Now, the Court is delivering for those donors, & appears poised to strike at the heart of reproductive freedom"
~@SenWhitehouse

#DarkMoney
senwhitehouse.medium.com/senators-unvei…
"the dark-money forces behind S.B.8 engineered an anti-abortion majority on the Supreme Court — to do things the American people won’t abide from elected branches of government"
~@SenWhitehouse

#DarkMoney
senwhitehouse.medium.com/senators-unvei… Image
“This report shines a bright light on how Republicans and well-funded groups are using our judicial system to take away the freedom of women to make their own health care decisions.”
~@SenStabenow

#DarkMoney
senwhitehouse.medium.com/senators-unvei…
Read 6 tweets
24 Sep
"Meanwhile, the amateurish “stop the steal” efforts of 2020 have given way to an organized nationwide campaign to ensure that Trump & his supporters will have the control over state and local election officials that they lacked in 2020"

#TrumpCoupAttempt
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
"Those recalcitrant Republican state officials who effectively saved the country from calamity by refusing to falsely declare fraud or to “find” more votes for Trump are being systematically removed or hounded from office."

#TrumpCoupAttempt
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
"Today’s arguments over the filibuster will seem quaint in three years if the American political system enters a crisis for which the Constitution offers no remedy."

@SenateDems
#EndTheFilibuster Pass the #FreedomToVoteAct
Protect American democracy
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Read 16 tweets
24 Sep
"some Republicans will not use the audit news to affirm that confidence in our election system has been restored. Instead, they’ll use it to continue undermining that confidence, for the express purpose of justifying further anti-democratic tactics."

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
"But, now that this audit “confirmed” Biden’s win, it is still telling us that we should doubt our electoral outcomes, and that more voting restrictions are necessary to allay those doubts.

Why, it’s almost as if that was the real point all along!"

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
"Treating this audit as if it somehow “confirmed” [Biden's win] suggests it was about empirical verification of the results, and as such, risks normalizing such practices.

But it wasn’t about that, and it absolutely cannot be normalized."
~@ThePlumLineGS
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(