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Chris Murphy 🟧 Profile picture
@ChrisMurphyCT
Dec 18, 2024 • 9 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
It's happening right in front our eyes. It's accelerated rapidly in the last 24 hours. Not sure why everyone doesn't see this.

1/ Can I take a minute to connect the dots - on how Trump is putting into action a plan to cripple our democracy in a way we may never recover from?
2/ He wasn't kidding when he said Democrats were the no. 1 threat to America and needed be dealt with by law enforcement and the military.

Today House Republican's referral of Liz Cheney for criminal prosecution - on made up charges - shows you the plan.
yahoo.com/news/key-repub…
3/ Who will stand in the way of Cheney and others being put in jail?

Not DOJ. Kash Patel was chosen to lead the FBI BECAUSE he wants to prosecute Trump's opponents.

Not the courts. Trump's pliant DOJ can handpick a jurisdiction with a MAGA judge.
rollingstone.com/politics/polit…
4/ Not every Trump opponent will fold, but many will. If you have a family at home, are you really going to stand up to Trump if there's a chance you could end up in jail?

History shows that selective prosecution of a regime's opposition has a broad chilling effect.
5/ The second part of Trump's plan is to use the White House to destroy the free media. Today's lawsuit against the Des Moines Register - just because they released a poll showing a close race in Iowa - is stunning. We shouldn't pretend this is normal.
nbcnews.com/politics/2024-…
6/ Already, you see how the big media companies are giving in. ABC paid Trump $15m even though his defamation suit had no merit. Bezos told the Post to not endorse against Trump. MSNBC is up for sale because Comcast doesn't want to get in trouble.
thehill.com/media/5042894-…
7/ Sometimes Trump will win these suits because he controls the DOJ and some courts, but other times he doesn't care. After he lost one case against a journalist, he said, "I did it to make his life miserable, which I'm happy about."

He gladly admits it's about intimidation.
8/ Trump has also said he will use the FEC and regulatory agencies - all of which will be run by his blind loyalists - to intimidate news orgs. Even if he uses this power rarely, media companies have already shown they are reluctant to put up a fight.
cnn.com/2024/10/22/med…
9/ Is there a chance this is all show and bluster? Maybe, but the developments of just the last few days - ABC's bogus settlement, the referral of Cheney for prosecution, Trump's suit against the Register - all point to this being very, very real.

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More from @ChrisMurphyCT

Chris Murphy 🟧 Profile picture
Mar 20
The fight for our democracy is not coming. It is here.

When I say that we have months, not a year, to save democracy, I'm talking about this coordinated, relentless legal assault on political dissent.

1/ Let me explain a few elements of Trump's plan:
nytimes.com/2025/03/19/us/…
2/ It started with the endorsement of political violence. By pardoning the Jan 6th protesters, Trump sent a clear signal that violence on his behalf would be protected.

Of course this quells citizens' enthusiasm to join the opposition - if there is a chance they could get hurt.
3/ Trump put his political fixers in charge of DoJ to hunt his political opposition. For instance, the D.C. U.S. Attorney is trolling critics online threatening arrest and pledging to arrest anyone who "interferes" (not a crime btw) with DOGE. newrepublic.com/post/191087/us…
Read 6 tweets
Chris Murphy 🟧 Profile picture
Mar 15
Another unconstitutional power grab by Trump. And in invoking "wartime authority", we get closer to the collapse of our democracy.

1/ A short 🧵on why this declaration should put us high alert, and cause our opposition tactics to stop being bound by dead "norms".
2/ The 1798 Alien Enemies Act allows the President to detain and remove - without due process - all non citizens (student, tourists, long term green card holders, spouses of citizens).

It's to be used against citizens of a nation that's at war with the U.S.. A "wartime" power.
3/ That's why it's only been invoked 3 times:

- The War of 1812
- World War One
- World War Two

It's never been used during peacetime and is not allowed to be used during peacetime.
Read 7 tweets
Chris Murphy 🟧 Profile picture
Mar 7
I went to the Senate floor to lay out for my colleagues the stunning story of brazen, open corruption during the first 6 weeks of the Trump presidency.

I think it's a story everyone needs to know.

1/ So a🧵with the highlights from the speech.
2/ The Trump crypto coin scam - maybe the biggest corruption story of them all.
3/ Trump changes the rules to allow his MAGA loyalists to get paid by foreign governments to lobby him in secret.
Read 7 tweets
Chris Murphy 🟧 Profile picture
Mar 2
Over the last 24 hours, MAGA has been ceaselessly spreading the claim that Democrats - from Susan Rice to Tony Blinken to me - pushed Zelensky to reject the minerals deal.

Total lie. Made up out of thin air. Zero sources.

1/ A short lesson how these lies spread in MAGA world. Image
Image
Image
Image
2/ Not entirely clear where it started, but the source looks like it might be from a totally random MAGA user who says she is “speculating” that Blinken, Rice, Nuland and Vindman has a “conference call” with Zelensky.

Just a MAGA troll making up shit in their basement. Image
3/ Another source seems to be this @nypost columnist who WILDLY twists my post about Zelensky’s well known opposition to a bad cease fire deal into a claim that “Democrats advised him to reject the mineral deal”.

Totally false. Zero regard for facts.
nypost.com/2025/03/01/opi…
Read 6 tweets
Chris Murphy 🟧 Profile picture
Mar 1
MAGA is making the claim that if you watch the entire 50 minute video, Zelensky is the antagonist.

This isn't true. At all. I was with Zelensky before this meeting and it's important to know his mindset heading in.

1/ A short 🧵on how the entire ambush went down.
2/ You cannot erase the context. Trump has been calling Zelensky a corrupt dictator and spreading Russian propaganda that Russia didn't invade Ukraine.

All these lies are Trump's pretext to sign a deal with Russia that hands Ukraine to Putin. Zelensky knows this.
3/ Zelensky - who's been cut out of the talks - knows what Trump and Putin are scheming. A "ceasefire" without any guarantee for Ukraine's future security is a trap. Trump's deal will require Ukrainian forces to withdraw, and when they do, Putin will pounce. It's a set up.
Read 9 tweets
Chris Murphy 🟧 Profile picture
Feb 28
We are barreling toward a full blown constitutional crisis.

Trump's announcement that he's ending thousands of aid contracts FUNDED BY CONGRESS is unconstitutional and illegal - and horrible for our security.

1/ A quick🧵on what's going on.
apnews.com/article/trump-…
2/ Back in January, Trump ordered a 90-day pause on all foreign aid. It was a lie. He was always planning to eliminate USAID.

But that's illegal and a court reversed it. Because Congress is in charge of spending, not the President - a foundational feature of our democracy.
3/ Why is Congress in charge? Because if a unitary executive decides who gets money, then he can use it to reward friends and punish enemies. That's what despots do. So our founders VERY INTENTIONALLY put a politically diverse Congress in charge of spending.
Read 9 tweets

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