Rightfully, the cuts to Medicaid (over 10M people will lose their health care) and the tax cuts for the rich have been the story of the disastrous Republican budget bill.
But I read the whole thing. And there are some hidden rats in there you need to know about.
1/ A quick🧵
2/ A hidden provision of the bill...wait for it...legalizes gun silencers!! What?? So now criminals will be able to hide their crimes and police will lose the ability to respond to mass shootings. WTF. reuters.com/world/us/us-re…
Apr 30 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
I went to the Senate floor to tell a story about Trump’s first 100 days - a story of daily, norm shattering corruption.
I laid out 40 different corrupt acts - each one alone could have taken down previous presidents.
1/ A 🧵 of my speech. People need to know this story.
2/ The Trump crypto coin - the biggest scandal in the history of the American presidency.
Apr 17 • 16 tweets • 5 min read
The Trump-Supreme Court battle is not really the crisis.
The crisis is here now. Trump is enacting an insidious coordinated attack on our institutions of democratic accountability, designed to crater democracy before next fall.
1/ A long 🧵to explain the plan & how we stop it.
2/ First, just know that MAGA has given up on democracy. Wish it weren't true but it is. They would rather MAGA rule forever than run a fair election where a Democrat might win.
2/ Abrego Garcia came to the U.S. over 10 years ago. He married a U.S. citizen and has three U.S. citizen children.
But he put in removal proceedings because he didn't apply for asylum in time and because of alleged ties to drug gangs. He denies any gang affiliation.
Apr 11 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
In the wake of the stunning news that Trump is planning to take over Columbia University, I hope you’ll watch this speech I gave yesterday.
It details Trump’s plan to destroy democracy’s organs of accountability and dissent: the press, universities and lawyers.
1/ Intro
2/ The press is always the first target of an elected leader who wants to destroy dissent and stay in power forever. But Trump doesn’t just harass journalists; he tries to destroy the very idea of objective truth.
Apr 3 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive.
No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief.
1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.
2/ This week you will read many confused economists and political pundits who won’t understand how the tariffs make economic sense.
That’s because they don’t. They aren’t designed as economic policy. The tariffs are simply a new, super dangerous political tool.
Mar 20 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
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.
Mar 15 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
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.
Mar 7 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
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.
Mar 2 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
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. 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.
Mar 1 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
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.
Feb 28 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
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.
Feb 14 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
What frightening bullshit.
Trump and Vance have done more to smash free speech in America than any other Administration in our lifetime.
It's their plan. They know it. So they lie to cover it up.
1/ Here's their plan in a short 🧵and what we do about it.
2/ First, they pardoned all the Jan 6th rioters. This was done to protect violence when it's used to target Trump critics (remember, the rioters were there to kill Pence and Democrats).
Today I will be holding a citizen meeting in West Hartford to talk about what I'm doing and what people can do to fight back against Trump's seizure of government for the billionaire class.
1/ Unfortunately, we've maxed out the space, so here's a 🧵 on what you can do.
2/ First, I know that I have a unique responsibility, as your Senator, to lead this fight. That's why I'm using every tool I have. I'm not supporting any Trump nominees until this crisis ends. I'm helping support the legal fight. I'm working behind the scenes to move Republicans to action. I'm speaking out publicly - on TV, social media, at rallies - every day to try to rally opposition to this power seizure. I'm working 24/7 to lead this effort.
Feb 7 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
This is pure gaslighting. There is no working waiver process. Marco can pretend the the real Secretary of State, Elon Musk, didn't shut down USAID, but he did.
1/ My national security team looked into the functionally nonexistent "wavier process" and here's what they found:
2/ First, let's state the obvious. Despite Musk and Trump's lies, U.S. funded international orgs don't have a political agenda. They save lives, they fight terrorist groups, they counter Chinese and Russian influence. They are a key part of our national security strategy.
Feb 1 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Let me explain why the total destruction of USAID - happening as we speak - matters so much.
China - where Musk makes his money - wants USAID destroyed. So does Russia. Trump and Musk are doing the bidding of Beijing and Moscow. Why? apnews.com/article/trump-…2/ Over the last week, 50% of the Global Health Bureau and 60% of the Humanitarian Assistance Bureau have been fired. Aid programs everywhere have been closed. The U.S. is in full retreat from the world.
Dystopian. No good reason for it.
Jan 28 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Look, Trump is trying to oversaturate us with nonstop chaos so we can’t react meaningfully to any one thing.
But Friday's global stop work order on almost all U.S. aid is dumb and murderous. You need to know about it.
1/ A short🧵on this evil. cnn.com/2025/01/24/pol…2/ First, this isn't a funding pause. It's a STOP WORK ORDER to almost all aid. Unprecedented.
So today we just stopped feeding babies and housing refugees and mediating conflicts all around the world. Aid orgs are laying off staff and many programs will not restart.
Jan 14 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
I spent all last year writing a REAL tough bipartisan border bill. So I know grandstanding when I see it.
1/ You need to know the truth about the Laken Riley Act, and how, if unamended by the Senate, it will make this country much less safe.
2/ I joined Senate colleagues in voting to begin debate on the bill bc I'm serious about making our immigration system keep us safe.
But the current bill does the opposite, and it's part of a GOP pattern - complain about a problem and then pursue policy that makes it worse.
Jan 5 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
What? We don't have to treat conspiracy theorists like RFK Jr. with kid gloves.
It's simple. He's spent his career fighting school vaccine programs. If they atrophy, kids will get killed.
1/ Let me tell you why we need to be shouting this from the rooftops.
2/ First, let's not sugar coat the extent of RFK Jr.'s evangelism. The anti school vaccine organization he chaired is the nation's leading spreader of vaccine conspiracies and has filed dozens of lawsuits challenging vaccine mandates. npr.org/2024/12/03/nx-…
Dec 18, 2024 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
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…
Nov 10, 2024 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
That was a cataclysm. Electoral map wipeout. Senate D practical ceiling is now 52 seats. R's is 62.
Time to rebuild the left.
We are out of touch with the crisis of meaning/purpose fueling MAGA. We refuse to pick big fights. Our tent is too small.
1/ Some early thoughts:
2/ The left has never fully grappled with the wreckage of fifty years of neoliberalism, which has left legions of Americans adrift as local places are hollowed out, rapacious profit seeking cannibalizes the common good, and unchecked new technology separates and isolates us.
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. 